| Frank Catrone, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Jockey / Trainer |
| Born | c. 1904 United States |
| Career wins | Not found |
| Major racing wins, honours and awards | |
| Major racing wins | |
|
As a jockey: As a trainer: Kentucky Derby (1965) |
|
| Significant horses | |
| Rounders, Lucky Debonair | |
Frank Catrone, Jr. (born c.1904) was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey who best known for winning the 1965 Kentucky Derby as a trainer.[1]
Catrone stood 4-feet 9-inches tall and while selling newspapers at a stand outside Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York, the diminutive 17-year-old was offered the chance to train to be a jockey by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame trainer, Sam Hildreth. Although Catrone met with some success as a jockey, it was as a trainer where he would achieve nationwide recognition. Battling weioght problems, in 1936 he began his professional career as a trainer and in the early 1940s enjoyed success training for Texan Emerson F. Woodward's Valdina Farms. Among his successes for Valdina, Catrone won the 1942 Derby Trial Stakes with Valdina Orphan who then earned a third-place finish to winner Shut Out in the Kentucky Derby.
By 1964 Catrone was the secondary trainer behind Clyde Troutt for the breeding/racing stable of Dan and Ada Rice. When the Rice's decided to race at Santa Anita Park over the winter of 1964-65, one of the horses Catrone brought West was a colt named Lucky Debonair who had made only one start at age two at the Atlantic City Race Course where he finished out of the money. In 1965, Lucky Debonair gave Catrone his greatest success in racing, winning the Santa Anita Derby, the Blue Grass Stakes and the Kentucky Derby.[2] In 1966, Lucky Debonair won California's most famous race, the Santa Anita Handicap.[3]
Frank Catrone, Jr. continued to train for the Rice stable until Dan Rice died in 1975 and his widow, Ada, disbanded the racing stable.