Columbus, OH – Bobby passed away peacefully on Wednesday (July 2) in hospice care from complications of a stroke and kidney failure.
He was a well-known figure in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s where he was successful training at both Roosevelt and Yonkers Raceways. He started his career working with Carmine Abbatiello in the early 70’s until he decided to start his own stable. In 1986 he received a Special Achievement Award for Trainer of the Year.
Bobby first retired from training in the 1990’s but then briefly came out of retirement in South Florida in the early 2000’s to train for the horses owned by Luca and Ester Balenzano at Pompano Park. By the mid 2000’s he decided to retire again when his pride and joy, a trotting mare named Keystone Melady, sustained a life-threatening injury. Once the mare recovered, Bobby was instrumental in convincing the Balenzanos to breed the mare to Revenue S. His management was instrumental in the successful outcome that produced the millionaire trotter, Melady’s Monet.
Bobby is survived by his soulmate Ester Balenzano, two sons, Andrew and Stephen and his brother James. His ashes are being scattered at a religious site in accordance with his faith.