Longtime Southern California horse racing trainer with $16M in prizes dies

A longtime Southern California-based horse racing trainer who amassed nearly $16 million in purse earnings over his nearly half-century career has died at the age of 77, officials at Santa Anita Park announced.  

Eddie Truman, who retired in Jan. 2023, died Wednesday, his older brother and former jockey, Jerry Truman, confirmed to Santa Anita Park.  

Born in Kansas in 1947, the younger Truman rode as a child before becoming a professional jockey at the age of 16. Though his career as a jockey was brief because of his size, as an apprentice in 1963, he finished as the top rider at Sportsman’s Park in Chicago.  

Truman worked for a short time as a trainer in Detroit before spending some time in Europe but returned to the states and landed in Southern California in 1972 where he began working as an assistant to future Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel.  

“When I came back from Europe, I decided I wanted to be a trainer and that I wanted to go with the best ... forget everything I thought I knew and try to learn from the best,” he told Santa Anita upon his retirement.  

Truman earned his trainer’s license and struck out on his own in 1974, becoming a Southern California staple over the next 50 years.  

He won 763 races from 5,334 starters and claimed $15.7 million in purse earnings, the release noted. His highest earning horses were stake winners Go West with $452,600, Casino King with $432,910, and Moonless Sky with $287,130.