Legends Of Australian Racing

Nebraska native Jack Van Berg, whose training career led him has died. Van Berg died Wednesday in Baptist Medical Center. He was 81. Van Berg competed throughout the winter months at Oaklawn Park. Van Bergs death was confirmed by Oaklawn media relations coordinator Jennifer Hoyt. Hed been hospitalized for many weeks, she said. Hed been battling cancer was with him. John Charles Jack Van Berg has been born in a horse racing family at Columbus at 1936. Marion, his father, trained horses and owned, and Omahas Ak Sar Ben racetrack was dominated at by the father son combination. Marion was the proprietor in the course for 15 years, from 1958 to 1972.

Jack was the trainer 20 occasions in Ak Sar Ben, from 1959 into 1977 and again in the year 1984. Jack found success and has been inducted after his father in the year 1985. The two are members of the Nebraska Racing Hall of Fame. Van Berg ranks 4th on the all-time North American practice win list, 523, and his horses earned over $85 million. He saddled more than 41, 000 starters in his career. Among his winners were Gate Dancer at the 1984 Preakness Stakes and Alysheba at the 1987 Kentucky Derby and Preakness. As a 4 year old, Alysheba won the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Classic and went on into earn the Eclipse prize for Horse of the Year.

Van Berg also mentored many very best trainers, including Hall of Famer Bill Mott and Frank Brothers. Van Berg led all American trainers at wins 9 times. Among his other accomplishments, he has been the first trainer to reach the 5, 000 win mark in 1987. Which was 11 years after he’d set a record for most wins at a year with 496. Jack leaves a great legacy, Nebraska Racing Commission President Dennis Lee said. He has been a true gentleman gentleman who treated everybody with respect. Lee explained that respect and the respect Van Berg earned from others stretched throughout the nation.

Regardless of where he went, he never forgot to be a Nebraska Nebraskan, Lee said. He has been a throwback into racings glory years, and so many individuals have so many stories about him. Van Berg has been bitterly disappointed when Ak Sar Ben closed after the 1995 race season and has been a vocal critic of the plan into redevelop the property. Even after Ak Sar Ben closed, Jack still explained that he’d do everything he could into help promote Nebraska racing, Lee explained. He never forgot his roots. Van Berg moved his base of operations into Southern California in the eighties, but has been unable to maintain his winning level.