Bob Lewis, Prominent horse owner breathes his last |
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| The horseracing world on February 17, 2006 lost one of its prominent
members, Bob Lewis, who died at his Newport Beach (California) home of
heart failure and was laid to rest on February 23, 2006. He was 81.
Lewis\'s health was on the decline for some time and also suffered
complications
from kidney dialysis treatments. \"He went very peacefully,\" said his son, Jeff Lewis. \"We brought him home from the hospital. He wanted to come home; he didn\'t want to spend his final days in the hospital. He was resting comfortably and peacefully. He just ran out of gas. He just couldn\'t go on any longer. “He had his family around him when he passed away. He had a wonderful life, and we\'ll miss him tremendously.\" Besides Jeff, Bob Lewis is survived by his wife, Beverly, and two other children, Nancy and Jimmy. Along with Beverly, Bob Lewis spent mightily at yearling sales to build his stable of horses. Unlike many, however, he enjoyed a constant parade of superstar horses that etched the Lewis name at the top of racing\'s owner lists over the past decade. Along with an Eclipse of Merit honouring them in 1997, the Lewises captured Eclipse Awards as the owners of Timber Country (1994 2-year-old male), Serena\'s Song 1995 3-year-old filly), Silver Charm (1997 3-year-old male), Charismatic (1999 3-year-old male), Orientate 2002 sprinter), and Folklore 2005 2-year-old female). Timber Country delivered the Lewises (in partnership with W.T. Young and Graham Beck) their first classic win when he captured the 1995 Preakness (Gr. I). But it was Silver Charm, the fan favourite who dramatically won the 1997 Kentucky Derby (Gr. I) and Preakness, who brought them to the top of the Thoroughbred world. Just two years later, the Lewises again won those two classics, this time with the improbable Charismatic. They got their Belmont Stakes victory one year later with the out-of-nowhere long-shot Commendable. Their Breeders\' Cup victories came from Timber Country (1994 Juvenile, Gr. I), Orientate in the 2002 Sprint (Gr. I) and Folklore in the 2005 Alberto VO5 Juvenile Fillies (Gr. I). Much of the Lewises\' success came when they teamed up with trainers D. Wayne Lukas (Serena\'s Song, Orientate, Folklore, Charismatic, and Commendable) and Bob Baffert (Silver Charm). The trainers could be seen at yearling sales jockeying for position around the Lewises as both competed to buy and train horses for the California couple. Bob Lewis first went to the racetrack as a child in the 1930s, his parents taking him to Santa Anita Park and Del Mar shortly after those tracks opened. Bob and Beverly Lewis bought their first horses in 1990. Success first came a while later when they hooked up with Baffert and took the 1991 Cal Cup Juvenile with Ebonair. In 1993, attending his first sale, Bob Lewis purchased a daughter of Rahy for $150,000. Serena\'s Song ended up giving her owners 11 grade I victories, and retired in 1996 as the leading female money earner of all time with nearly $3.3 million banked. The Lewises, alone or in partnership, raced 50 stakes winners and bred seven. |
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