Trainer Tom Howard, 70, best known for developing multiple stakes-winning sprinter Ivan Fallunovalot, died from complications of cancer Saturday night at his Hot Springs home.
Howard was diagnosed with liver cancer earlier this year and died just hours after Ivan Fallunovalot, a former claimer owned by longtime client Lewis Mathews, finished third in Oaklawn's $125,000 Hot Springs Stakes that increased his career earnings to $998,903.
Mathews said Howard had hoped to watch the Hot Springs from a golf cart parked on the south grandstand apron, but his body was too weak following a recent round of chemotherapy.
"He had been struggling the last few weeks," said Mathews, a Bismarck businessman who had horses with Howard for 14 years. "He was just living for Ivan's next race, and Ivan has been such a storybook story. I was really concerned that after the race, regardless of how it turned out ... I didn't know if it would be the same day. It was not totally unexpected. Unfortunate, but not totally unexpected."
A former assistant under six-time Oaklawn training champion Cole Norman, Howard had 148 victories from 1,122 starters and purse earnings of $3,848,116 since 2003, according to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization.
In addition to Ivan Fallunovalot, Howard's best horses included Grade 3 winner and Oaklawn-raced Rocket Twentyone for prominent Arkansas businessman Frank Fletcher and Oaklawn stakes winners Heart Appeal, Stormin Suzy and Ain't He a Pistol.
"I'm sick about him passing away, but he was living for that race yesterday," Fletcher said. "I think it broke his heart when Ivan didn't win."
Trainer John L. Hall had been saddling Howard's horses in his absence the past few weeks.
Funeral arrangements were pending as of Sunday morning.
Sports on 03/12/2018