Dan Perlsweig, Trainer Of Champion Lord Avie, Dies At 91
Lord Avie and Dan Perlsweig (right) at Lane's End Farm in 1993
Longtime trainer Dan Perlsweig, conditioner of 1980's juvenile champion Lord Avie, died Tuesday at the age of 91, the Thoroughbred Daily News reported.
During a career that spanned a quarter century beginning in 1976, Perlsweig won 505 races from 3,870 starts, collecting another 508 seconds and 518 thirds. Based in New Jersey and Florida, he won 10 graded stakes, including three Grade 1 races, all by his best known horse, Lord Avie.
Lord Avie hit the board in every one of his 16 career starts, winning half of them. Those victories included the G1 Champagne Stakes as a 2-year-old and the G1 Florida Derby as a 3-year-old. An injury kept Lord Avie from competing in the Triple Crown races of 1981. In 2012, the horse passed away as the oldest living Eclipse Award winner.
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“I immediately fell in love with him," Perlsweig recalled at age 86 about his first time seeing the colt. "He was the best horse I'd ever seen. I couldn't fault his conformation. He was going to be a good horse.”
Perlsweig retired from training in 1999, when he won the Dogwood Dominion Award, an honor established by Dogwood Stables' Cot Campbell to recognize unsung heroes in Thoroughbred racing. Perlsweig was known for his backstretch appreciation days at Gulfstream Park and Monmouth Park.
Perlsweig is survived by his daughter Judy, his son Mark, a former trainer, and three grandchildren.
