Jack Van Berg should be remembered for more than training Alysheba. Ask anyone who worked for him.
Son of a Hall of Fame trainer and one himself, Van Berg died Wednesday in a Little Rock hospital at the age of 81.
He had suffered various health problems, including cancer in his jaw and congestive heart failure. He died at Baptist Health Medical Center, joined at the end by his four living children.
"He made it till break time," son Tom Van Berg told Daily Racing Form. "He fought as hard as he could. His body just gave out."
Jack Van Berg saddled 6,523 winners, ranking fourth all time among trainers in North America, according to Equibase. He won nine national training titles from 1968-1986. He received an Eclipse Award as outstanding trainer in 1984, when his painstaking care with the erratic Gate Dancer resulted in a Preakness Stakes victory.
A past local champion, Van Berg tied for sixth with 20 victories at the 2017 Oaklawn Park meeting. He saddled One Dreamy Dude to a 10th-place finish in the Grade 1 $1 million Arkansas Derby April 15. Van Berg's last Oaklawn victory came one day earlier with Eddington's Star, a 5-year-old gelding he claimed for $7,500.
Van Berg learned his craft from father Marion Van Berg, the nation's leading owner in victories 14 times, including 11 in a row from 1960-70, and the leading money-winning owner four times. Marion Van Berg received induction to the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1970, a year before his death.
Jack Van Berg made the Hall of Fame in 1985, two years before carried to the sport's highest level by Alysheba. Champion 3-year-old in 1987, when he won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, Alysheba was named Horse of the Year in 1988 after taking the Breeders' Cup Classic. "America's horse!" track announcer Tom Durkin declared as Alysheba capped his career in near darkness at Churchill Downs, site of his Derby victory.
Van Berg had an eye not only for horses but future horsemen. His former assistants include Bill Mott, Hall of Fame trainer of two-time Horse of the Year Cigar and other champions.
"Jack was really a great horseman," Mott told Daily Racing Form. "If you gave him the right horse, he'd get the best out of him. He was a good teacher for me."
Frank Brothers also trained under Van Berg before going out on his own and developing 1991 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Hansel.
"It's a very sad day in racing," Brothers said Wednesday. "He would be one of greatest horsemen of my time, that's for sure, and I owe a lot of my career to him."
Oaklawn-based trainer Joe Petalino, who galloped Alysheba for Van Berg, said, "I think anybody who was around him was a better person for being around him."
Van Berg is survived by four children -- Tom, Tammy, Tori and Traci. A second son, Tim, died in April. Services are pending. He left an impressive listed of accomplishments:
• He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame in 1985, joining his father, Marion Van Berg.
• He won the Eclipse Award as outstanding trainer in 1984.
• Trained Alysheba, the 1988 Horse of the Year and, at the time, the richest horse of all time with almost $6.7 million. Alysheba won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Breeders' Cup Classic, among other major races for Van Berg.
• He also won the Preakness in 1984 with Gate Dancer.
• Van Berg led the nation in races won nine times.
• He won 496 races in 1976, a record that stood until 2008.
• Van Berg was the first trainer to win 5,000 races.
• He is the fourth-leading trainer of all time by wins, with 6,523.
• Among his successful former assistants are fellow Hall of Famer Bill Mott and Frank Brothers.
Sources: Daily Racing Form and Equibase Co.
Sports on 12/28/2017