From Santa Anita Publicity ARCADIA, Calif. (Feb. 17, 2015) – Highly respected longtime Southern California trainer Leonard Dorfman passed away peacefully early Sunday evening at his daughter’s home in Round Rock Texas. The affable Dorfman, a decorated World War II combat veteran who lied about his eyesight to enlist in the Army at age 19, would have been 93 on June 22. Best known as the conditioner of multiple stakes winners Biggs, Travel Orb, Minnesota Chief, Joni U. Bar and McCann’s Mojave, Dorfman gravitated to the track at an early age and one of his first jobs was grooming horses at movie mogul Louis B. Mayer’s farm in Hemet, Calif., circa, 1939 at age 15. A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Dorfman emigrated to Los Angeles with his mother at the age of 7 and soon thereafter cultivated a lifetime love affair with horses. “He was such a kind and gentle man,” said retired Hall of Fame jockey Donald Pierce, from his home in Encinitas. “He was without a doubt... ...
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