By Bloodhorse.com
Robert Hess Sr., a longtime trainer based in Northern California and the father of Southern California trainer Robert Hess Jr., died Dec. 5 from COVID-19. He was 86.
A stalwart of the Northern California racing circuit, Hess trained in that area for nearly 50 years. A trainer since 1959, Hess saddled the winners of 1,592 races for total purse earnings of $17,258,435.
He conditioned the likes of the durable My Creed, the winner of the 2007 Berkeley Stakes (G3) at Golden Gate Fields. Hess owned the gelded son of Beau Genius—Test of Faith, by Temperence Hill, with Seven Star Racing Stable. My Creed won nine of 49 races and earned $390,955 through seven years of racing.
Other good runners Hess trained included Daddy’s Datsun, the winner of the 1973 Osunitas Stakes, 1974 San Juan Bautista Handicap, 1975 Sausalito Handicap, and 1975 San Jose Handicap and an earner of $156,882; three-time stakes winner Annie’s Irish Luck, an earner of $133,365; and two-time stakes winner Make Him Famous, an earner of $127,675.
Hess grew up on a farm in Lititz, Pa., and from age 6 worked with all types of horses. He drove trotters and refereed polo matches. He traveled to Southern California at 18 and saw Santa Anita Park for the first time prior to serving in the Army in Washington state. Hess began his racetrack career at Playfair and Longacres in the Pacific Northwest and trained at several West Coast tracks before heading to Caliente racetrack in Tijuana, Baja California.
While living across the border in San Ysidro, Calif., Hess met and married his wife, Maria Elena. They had four children, and though neither of them attended college, Bob and Maria Elena saw to it that all of their children did, two at Stanford University, one at the University of California at Berkeley, and one at the University of Kentucky.
Hess and his young family had to relocate to Northern California after Caliente burned down in 1971, and Hess has trained there ever since.
Bob Jr., the couple’s eldest child, accompanied his father to the track from an early age and always wanted to train like his dad. Bob Jr. earned a degree in economics from Stanford and then worked as his father’s assistant beginning in 1983 before going out on his own in 1987.
“I was just a kid who wanted to hang out with Dad,” Bob Jr. said. “If I wasn’t playing baseball or basketball, I was hanging out with my dad, getting up at 5 in the morning, hanging with my best friend in the world. I wanted to follow in his footsteps and try to be as good as he was.”
As Bob Jr.’s career developed, he became a successful trainer on the Southern California circuit, while Bob Sr. remained in Northern California. Bob Jr. has trained such stakes winners as grade 1 winners D’wildcat and River Special and graded winner Imperative.
“He taught me everything,” Bob Jr. said. “He taught me what not to do as well. He would say to all of us, ‘In life you have to learn from your own mistakes, but I’m going to tell you about all the mistakes that I’ve made and hopefully you won’t have to repeat them.’ I think my parents are more life coaches than horse people. He’s always been a quality, honest horseman of integrity and a great trainer.”
In addition to Bob Jr. and Maria Elena, Hess’ survivors include his other three children, Howie, Erica, and Anna, and six grandchildren.