'They don't come any better' - legendary composer and owner-breeder Burt Bacharach dies at 94

Legendary composer and owner-breeder Burt Bacharach has been fondly remembered as “the best owner you could have” following his death at the age of 94.

Among his many lifetime achievements in music, Bacharach won two Academy Awards for best song: Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head, and Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do).

Bacharach first became involved in horseracing in the mid-1960s and enjoyed multiple Grade 1 successes with the likes of Afternoon Deelites and Soul Of The Matter, who also finished fifth to Go For Gin in the 1994 Kentucky Derby.

His biggest winner among his few horses in Europe was American Prince, with whom he owned with Irving Clark and who won the Group 3 1979 Prix Messidor, his sixth consecutive success.

The Kentucky Derby was one of many cherished memories trainer Richard Mandella shared with Bacharach, who campaigned the two horses for the owner-breeder.

“They don’t come any better,” Mandella said. “He was the best owner you could have. He would come out to the barn and he was involved with his horses, but he respected what we did and we had some great success.”

Bacharach started out buying horses and sending them to Charlie Whittingham to train. His first runner, named Battle Royal, became a winner in 1968 and also got claimed. Bacharach told the Los Angeles Times he was so upset at losing the horse that he made the trainer buy him back.

The composer also got involved in breeding early under the name Blue Seas Music and operated out of a farm in Maryland. His first homebred stakes winner was Crumbs, who won the 1975 El Cajon Stakes at Del Mar.

Heartlight No. One, champion three-year-old filly in 1983, became Bacharach’s first Grade 1 winner in the Hollywood Oaks, and she also landed the Grade 1 Ruffian Handicap and Grade 2 Del Mar Oaks.

Laffit Pincay Jr. rode Heartlight No. One for Bacharach, and said: “Burt was just a good friend. I will always be grateful to him because after my first wife passed away he took me under his wing. My kids were very young and he would invite us out to dinner almost every weekend. I will always be very appreciative of that. That’s something that I will never forget. He was really a good friend and I tell you, it hurt me to hear that he passed away.”

Bacharach’s passion for racing never waned. His most recent stakes winner Duvet Day captured the Astra Stakes at Santa Anita on January 21 for trainer Michael McCarthy.

“He was passionate about racing and always loved to hear about how the horses were doing,” McCarthy said. “He is a real legend and to train for a gentleman who has his legacy was a real privilege to us.”

McCarthy added that he was impressed that Bacharach was always willing to help when there was a need, referring specifically to a fundraiser he held with singer and friend Elvis Costello to support the victims of the 2017 fire that ravaged San Luis Rey Downs Training Center.