Hialeah Park Owner John Brunetti Dies at 87

John Brunetti, owner of Hialeah Park, died at his home in Boca Raton, Fla., March 2 at the age of 87, according to Hialeah officials.

Brunetti, who built his fortune in the construction business, had been in failing health. He had a cancerous lung removed in 2017, had a kidney transplant in 2013, and underwent heart bypass surgery in 1996.

Randy Soth, who worked for Brunetti as racing secretary in the 1990s and has been the general manager of Hialeah since 2009, will remember Brunetti most for the passion and affection he felt for Hialeah.

"He loved this place," Soth said. "It bordered on the obsessive. No, it was obsessive."

When he bought Hialeah in 1977, Brunetti was hailed as the savior of one of the world's most beautiful race tracks. Until he came forward, it appeared the Donn Family, then the owners of Gulfstream Park, would acquire Hialeah, end racing there, and move the racing dates to its track in Hallandale Beach. Even though Brunetti eventually ended Thoroughbred racing at Hialeah, the city of Hialeah last month showed its appreciation for his efforts by naming a street near the track entrance "John J. Brunetti Sr. Way."

Brunetti became frequently embroiled in disputes with horsemen over purses and other issues, even though he was a horseman himself. Last summer, his Red Oak Stable was the leading owner by wins (13) at Monmouth Park. Bal Harbour, a Triple Crown hopeful, won the Sapling Stakes at Monmouth in September and the Smooth Air Stakes at Gulfstream in December. He also finished second in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes Jan. 6. Unbridled Mo, another Red Oak star, captured the 2017 Hilliard Lyons Doubledogdare Stakes (G3) and Houston Ladies Classic Stakes (G3).

At the track, Brunetti had a knack for identifying human talent. He gave Tom Durkin his first major race-calling assignment in 1981.

"He's greatly responsible, as much as anyone else, for my success. He put his neck on the line for Tom 'Who,'" Durkin said.

Brunetti heard Durkin call a race at Florida Downs (now Tampa Bay Downs) in 1980, in which the Hialeah owner had a horse. When the race caller's job at Hialeah opened, Durkin applied and Brunetti remembered him.

"I was working at Balmoral Downs, calling races at night and mucking out stalls during the day," Durkin recalled. "I told them, 'If anyone from Hialeah calls, don't tell them I'm out cleaning stalls.'"

Brunetti hired Durkin, and "three years later, I was calling the Breeders' Cup on NBC," Durkin said.

Others given an early break by Brunetti at Hialeah include racing analyst Caton Bredar; Glenn Mathes, who went on to run the New York Racing Association publicity department for many years; and the late racing secretary Bob Umphrey.

"I think John hired all of them when they were under 30," Durkin said.

When Brunetti was pursuing Hialeah, he presented himself as a horseplayer's friend—someone who understood what fans wanted, because he was a player himself. Yet during his stewardship, Hialeah had one of the highest takeouts in racing, as much as 31%. One evening on a local radio sports talk show, he quipped he didn't understand why fans were upset.

"They know I'm going to get all their money eventually. This will just speed up the process," he said. His attempt at humor did not go over well.

He eventually ordered the end of Thoroughbred racing at Hialeah in 2001, saying he couldn't compete with Gulfstream and Calder Race Course without being given the prime winter racing dates, which the state had deregulated.

Brunetti reopened Hialeah in 2009 with Quarter Horse races to qualify for a casino license. He made it clear this was just a means to an end—still hoping to eventually bring back Thoroughbred racing.

"I don't follow Quarter Horse racing," he told the New York Times in 2014. "It lasts 21 seconds. What can you strategize? What can you describe? What can you learn?"

After losing Thoroughbred racing, Brunetti constantly talked of the possibility of bringing it back. In 2014 he saw a chance for a return when Churchill Downs Inc. announced plans to lease its Calder racing operations to Gulfstream Park, which renamed the track Gulfstream Park West. But that possibility, like others before it, would end in frustration for Brunetti.

"It doesn't make the best sense for the state to have one track running as long as 10 months and have a track that doesn't want racing with the other two months," he told BloodHorse in 2014. "Gulfstream Park wants Thoroughbred racing. So does Hialeah Park, and we are ready."

After failing to reach an agreement with the Florida Quarter Horse Racing Association, Brunetti allowed that racing to devolve into a sham last year when he ran a meet no longer recognized by the American Quarter Horse Association. Races would see only two horses competing at about 110 yards several times a day. This brand of racing was offered only to meet the absolute minimum required by the state to retain a casino license.

A graduate of the University of Miami, Brunetti, through his foundation, gave generously to the school. He also contributed to the Wounded Warrior Project, public broadcasting, and campaigns against human trafficking.

Brunetti is survived by his wife, Tracee; sons John Jr. and Steven; and his sister, JoAnn Brunetti. A memorial service will be held March 12 at 12:30 p.m. on the third floor of the Hialeah clubhouse. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations be made to the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Office of Medical Advancement, or to Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Farm in Georgetown, Ky.