Memorial Service Set for Trainer Banks
Description:
A memorial service was set for Dec. 9 for trainer David Banks, who died Dec. 6 after collapsing during training hours at Evangeline Training Center in Carencro, La.
The service was to be celebrated on Tuesday, December 9, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. CST at Walnut Farm in Arnaudville, La.
While overseeing training during the early morning hours Saturday, Banks fell from his pony, Spot. He was taken to Lafayette General Hospital in Lafayette, La., where he died.
Banks and his wife, Allison, and his sister, Gigi Lazenby, spent the last few years buying yearlings together.
David had a nice 2-year-old colt run on Thanksgiving Day at Fair Grounds where he shared Thanksgiving with family and friends. On Dec. 4, he won a maiden special weight on the turf by a head bob with a 2-year-old filly named Ideratherblucky. His trainer report to his sister was "Ideratherbelucky!"
"And that's the way he felt—'lucky and happy'," his obituray read. "He was looking forward to starting the rest of those 2-year-olds—especially a filly that he and Allison had picked out together. The filly has been a team effort for David and Allison—David training and Allison her exercise rider."
Banks had trained from a least 1976, when Equibase began compiling statistics. Since then his runners won 456 races and amassed purse earnings of more than $6.3 million. This year, his 127 starters won 19 wins and earned of $416,817.
Banks is survived by his wife, Allison Ramsay Banks, his children, David Paul Banks IV, and James Ford Banks; stepdaughters, Helene Johnstone and Ashby Beach; sisters Virginia "Gigi" Lazenby, Betty Hailey and Anne Robinson; and brother Philip Kerrigan as well as many nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to one of the following charities: Acadiana Therapeutic Riding Organization P.O. Box 80569 Lafayette, LA, 70508 www.acadianatherapeticriding.org or Louisiana Horse Rescue Association P.O. Box 24650 New Orleans, LA, 70184 www.louisianahorserescue.com.