Longtime Illinois horseman and Breeders’ Cup-winning owner and breeder Frank Carl Calabrese died at his home in Park Ridge, Ill., Nov. 4, his 96th birthday.
“It’s been a great loss to racing, his family, everybody,” said Calabrese’s longtime trainer Wayne Catalano. “He helped everybody, he was a good man.”
Calabrese founded the commercial printing company FCL Graphics, named after his sons Frank, Carmen, and Lewis, in 1973. After successfully growing the company over the next three decades, he sold the business in 2004.
A devoted fan and bettor of Thoroughbred racing, Calabrese established FCC Stables and was a dominant owner in Chicago. He won 10 consecutive leading owners titles from 2000-10 at his home track of Arlington Park. He also finished in the top 5 by wins among all North American owners eight times (2003, 2005-08, 2010, 2012-13).
“He loved it. He loved the racing, he loved winning,” Catalano said. “He loved Arlington Park and Mr. Duchossois. Arlington Park was our home track. Chicago was our home—he just wanted to win there mostly. That’s all he wanted to do.”
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The biggest success of his career came in 2006 when, on his 78th birthday, he won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Churchill Downs with Dreaming of Anna.
“I told him before that I got a good birthday present for you,” Catalano recalled. “I’m gonna win the Breeders Cup for you. That was one of my greatest moments, my first Breeders’ Cup.
Frank Calabrese celebrates Dreaming of Anna’s victory in the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs
“It was a lot of fun, we had some great success. We had some beautiful battles that we had fun with. Frank was a great man. He wasn’t real tough, he just wanted to win. He was all about winning. He was a very, very good person. His bark was louder than his bite.”
Dreaming of Anna, a homebred for Calabrese, would go on to win the Eclipse Award for champion 2-year-old filly in 2006. She completed her career with 10 wins in 17 starts, including six graded stakes victories on both dirt and turf, and earnings of $2,024,550. Her grade 1-placed son Fast Anna, another Calabrese homebred, is the sire of five-time grade 1 winner and leading Horse of the Year contender Thorpedo Anna .
Other top horses for Calabrese were 1997 Frizette Stakes (G1) winner Silver Maiden, grade 2 winners Exclusive Praline and Lewis Michael, and grade 3 winners Romacaca, Where’s Sterling, Dreaming of Liz, and Fight for Ally.
A visitation will be held Nov. 7 at Ryan-Parke Funeral Home in Park Ridge from 9:30-11 a.m. followed by an 11:30 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial at Saint Paul of the Cross Catholic Church.
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