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Richard E. Dutrow Sr.

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Richard E. Dutrow Sr. (March 8, 1937 – February 19, 1999) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Along with King T. Leatherbury, John J. Tammaro Jr., and Bud Delp, he was part of Maryland racing’s "Big Four," a group that helped modernize flat racing in the 1960s and 1970s.

Dutrow began training in the 1950s. He lived in Hagerstown, Maryland, where his son Richard Dutrow Jr. was born in 1959. Starting at a small half-mile track, he trained at other Maryland tracks and Waterford Park in West Virginia before moving to larger circuits.

He built a reputation for quickly turning horses into winners through smart horse selection and training. He later trained in New York and produced top horses such as Lite The Fuse and King's Swan, known as the "King of Aqueduct." He also trained Flawlessly through her two-year-old season before she went to California.

In 1975, Dutrow led all U.S. trainers with a then-record 352 wins. He died in 1999 at age 61, and as of 2010 he remained among the all-time top fifteen in career trainer wins. His horses won many important races, including the Oceanport Handicap, Carter Handicap, and Bold Ruler Handicap.


This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:17 (CET).