Longtime West Coast Trainer Walsh Dies at 85
Former trainer Kathy Walsh died in her sleep May 8 in Chico, Calif., where she had resided for the past 2 1/2 years. She was 85.
In a training career that began in 1970, Walsh won 1,231 races and banked $19,372,724 in purse earnings, according to Equibase statistics. Her final starter came Oct. 3, 2021, at Los Alamitos Race Course.
Born March 18, 1940, in Sonoma, Calif., Walsh was the daughter of longtime Northwest-based trainer Jim Walsh. She obtained her assistant trainer’s license in 1962 and, in 1970, took over her father’s stable after his death. Walsh topped the trainer standings at Longacres four times in the 1970s and twice at Canterbury Park in Minnesota in the 1980s.
She was voted into Washington Racing Hall of Fame in 2009.
Walsh’s notable runners included grade 1 winners Georgie Boy and Nany’s Sweep , plus graded winners Devious Boy, Sarah’s Secret , Evening Promise , Mantles Star , and Staff Riot .
Walsh is one of just 17 female trainers to have started a horse in the Kentucky Derby (G1), running Hanuman Highway to a seventh-place finish in the 1998 classic at Churchill Downs.
Walsh’s niece, Joanie Webster, said her aunt had been dealing with dementia in recent years, which prompted Walsh’s move north to Chico.
While memorial details have not yet been finalized, Webster said they plan to have a race named in Walsh’s honor at Santa Anita Park before the close of the Hollywood Meet June 15.
This story will be updated.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
