Thomas Root Jr.

Thomas Francis Root, Jr., was born on November 12, 1932, in St. Louis Missouri.

His father trained Thoroughbred racehorses on the Midwest circuit, and from a very young age he rode horses and harbored an ambition to be a jockey. This ambition was thwarted by a growth spurt the summer before he turned 16. His other childhood passion was baseball. He was a very good hitter, but he preferred pitching; in any case, while he was too big to be a jockey he was probably just a bit too small to be a truly top-notch baseball player.

After graduating from high school he entered the University of Kentucky to study animal science, with the intention of being a veterinarian. He subsequently transferred to Ohio State after being informed by the President of the University that he would be admitted to the vet school there.

However, having changed schools without changing majors, he found himself exposed to the military draft. He was much luckier than many others who served during this time, the height of the Korean Conflict, being one of only two soldiers in his training class to receive orders to remain stateside, at Camp Gordon, Georgia. There he served in a veterinary clinic for a time, and later worked as a dental technician. He was befriended by a Dentist/Colonel who was a horse racing aficionado, and he recalled that he spent much of his army days playing golf and drinking as the Colonel’s guest at the officer’s club. He also took some law courses at the University of Georgia.

Following his discharge from the army in 1955 he married his wife, to whom he had been introduced several years earlier at Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey, by a cousin of hers who was also involved in horse racing. He and his wife took up residence in Columbus, Ohio, and he finally received his degree from Ohio State in 1956. He always maintained that his wife had helped him immeasurably by doing much of the research for a paper he needed to complete in order to graduate.

After graduation he decided to essentially forego his formal education, however, and he become an assistant trainer to his father, who was then head trainer for Pin Oak Farms Racing Stable in New York. In 1959 he went out on his own, and he maintained a public stable in New York until 1972. Some of his clients during that era included Nelson Bunker Hunt, Sam and Stella Steckler, George Covert, Jake Litwin, Dave Shaer, Anthony Corrado, Bertram Cutler, Robert Dick, Joseph P. Tonelli, Earle Mack, Dr. Louis Akin, and Harry T. Mangurian, Jr.

In 1972 he became a private horse trainer and consultant to Mr. Mangurian, who was endeavoring to develop Mockingbird Farm (located here in Ocala on State Road 200—now the site of a Jaguar Dealership, among other things) into a major breeding and racing operation. Some of Mangurian’s horses he trained included Desert Vixen, who won back-to-back Eclipse Awards in 1973 and 1974 as outstanding filly and outstanding handicap mare, respectively; Valid Appeal, her full brother, who later became a very prolific stallion; Redundancy, who won 5 straight graded stakes races, American History, an early favorite for the 1975 Kentucky Derby until being sidelined with an injury; Green Room; Charming Story; Dance Princess; and Iron Constitution, who finished second to Triple Crown Winner Seattle Slew in the 1977 Preakness Stakes.

He remained with Mangurian until 1981, when he took a four-year hiatus to form his own breeding operation, called The Thoroughbred Horse Company. He made a successful public offering of their stock, and they became a publicly held corporation of approximately 500 shareholders, and were traded on the NASD OTC (“over the counter”) Market. He served as President of the corporation from its inception until its merger in 1985 with ALCO International, an overseas shipping company.

In 1985 he returned to training horses for Mangurian in New York. He worked very closely with his brother, Richard Root, who maintained a stable of Mangurian’s horses in Florida, and together they enjoyed some great success. Some of his horses from this era included Nany (a champion New York-bred), Proud and Valid, Happy Cherokee, and what seemed like an endless parade of very nice horses sired by Valid Appeal who invariably showed good speed and were always competitive. He continued working for Mangurian until December 1991, then moved to South Florida where he maintained a public stable until his retirement in July 1992.

He resided in Hollywood, Florida with his wife until her passing in August 2005, just a little more than a month short of what would have been their 50th wedding anniversary. He then relocated to Ocala, where he resided with his son, Thomas Francis Root III, for the remainder of his life.

In his later days he and his son enjoyed cooking for one another, as well as hosting small dinner parties for their friends. Although his physical decline prevented him from playing golf and fishing, two activities he had enjoyed in his younger days, he stayed active working around and outside his townhouse. He kept his mind sharp working Sudoku, crosswords, and other word puzzles, as well as reading, mostly history and mystery stories. He and his son enjoyed spending time together watching television: historical and scientific programs, classic series and movies, following St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees baseball and Ohio State football, as well as the news and current events.

In many ways the last few years of his life were actually the very best, because that is when he began to fully embrace and practice his Catholic faith. For those last few years he attended Mass regularly--including First Fridays--and made frequent confessions. Also, following the suggestion of his Pastor, Father O’Doherty, he and his son made a habit of reading at least one chapter of the Gospels each and every morning, which they would then discuss. They also studied the catechism together, and, at the time of his passing he and his son had just completed studying an overview of the Old Testament.

His surviving family includes his brother Richard Root, his nephew Richard (Richard’s son), his great-nieces Rene and Mia, and his only child, his son, Thomas Root III, who can say without fear of contradiction that his father was not only his father but also his very best friend in the whole world.