Lin Wheeler, a retired West Coast trainer whose father, Robert Wheeler, is in the Hall of Fame as a trainer, died Jan. 5 at his home in Coursegold, Calif., following a lengthy illness, according to Daily Racing Form. He was 70.
Wheeler, whose father had died in 1992, stopped training in the mid-1990s.
After walking hots as a youngster, Lin Wheeler got a trainer's license at 16 and went to work for his father before going out on his own. He conditioned 12 stakes winners including Rascal Lass, who won the 1985 Fantasy Stakes (gr. I) and then finished second in the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I). Others that won stakes while trained by Wheeler include Gourami, Maheras, Quilche, and Individual Style, who won the 1993 Hollywood Prevue Breeders' Cup Stakes (gr. III).
Following his training days, Wheeler managed Bruce McNall's Summa Stable, served as a racing official at Charles Town, and worked at Robert N. Clay's Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky.
Wheeler's survivors include a son, Jeff, and a daughter, Sherri. Funeral arrangements are pending.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the California Thoroughbred Horsemen's Foundation, P.O. Box 660129, Arcadia, Calif., 91066-0129.
