Bob Back, a Kentucky-bred son of Roberto who contested the second Breeders’ Cup Turf (gr. IT), was euthanized last month, according to the Racing Post. He was 30.
Joseph Allen was the breeder of Bob Back, who was sold for $150,000 at the 1982 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale and was sent to Ireland that year.
Bob Back was a group winner in England and Italy. An Italian champion at 2, he went on to place in the Derby Italiano (It-I) as a 3-year-old and win the Premio Presidente Della Repubblica (It-I) at 4. In consecutive starts in England, he won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Eng-II) over the filly Pebbles and finished third in Pebbles’ Coral Eclipse (Eng-I) triumph. Bob Back also was group stakes-placed in Ireland and France.
Returned to the United States for the 1985 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Aqueduct, Bob Back prepped for the race in the Man o’ War Stakes (gr. IT). Racing for owner Bruce McNall, he finished second. In the Breeders’ Cup, Bob Back proved no match for Pebbles as she won and he finished unplaced.
Bob Back, who raced mostly for Allen Paulson the next two years, was retired with six wins from 34 starts and earnings of $386,080. He was returned to Ireland for stud duty.
Bob Back first stood at Baroda Stud and later at Ballylinch Stud, both in Ireland. He sired 35 stakes winners, including Bob’s Return, who won the classic Coalite St. Leger (Eng-I) and was an English and European champion, and Italian champion Wren. But it was as a jumps sire that Bob Back achieved his greatest fame at stud, siring such stars as Burton Port and Cousin Vinny.
Bob Back, who was produced from the stakes-winning Carry Back mare Toter Back, hailed from the family of 1965 North American co-Horse of the Year Roman Brother.
