Trainer Dravo Foley, a veteran of more than five decades in Kentucky’s horse industry and the father of trainers Greg and Vickie Foley, died March 29 at Kindred Hospital in Louisville, Ky., following a long illness. He was 75.
Foley launched his career as a trainer in 1959. According to statistical data from Daily Racing Form and Equibase, Foley won 1,123 races in his career from 6,203 starters. The last of those winners came at Churchill Downs June 13, 2007, when he won a $15,000 maiden-claiming race with Q Mac’s Phone.
Foley was the leading trainer during the winter/spring meet at Latonia, now Turfway Park, in 1967. But he enjoyed his greatest training success at River Downs, where he won multiple training titles, and at Michigan tracks that included Detroit Race Course and Hazel Park.
Top horses trained by Foley included Tiger Lure, a multiple stakes winner who won 23 of 82 starts while running against the likes of local stars Vodika Collins, Mythical Ruler, Dreadnought, Sun Czar, and Shot n’ Missed. Tiger Lure earned $273,358 in career that stretched from 1977-83.
Foley also collected titles as leading owner at tracks in Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan. He was also the breeder of Taylor’s Special, who won the 1984 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland and ran 13th in the Kentucky Derby for owner William F. Lucas and trainer Bill Mott.
Foley is also survived by son Greg and daughters Vickie Foley, Sharon Foley, and Lisa Wirth.
Stoess Funeral Home in Crestwood, Ky., is in charge of funeral arrangements. Visitation is scheduled March 31 from 2-8 p.m. (EDT), with services at the funeral home April 1 at 11 a.m.
The family has requested that expressions of sympathy be made in the form of donations in Dravo Foley’s memory to the Kentucky office of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. The mailing address for the Kentucky HBPA is 3733 South Fourth Street, Louisville, KY, 402014.