Alfredo Callejas, who trained horses in New York from 1977 until his retirement in 2004, died at his home in Beverly Hills, Fla. on Jan. 12, according to his son, Bernardo Callejas.
Born Oct. 20, 1936, Callejas began working for his father in his native Buenos Aires, Argentina when he was 16. He took out his own trainer’s license five years later, and came to America at the request of his friend and fellow countryman, Robert Perez, to train Perez’ horses.
Callejas’ top horse for Perez was Cupecoy’s Joy, who won two-thirds of New York’s “Triple Tiara” for 3-year-old fillies when she won the Acorn Stakes (gr. I) and Mother Goose Stakes (gr. I) in 1982. Callejas also trained Senor Speedy, who was beaten a nose by Housebuster in the 1991 Forego Handicap (gr. I), and conditioned El Bakan to a third-place finish in the 1993 Preakness (gr. I).
Other top Callejas-trained horses were Astudillo, Call Me Up, Caponostro, Golden Tajniak, Lucy’s Glory, Medium Turn, Mil Kilates, Pacific Fleet, Queen of Triumph, Richard’s Lass and Soft Senorita.
Callejas is survived by his wife, Lillian, sons Bernardo (a Belmont Park-based trainer), and Claudio, and grandchildren Camila and Matias.
