By T. D. Thornton
Louis Albertrani, a retired Thoroughbred trainer who grew up in Brooklyn and was best known for conditioning the 1999 Eclipse Award champion sprinter Artax, died July 13 at his home in Delaware after collapsing from an apparent heart attack. He was 67.
Albertrani's passing was confirmed to TDN Monday by his one-year-younger brother, Tom Albertrani, who himself had just retired from training earlier this spring.
Lou Albertrani was licensed between 1992 and 2021, according to Equibase. His trainees won $5.2 million in purses from 1,654 starts with a 133-161-191 win-place-show record.
Following his training career, Lou worked in the Parx racing office, Tom told TDN.
“Lou was a great guy, a very sociable type of guy,” Tom said. “He loved being around the horses, and even after he quit training, he still wanted to continue being a part of the horsemen's community. He just loved being around the horsemen and chatting with them every day. He was well-liked by a lot of people.
“He was a good horseman,” Tom continued. “We were both brought up around the same time. Our uncle [the New York-based trainer] Jack Abatemarco, taught us the ropes when we were very young, 13 or 14 years old. Lou was always a good horseman; just never really had that opportunity to get those good horses into his barn.”
But what Albertrani might have lacked in a consistent flow of horsepower was more than made up for by the blazingly fast Artax, a 1995 son of Marquetry.
Initially trained by Randy Bradshaw, Artax uncorked a nine-length win in his second lifetime start over 1 1/16 miles at Hollywood Park on Nov. 16, 1997, carrying the colors of Paraneck Stable.
Artax went on to win the GII Santa Catalina S. and the GII San Felipe S., before running third in the GI Santa Anita Derby, and he finished 13th in the 1998 GI Kentucky Derby.
The colt then went winless for more than a year, and during that time Paraneck Stable transferred him from the West Coast to New York, handing over the care of Artax to Albertrani. Lou had demonstrated success with Paraneck's East Coast-based runners starting in 1995, and he was tasked with trying to figure out the nearly black-coated colt's best distance and class level.
Switched to sprints, in his third start for Albertrani, Artax won the GI Carter H. at Aqueduct on May 2, 1999, establishing a then-record 1:20.04 clocking for seven furlongs. His Beyer Speed Figure for that breakout effort was a whopping 123.
Artax's next start wasn't a victory, but it was the most bizarre race of his–and Albertrani's–career.
Favored at 4-5, Artax was making a run at the leaders in the stretch of the six-furlong GIII Maryland Breeders' Cup H. on the GI Preakness S. undercard when an intoxicated patron ran onto the track from the Pimlico infield and took up a boxer's fighting stance as the horses barreled toward him.
The patron, who was later arrested, swung at Artax but missed with a wild right hook aimed at the white-star blaze on Artax's face. The blow instead glanced off the boot of jockey Jorge Chavez, but when Artax veered to avoid trampling the trespasser, the colt wrenched an ankle.
Artax, who had a habit of breaking slowly and was at his best when leading the pack, wasn't sidelined for long. But he did lose six consecutive races, and just when it seemed as if he might be a longshot for a championship run, he rounded back into top form as the Breeders' Cup approached.
Artax won the Sept. 25 GI Vosburgh S. at Belmont Park. Then he set a 1:07.66 track record for six furlongs in the Oct. 16 GII Forest Hills H. at Belmont, a mark that still stands. In that 6 1/2-length victory, Artax matched his 123 Beyer earned in the Carter H.
In the 1999 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint Nov. 6, Artax drove to the lead and held on for a determined half-length score, establishing a then-record 1:07.89 track record for six furlongs at Gulfstream Park that registered a phenomenal 124 on the Beyer scale.
Tom told TDN that day was special for both Albertrani brothers.
“A great memory is when we both won Breeders' Cup races the same exact day. Artax won the Sprint, and when I was [an assistant trainer to Saeed bin Suroor] for Godolphin, we won the Turf with Daylami (Ire). So that was a great thrill we shared together.”
Three weeks later, Artax was retired. The day the colt was to be entered as the likely favorite for the then-GI Cigar Mile, he was found to have suffered a torn suspensory ligament in his left foreleg while training for that stakes.
Albertrani trained for Paraneck through 2000 before parting ways with his main client. He subsequently spent a six-month stint training for Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz in Saudi Arabia before returning stateside.
Arrangements for Albertrani's funeral services are pending.
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