Richard Mulhall, former trainer and racing manager, dies

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) Richard Mulhall, a trainer who went on to manage the careers of 2001 Horse of the Year Point Given and 2002 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner War Emblem, died Monday. He was 76.

Santa Anita publicity officials said Mulhall died at his home in Monrovia after a long illness.

Mulhall oversaw the late Ahmed Salman's The Thoroughbred Corp. when the stable included such runners as Point Given; War Emblem, the champion 3-year-old male of 2002; Anees, the champion 2-year-old male of 1999; and Jewel Princess, the champion older female of 1996.

Salman died of an apparent heart attack in his native Saudi Arabia in 2002, and his racing and breeding stock was dispersed in 2004. In following years, Mulhall made less frequent appearances at the races while fighting health problems.

A native of New York, Mulhall began training in 1959 after galloping horses and working in the stable of Willie Molter, the leading trainer at Santa Anita in the late 1950s. Mulhall's first stakes winner was Madison, winner of the San Diego Handicap at Caliente in Tijuana, Mexico, in 1967.

At Hollywood Park, he trained Simple Magic, who won the 1983 Landaluce Stakes; Nasib, who won the Vernon Underwood Handicap in 1986; and Mohamed Abdu, who won the 1990 Inglewood Handicap.

At Santa Anita, Mulhall won the 1987 San Felipe Handicap with Chart the Stars, who beat a group that included eventual Kentucky Derby winner Alysheba; and the 1988 San Rafael Stakes with What a Diplomat.

As a trainer, Mulhall had three runners in Breeders' Cup races, with his best finish a pair of fifths 1988 and 1994.

Mulhall's survivors include a son, Michael, and a daughter, Kristin, who is a trainer at Santa Anita, and two sisters.