Multiple Classic-winning trainer Geoff Wragg has died at the age of 87.
During his first season after taking over the licence from his father, Harry, Wragg gave Lester Piggott his ninth Epsom Derby success with Teenoso in 1983.
Another top-class performer was Pentire, who won six of his seven starts as a three-year-old in 1995, including the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot, the Great Voltigeur at York and the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.
The following year he returned to Ascot to win the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Newmarket trainer and former mayor of the town, John Berry, hailed Wragg as the “father figure of Newmarket trainers”.
“Geoff dying really is the end of an era,” Berry told At The Races.
“Harry trained two Derby winners and was at the top of the training tree. Geoff took over from him in 1983 and it was a seamless transition.
“For the next 30 years, virtually, he was as successful as his father had been.
“He was an absolute gentleman and the father figure of Newmarket trainers.
“He’s been in very poor health and it was going to happen at some point, but it’s a very sad day and it leaves a big hole in the community.”
Michael Hills partnered Pentire to all but one of his eight career victories.
“I worked for Geoff for six years and we had the most amazing time,” he said.
“There was Pentire winning all those races, Arcadian Heights winning the Gold Cup, Nicolotte winning the Queen Anne, First Island winning the Prince of Wales’s and Rebecca Sharp in the Coronation Stakes. I must have ridden about 10 Group One winners during that time.
“He was a fantastic trainer and a great man who was always an absolute pleasure to ride for.”
Wragg, who retired in 2008, also enjoyed Classic success in Ireland, with Marling in the 1992 Irish 1000 Guineas. The filly also won the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood that year.
