Composer and racehorse owner Burt Bacharach dies at 94

Acclaimed composer Burt Bacharach, also a longtime racehorse owner and breeder, died Wednesday at age 94.

Associated Press reported that he died of natural causes at his Los Angeles home.

Bacharach's songs are standards, including “Walk on By,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head."

His interest in horse racing began as a child on Long Island, N.Y., and continued while a student at UCLA, where he would frequent Hollywood Park, columnist Jim Murray wrote in the Los Angeles Times in 1994.

His first horse, Battle Royal, was trained by Charlie Whittingham and was claimed after winning his first start for Bacharach. He was "crushed," Murray wrote, and he made Whittingham buy him back.

Battle Royal was ridden by Lafitte Pincay, who went on to the Hall of Fame. “Later on, we won a lot of good races with Heartlight No. One," Pincay told the Santa Anita media team. "Burt was just a good friend. I will always be grateful to him because after my first wife passed away, he took me under his wing.

“My kids were very young and he would invite us out to dinner almost every weekend. I will always be very appreciative of that. That’s something that I will never forget. He was really a good friend and I tell you, it hurt me to hear that he passed away.”

Bacharach's top horses included Soul of the Matter, winner of four graded stakes and the first West Virginia-bred horse to run in the Kentucky Derby, where he finished fifth in 1994. In his final race, he dueled Hall of Fame great Cigar down the stretch before finishing second by a half-length in the 1996 Dubai World Cup, the inaugural edition of that race.

He also owned Afternoon Deelites, who won seven of 12 starts, including six graded stakes, and was eighth in the 1995 Kentucky Derby.

Soul of the Matter and Afternoon Deelites were conditioned by Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella, who told Horse Racing Nation that Bacharach "was a great owner, truly enjoyed his horses and was involved. And a great friend along with it."

He said the two of them "had a lot of good days and a lot of pleasure working together. … We'd hang out at Del Mar, go out in the ocean and walk in the water. swim a little, hang out."