Retired Trainer Wallace Dollase Dies at 78

Surrounded by family, retired trainer Wallace (Wally) Dollase passed away Friday night following a lengthy illness in Kentucky at age 78.  The trainer of Eclipse Award Champions Itsallgreektome (Eclipse Male Turf Horse 1990) and Jewel Princess (Eclipse Older Filly or Mare 1996), Dollase, who was born Aug. 1, 1937, in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, was known as a consummate horseman who paid strict attention to detail while embracing a “family-first” approach to a highly successful training operation in Southern California.

“My dad passed away peacefully with his family by his side last night,” said Michelle Dollase this morning.  “My mom would like to thank everyone for their kind wishes.”

After raising his family at Rancho Rio Vista Farm located northeast of San Francisco, Dollase, his wife, Cincy and children Aimee, Carrie, Craig and Michelle, moved to Southern California and, in an incredible 16-year span from 1990 to 2006, Dollase amassed 78 stakes wins that included 18 Grade I triumphs across North America.

A winner of Santa Anita’s Grade I Malibu Stakes with King of the Heap in 1996, the Grade I Santa Margarita Handicap in 1998 with Jewel Princess and the track’s Grade I Las Virgenes Stakes with A.P. Adventure in 2004, Dollase was also a two-time winner of the Grade I Travers Stakes at Saratoga, with the father-son team of Deputy Commander in 1997 and Ten Most Wanted in 2003.  (His Jewel Princess also won the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Distaff, run in 1996 at Woodbine).

The Dollase family remains active in the Thoroughbred business, as his youngest child, Aimee, is an assistant in Southern California to Tom Proctor, daughter Michelle is currently training at San Luis Rey Downs and son, Craig, has a public stable currently based at Los Alamitos.