Washington Trainer Craig Roberts Dead

Craig Roberts, one of the Northwest’s most successful Thoroughbred trainers and the only Washington-based conditioner to saddle a grade I winner, has died from pneumonia.

Roberts, 78, had been in poor health since suffering two strokes last winter, and was rehabilitating at a Seattle-area nursing facility when he contacted pneumonia.

Best known as the trainer of grade I winner Slew Of Damsacus, for decades Roberts operated formidable barns at Longacres and later Emerald Downs. He finished fifth all-time with 39 stakes victories at Longacres, and had 116 victories and eight stakes wins at Emerald Downs.