Graded Stakes Winning Trainer Blusiewicz Dies at 92

Leon "Blue" Blusiewicz, a horse trainer of over 40 years, died at the age of 92 due to kidney failure. Blusiewicz had been in hospice care at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md. in the days before his death. Blusiewicz's death was first reported by David Grening of the Daily Racing Form Nov. 26. A long-time fixture on the Maryland and New York racing circuit, Bluesiewicz retired from training in 2017. He trained the winners of 184 races for earnings of $4,578,322. After his retirement, Blusiewicz continued working as a breeding and training consultant. Among the horses Blusiewicz trained are grade 1 winners Snow Plow and Willa On the Move, grade 3 winners Mighty Magee, Skipat, and Spartiatis. The latter won the 2017 Tom Fool Handicap (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack when Blusiewicz was 85 years old. In an interview with The Real Players of the Backstretch in 2022, Blusiewicz recalled training the grade 1-winning filly Snow Plow during her 1981 season. "A favorite moment for me was when I had this undefeated filly named Snow Plow," Blusiewicz said. "She won the Demoiselle and Selima when they were grade 1 races. The only horse to ever do that was Bed 'o' Roses but my filly had to give everybody seven pounds in (the Demoiselle) while she beat them at equal weights." Selected by Blusiewicz for $35,000 at the 1980 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Snow Plow would go on to earn $234,495.