Bernie Flint (Jan. 15, 1940-July 17, 2026) remembered as larger than life as trainer, person
Video: Picture this! Flint’s 54 years as a trainer in photos
(Undated photo above of Bernie Flint at Churchill Downs. Courtesy Lance Flint)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Friday, July 17, 2026) — Bernie Flint, who for decades was among the most successful thoroughbred trainers around the Midwest and beyond, died Friday morning in Louisville after a lengthy illness. He was 86.
Flint’s family was by his side when he passed.
“It’s been a rough few years, but Dad was always a fighter,” son Lance Flint said in an email. “He was even making jokes on his way to the hospice care. He fought till the end, and his loved ones surrounded him during his final days.”
Steve Flint, who spent years as his dad’s assistant before going out on his own, posted on Facebook: “The man that watched me take my first breath took his last. He was my Hero, he was surrounded by loved ones. Thank you for the outpouring of love & respect we have received at this time.”
Flint also is survived by wife Terri and son Scott Flint, a veteran blacksmith in Kentucky. The family plans to have a celebration of life in the fall to honor Flint.
“The word ‘legend’ is thrown around too loosely, but it applies in the case of Bernie,” said trainer Dale Romans, president of the Kentucky HBPA. “He came across as gruff but was really a softy who would help anyone. His success on the track is underappreciated because most of it happened before the current era with racing dominated by a handful of the very largest stables. Bernie cut his teeth with claiming horses, but had a lot of top-quality runners over the years, including with horses that didn’t cost a lot of money. Everybody knew Bernie. He was a real racetrack character, whose combination of personality, training ability and sheer longevity sets him apart.”
Trainer Ron Moquett, whose Churchill Downs barn was near Flint’s, likewise knew Bernie for decades.
“Bernie was larger than life,” Moquett said. “You always knew when he was around with that loud, booming voice and thick New Orleans accent. And people were having a good time. His owners and barn knew two things for sure when they were with him. First, they were going to have fun and be entertained with his colorful stories. Second, they were going to win. His ability to get the most out of a horse and find the winner’s circle was remarkable. It didn’t matter where he was stabled; he did it consistently for more than 50 years.
“I’m thankful for the help he gave me when I was starting out and for always making himself available anytime I needed advice throughout my career. Horse racing lost one of the good ones.”
At 6-foot 3½ inches and a peak weight of 245 pounds, the former New Orleans Police Department officer and homicide detective indeed was a looming and booming fixture in Kentucky, Louisiana and Arkansas. He completed his training career officially with 3,551 victories, which ranks No. 21 all time in North America. That includes 501 at Churchill Downs, at the time making him the sixth trainer to reach 500 under the Twin Spires. Fittingly, Flint went out a winner, with Bright Spark his last starter on Nov. 10, 2023, at Churchill.
Flint moved his main base to Kentucky in 1980. He earned meet titles at Turfway Park a then-record 20 times as well as being the leading trainer at Churchill Downs, Keeneland, Oaklawn Park, Hoosier Park, Ellis Park, Canterbury, Sportsman’s Park and Balmoral, according to the Blood-Horse. He also won multiple training crowns at Jefferson Downs.
Flint-trained horses won almost $65 million in purses (most of it before the money became so lucrative in Kentucky). His 28 graded stakes ranged from Top Corsage in Churchill Downs’ 1988 Falls City Handicap to America’s Tale in Gulfstream Park’s 2019 Inside Information. His most successful runners included 14-time winner Hurricane Bertie, who has a stakes named for her at Gulfstream, and Swept Away for the Klein family of Louisville. Runway Model, winner of Keeneland’s 2004 Alcibiades, went on to take third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies before capturing Churchill Downs’ Golden Rod for owner Dr. Naveed Chowhan. The homebred One Mean Man won five stakes and his full sister Mizz Money won four for Flint and Hillerich.
The Flint-trained sprinter Sovereign’s Ace didn’t win a graded stakes but became a popular fixture and multiple stakes-winner in Louisiana and Kentucky, winning 26 of 90 starts.
After he ran his last horse as a trainer, Flint continued as a racehorse owner and breeder, through his L.T.B. Inc. (named for Lance, Terri and himself), predominantly in Indiana and in partnership with long-time client Ron Hillerich of Louisville.
One of the Flint-Hillerich partnership horses, Unbridled Express, won a Churchill Downs maiden race while easily defeating Street Sense, who went on to become the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner and 2-year-old champion and the 2007 Kentucky Derby winner. Unbridled Express, who finished third in Saratoga’s Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes in an abbreviated career, became a leading stallion in Indiana, including siring Jr Shadow Boy, last Saturday’s unbeaten Hoosier Breeders Sophomore Handicap winner trained by Indiana HBPA president Joe Davis.
Hillerich said in a Kentucky HBPA tribute article about Flint published last year that some of the fun was gone from racing with Flint no longer training.
“The biggest part of the racing I’ve been involved in was being able to go to the backside and visit with Bernie in the morning,” Hillerich said then. “Bernie holds court there — used to — in the tack room. I miss that…. He’s one of the best horsemen, and he doesn’t get the proper credit. He’s got that eye for a horse that a lot of horsemen don’t have.”
Indiana HBPA executive director Tim Glyshaw met Flint years ago when he was a young trainer looking up to the older horseman who had become an icon on the circuit they shared.
“Bernie had a major presence in Indiana racing over the past 20 years, producing and training very nice Indiana-bred and -sired horses,” Glyshaw said. “His trainee Unbridled Express has produced many stakes winners while standing stud in Indiana. On a personal note, I was stabled next to Bernie at Churchill Downs and the Fair Grounds for over 12 years. He was always kind and always there to help if I ever needed anything. He will be missed.”
Flint was known for standing up for horsemen’s rights, wherever he raced.
Said Louisiana HBPA president Benard Chatters: “He was a real New Orleans horse-racing legend and will be sorely missed by all.”
