Longtime Thoroughbred owner and breeder Bob Lothenbach has passed at the age of 64, officials at Canterbury Park in Minnesota confirmed on Wednesday. Funeral arrangements remain pending at this time.
Lothenbach has raced both in Minnesota and nationally at the highest levels for decades. He won his first Canterbury Park leading-owner title in 2002. Two years later Mayo On the Side, bred in Kentucky by Lothenbach, won the 2004 Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs with trainer Carl Nafzger. Lothenbach has owned nine graded stakes winners including additional Grade 1 winners Bell's the One and Vacare.
A 2023 inductee into the Canterbury Park Hall of Fame, Lothenbach's familiar royal blue silks with red diamonds began appearing in the Canterbury winner's circle on a regular basis in recent years. He has been the leading owner the past three seasons, setting an earnings record in 2022 with $1,521,176 in purses. Lothenbach won more than 200 races at Canterbury with earnings in excess of $5.2 million.
In fact, Lothenbach has been supporting Minnesota horse racing since Canterbury Park in Shakopee first opened in 1985. The longtime racing fan called on three of his friends, each of whom put in $1,000 to claim a horse. The partners made money with that first claim, and Lothenbach was hooked.
Lothenbach is known outside of racing for his contributions to the printing industry. He worked 40-hour weeks during his senior year of high school and built his own major printing company from the ground up.
“I started 30 years ago out of my garage with $1,800 to my name,” Lothenbach told the Paulick Report in 2021. “Back then, the printing industry was pretty old school, and it could take several weeks to process an order. With my company, I told people, 'When you need it, I'll get it for you.' It single-handedly changed the printing industry in Minnesota.”
The company grew to over 1,300 employees, and Lothenbach was inducted into the Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame in 2013. He sold a majority share in 2016, and now focuses much of his time on other investment projects as well as his Lothenbach Family Foundation.
“I'm really big on literacy for kids, because when I was a kid I really struggled with school and reading; in fact I still do today,” Lothenbach said. “So the foundation supports literacy programs for kids, as well as veterans and a few other charities.
“People helped me get where I'm at, so I try to return the favor.”
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