Graded stakes-winning trainer Larry Demeritte, who inspired many in battling cancer while training 2024 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve starter West Saratoga, died May 19 in Louisville, Ky., according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. He was 75.

The first Bahamian to enter a horse in the Kentucky Derby, Demeritte sent out 2023 Iroquois Stakes winner West Saratoga to a 12^th-place finish in the 150^th run for the roses.

The paper reported that Larry’s wife, Inga Demeritte, said her husband suffered cardiac arrest after a long battle with cancer.

Demeritte, who became the first black trainer to start a horse in the Kentucky Derby since Hank Allen in 1989, conditioned West Saratoga for owner Harry Veruchi, who landed the future graded stakes winner for just $11,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. While Veruchi signed the ticket, Demeritte selected the future graded stakes winner, a gray or roan son of Exaggerator – Mo Wicked, by Uncle Mo, at the sale.

Larry Demeritte with West Saratoga. (Heather Jackson/BloodHorse)

After enjoying success conditioning horses in his homeland, Demeritte dreamed of making it big in the United States. The drive to make that happen led him to relocate to the States in the mid-1970s and eventually become a U.S. citizen. Beginning with occasional U.S. starters in the 1980s, over the years he developed a reputation for being able to find quality racehorses at a reasonable price.

He quipped after bargain purchase West Saratoga won the 2023 Iroquois Stakes: “I have champagne tastes with a beer budget.”

Mark Taylor, president and CEO of Taylor Made Farm, recalled Demeritte’s pursuit of horses and friendly demeanor in a May 20 social media post.

“Larry was so kind and positive,” Taylor said. “He would make me smile in Books 5 and back, which wasn’t easy. He had his priorities right and had faith in God. What a wonderful human being. God bless his soul.”

Earlier in his career Demeritte sent out Memorial Maniac to victory in the 2010 Stars and Stripes Turf Stakes at Arlington International Racecourse. His horses have posted a 184-253-247 record from 2,138 starts and have earned more than $5.3 million. Demeritte’s last stakes victory came on New Year’s Day of this year when Grace On Grace won the Gowell Stakes at Turfway Park.

Veruchi, who has been in horse racing for more than 40 years, noted last year that Demeritte was a hands-on trainer who focused on his horses in a smaller operation than many of his competitors.

“Larry is a super person. He works hard,” Veruchi told Kentucky HBPA media in 2024. “He never leaves a stone unturned and is just a terrific trainer. I love the guy.”

Demeritte had suffered from multiple myeloma, a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called plasma cells, and from amyloidosis, a rare disease that affected his heart. Upon receiving his first cancer diagnosis in 1996, he was given five years to live. When he developed amyloidosis in 2018, he was told he wouldn’t survive more than six months.

“I always say, doctors can’t count,” Demeritte told BloodHorse last year. “Faith, prayer, and just believing that I am here for a purpose. It was pretty rough, and it’s rough now. By evening time, my legs are swollen. I have to take medicine to keep my heart going.”

The love of horses also helped Demeritte keep moving forward. He grew up the son of a horse trainer in the Bahamas. Every Friday, he and his brothers would run when school ended to hop on their neighbor’s truck and head to the track. He said seeing Secretariat on television inspired him to venture to the U.S.

“I come because what is the use in staying home feeling sorry for yourself when the horse is going to bring a smile to your face,” Demeritte said of continuing to go to the barn each morning despite his physical ailments. “You got to get up and go.”