Illinois trainer Brueggemann dead at 75

Posted December 17, 2020 12:00 am

Daily Herald staff report

Roger Brueggemann, the Illinois-based trainer of Arlington Million winner The Pizza Man and Breeders' Cup champion Work All Week, passed away on Tuesday after being hospitalized with the coronavirus, according to bloodhorse.com.

Brueggemann was 75.

According to Midwest Thoroughbreds, Brueggemann saddled 1,248 winners after earning his license in 1988. Before that, he was a mechanic for 30 years before retiring after a horse rolled over on him and broke his hip.

Brueggemann's first training title came at Hawthorne in 2007 and he moved to Midwest Thoroughbreds in 2010.

In 2014, Brueggemann saddled his first graded stakes winner when The Pizza Man captured the Stars and Stripes Stakes at Arlington International Racecourse.

Also in 2014, Work All Week won his first three races of the year before the son of City Zip went on to win the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Under Brueggemann's training, The Pizza Man won the Arlington Million in 2015, edging Big Blue Kitten to become the first Illinois-bred horse to win the area's biggest race.

Brueggemann was born Sept. 6, 1945, in Leesville, La.

World famous trainer Roger Brueggemann trained the horse Pizza Man that won the Arlington Million in 2015. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com

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