Funeral services for John P. Campo Sr., who died Monday at the age of 67, are
scheduled for Friday at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in
Ozone Park, New York.
The outspoken and always quotable conditioner was born in East Harlem, New
York, and quit school at 15 for the racetrack. He worked for Hall of Fame
trainers Lucien Laurin, “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons, Johnny Nerud and Eddie Neloy,
personally handling champion Buckpasser while an assistant for Neloy. Campo
started his own stable in 1968 and saddled 101 winners the following year. In
1970, he became only the second trainer to win at least 100 races in New York
alone.
Campo became better known nationally when sending out Jim French to runner-up
finishes in the 1971 Kentucky Derby and Belmont S., and he trained a pair of
juvenile champions in 1973 in Protagonist and Talking Picture. Affectionately
known as “The Fat Man,” Campo went on to saddle Pleasant Colony at the beginning of
the next decade.
Winner of the 1980 Remsen S. (G2), Pleasant Colony captured the Wood Memorial
(G1) the following spring before sweeping the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness
(G1). The dark bay colt’s Triple Crown bid fell 1 3/4 lengths short with a third
in the Belmont S. (G1). Pleasant Colony finished a close second in the Travers
S. (G1) and won the Woodward S. (G1) prior to being named champion
three-year-old colt.
“The sad thing is that it takes a death to realize how great a trainer he
was,” said Nick Zito, a former assistant to Campo. “He trained a two-year-old
colt champion (Protagonist), a two-year-old filly champion (Talking Picture) and
he won the Kentucky Derby, along with a lot of other winners. He had a flair for
the game.
“Some people may have taken him for being arrogant or whatever, but there
were an awful lot of people who enjoyed his style. He came from humble
beginnings and he came on the scene at a time when he showed the world that the
little guy, the guy who had to work from the ground up, could be a success in
this business.”
Trainers John Parisella and Bruce Levine also served as assistants to Campo.
“He was a genius,” Parisella said. “Everything he did, he did really well and
he had an incredible work ethic. This man should be in the Hall of Fame. I
worked for him for two years from 1967-69. You’re at the barn early in the
morning, everyone is grumpy and then, here comes John and suddenly the place is
alive. He just loved what he was doing.”
In 1986, tragedy struck Campo’s barn when a fire at Belmont Park killed 36 of
his horses. He never fully recovered from the loss. During the 1990s, a stroke
and diabetes forced a premature retirement and his eyesight began to fail.
Campo is survived by his wife, Peggy, and sons John Jr. and Paul, who is the
racing secretary for the New York Racing Association.