California lost the golden boy of its golden age of horse racing Sept. 26 with the death of Precisionist at the age of 25 (click here for the story on his death). The champion was laid to rest at Old Friends retirement home near Georgetown, Ky., where he had spent his final months.

Voted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 2003, Precisionist had undeniable star quality and longevity. To see his brilliant red coat flashing down the lane in the late afternoon sunshine was to instantly fall in love with him. And so many did. During his career from 1983-88, gigantic crowds flocked to Santa Anita and Hollywood Park to see the powerful chestnut run. He was truly a people’s horse.

As a precocious juvenile, he built a following and defeated older horses as a sophomore. He then campaigned in the nation’s top handicap races. He won short and long, from six furlongs to 10, on dirt and once on grass.

Owner Fred Hooper bred Precisionist in Florida, but California soon adopted the flashy colt. Hooper won the Kentucky Derby with the first horse he owned, Hoop Jr. in 1945, and tried for the rest of his lengthy life to win another. But Precisionist didn’t get Hooper to Louisville in the spring of 1984. Trainer Ross Fenstermaker decided against it after the headstrong Precisionist, with regular rider Chris McCarron aboard, blew a three-length lead in the stretch of the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) before a record crowd of 63,130 and lost to 32-1 shot Mighty Adversary. Instead, he stayed home and won the 1 1/4-mile Swaps Stakes (gr. I) by 10 lengths