Pioneering Racetrack Photographer Bob Coglianese Dies at 88

[Wandering Eyes]

Bob Coglianese, whose work from Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course and Aqueduct Racetrack, served as the standard of excellence in racing photography for a generation, died Friday, the New York Racing Association has announced.

Coglianese, who had been ill for several months after a fall requiring surgery, died on Friday in Boynton Beach, Florida. He was 88 years old.

As NYRA's official track photographer for more than 50 years, Coglianese was noted for iconic images of horses from Kelso and Dr. Fager to Secretariat, Affirmed and Cigar, and most of all for his iconic head-on shot of Secretariat in the 1973 Belmont Stakes, which Sports Illustrated called the greatest racing photo of the 20th century.

“My father worked almost 300 days a year taking photographs at the track, and he treated every day like it was the Belmont Stakes,” said his son Adam, who took over the business from his father in 2013. “Every day was the same–the same dedication to the racing industry and to NYRA. He taught me everything I know, and when I teach people who work for me or amateur photographers, I go back to the advice and the lessons my father taught me.”

“Bob Coglianese was a giant in the world of racetrack photography, with his images among the best ever taken of thoroughbred racing,” said Dave O'Rourke NYRA President and CEO. “Bob combined an extraordinary work ethic with a knack for innovation and a passion for the sport. He was a master at the craft and a mentor to countless photographers working today. NYRA offers our condolences to Bob's family and friends, and we look forward to honoring his memory in the months ahead.”

Secretariat, with jockey Ron Turcotte up, won the 1973 Belmont Stakes by an astounding 31 lengths to become racing's ninth Triple Crown winner, and Coglianese's memorable head-on shot captures the magnitude of what many consider to be the greatest racing performance ever. The image still crops up in books and magazine features and is commemorated in a floor-to-ceiling mural on the first floor of the Belmont Park grandstand.

Bob Coglianese photo

As was his style, Coglianese underplayed how he happened to get the shot. “It was a big race, it was the Belmont Stakes, and there was a photo stand over there and I was on it, shooting the race,” he said in 2018. “It just so happened I got that shot.”

Coglianese earned two Eclipse Awards for excellence in racing photography, in 1972 and 1980. “He would always say the Eclipse Awards were luck,” said his son, Adam, “but he was very proud of his Eclipse Awards. For a long time, he was the only person who had won two Eclipse Awards. He captured two images that you couldn't duplicate if you tried.” Coglianese was also the winner of the George Featherston Award in the mid-eighties.

His Eclipse Award-winning photos came in 1972, when he caught a horse and a bird hitting the wire at the same time at Aqueduct, and in 1980 for “The Savage,” a photo of the 1980 Tremont S., where Golden Prospector reached over and savaged the winner, Golden Derby.

Coglianese was part of NYRA's small and elite fraternity of official photographers with roots going back more than than a century. In 1952, while in his teens, he went to work at the New York tracks, assisting his uncle, Mike Sirico, who had been a NYRA photographer since 1920. Sirico had been brought into the game as an apprentice to famed Charles C. [C.C.] Cook, whose New York track photos date to the very first years of the 20th century.

In 1955, Sirico took over as NYRA's official photographer. Coglianese assumed the role in 1962, and was succeeded by his son, Adam, who holds the position today. Along the way, Bob Coglianese's pictures became memorable not just for all the famous horses and races he covered from Belmont Park, Aqueduct Racetrack and Saratoga Race Course as well as Gulfstream Park in the winter, but sometimes as historical documents that demonstrate how racing has evolved.

Adam and Bob Coglianese | NYRA photo

On March 14, 1969 at Aqueduct, Coglianese was on hand to record Barbara Jo Rubin's victory aboard Bravy Galaxy, which made her the first female jockey to win a race in New York. And he was also there during the post parade where, as Rubin recalled a few years ago, people were yelling at her to give up racing and go home. He was also there afterwards when Rubin was warmly congratulated by future Hall of Famer Angel Cordero; the photo of the two of them appeared in newspapers around the country and signaled an acceptance of Rubin in New York that had eluded her elsewhere.

A strict taskmaster who insisted that people do their job properly, Coglianese was joined by his son Adam in the business after graduating from school in the early 1990s.

“It was my decision to go into the business in the Nineties after college,” said Adam. “It was at the tailed end of film, which was a heck of lot more involved than the digital world we live in today. I had to be at work on time, I had to develop the film, I had to get my hands wet. My father didn't give me a break when it was raining or snowing or it was freezing. I went through the same, same tutelage that my father went through because my father worked for his uncle Mike Sirico.”

Adam worked alongside his father for 20 years before Bob Coglianese retired in 2013. Before his full retirement, when he felt comfortable leaving his son with the business, he started spending winters in the South of France, with which he had fallen in love. Later, owner Seymour Cohn introduced him to Anguilla, and he began spending winters there. But even after retirement, he spent summers at Saratoga.

“He would spend the summers at the booth at Saratoga with my mother, selling his famous photos, current champions and the prominent horses of the year,” said his son. “And he would have countless interactions with people about the history of the photos, and how he took this photo and what horses he liked. He would argue with people that Seattle Slew was better than Secretariat and vice versa, and voice his opinion about who he liked best.”

Among his favorite photos were two workout shots of Secretariat. “He recalled how beautiful the horse looked,” said Adam. “The way Ron Turcotte on him was so stretched out. He always spoke of that picture.” The second picture of one of Secretariat's works served as the model for the statue in the Belmont paddock. “He said it was shot in the early morning hours at a very slow shutter speed.”

But while he will be intrinsically linked to Secretariat, his son said he saw and remembered countless champions. “His favorite horses were Seattle Slew, Kelso. They just go on and on. He saw countless champions, and not just Secretariat. His first time at the racetrack was in 1952, when Native Dancer broke his maiden, and he kept that program his whole life.”

Coglianese is survived by his wife Rosalind, son Adam, grandson Ethan and daughter-in-law Tia Sozzi.

In lieu of flowers, the Coglianese family asks the horse racing community to kindly consider a donation to the Belmont Child Care Association, the Backstretch Employee Service Team or the New York Race Track Chaplaincy.

These non-profit organizations provide a host of services and support to the backstretch community in New York, and Bob valued their collective mission deeply.

“He loved going to the track,” said Adam Coglianese. “He loved sitting in the backyard talking to people. It was always about the history of racing in Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct. He loved what he did. Loved it. And he was definitely the pioneer of racetrack photography.”

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