best trainer. He set earnings records, Grade I stakes victory records, and many others. Frankel also won the Pacific Classic Stakes a record six times, including four times in a row, also a record. Some of his best race horses include: Squirtle Squirt, his first Breeders' Cup winner; Skimming, two-time winner of the Grade 1 Pacific Classic Stakes; Sightseek, winner of the Humana Distaff Handicap (Gr. I) and Ogden Phipps Handicap (Gr. I); triple Grade I winner Empire Maker, winner of the Belmont Stakes (Gr. I); multiple Grade I winning Peace Rules; two-time Santa Anita Handicap (Gr. I) winner Milwaukee Brew; Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Gr. I) winner Starine, whom he also owned; and Ghostzapper, the Breeders' Cup Classic (Gr. I) winner who was voted the 2004 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year. Frankel was the U.S. Champion Trainer by earnings in 2002 and 2003. On June 26, 2005, Wild Desert, owned by several businesspeople including former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, gave Frankel his first victory in the $1 million Queen's Plate, the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown at Woodbine Racetrack. Personal life and death Frankel was married twice. His first wife was Bernadette Birk (b. 1950) Birk was a Roman Catholic of Welsh descent who converted to Judaism when they married. They had one daughter Bethenny Frankel (born 1970), who later went on to become a television personality and businesswoman. They divorced after four years of marriage and Bernadette remarried another horse trainer John Parisella. Parisella and Frankel were originally friends as well as competitors. In 2003, he married Bonita Boniface. They divorced in 2006. Frankel died at his home in California on November 16, 2009, at the age of 68, after being diagnosed with leukemia. Estranged from his daughter and once good friend (and step-father to Bethenny) Parisella, he reconciled with both before his death. He is interred at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, California. Legacy On November 1, 2014, Bobby's Kitten, named after the late Hall of Fame trainer, captured the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita Park. Bobby's Kitten is owned and bred by Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey, who were clients of Frankel. The colt is trained by Chad Brown, who was Frankel's New York assistant. In 2010, the San Gorgonio Handicap - a race Frankel won eight times - was renamed the Robert J. Frankel Memorial