Trained Hall of Famer Xtra Heat
LAUREL, MD—Laurel Park mourns the passing of retired trainer John Salzman Sr., who died yesterday at age 81.
Salzman started his training career in 1978, achieved his first victory in 1979, and retired in 2025 with a record of 828 wins and $16,037,554 in purse earnings.
Salzman’s best horse was Xtra Heat, a daughter of Dixieland Heat out of Begin, by Hatchet Man. Salzman purchased her as a yearling for $5,000 and raced her in partnership with Kenneth Taylor and Harry Deitchman.
A true speedball, Xtra Heat won 26 of 35 races, including 11 graded stakes victories. A two-time winner of the Grade 2 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel and the Grade 3 Endine Stakes at Delaware, Xtra Heat captured the Grade 1 Prioress Stakes on July 4, 2001.
In a Washington Post article by John Scheinman, published on December 30, 2000, Salzman described Xtra Heat’s upcoming 3-year schedule leading up to the Prioress. “I’m not letting up on her,” Salzman said after Xtra Heat won the Kattegat’s Pride Stakes at Laurel Park. “She’s getting 30 days, six weeks between races. Putting a horse like her out in the field is asking for trouble. She won’t stop running. I check her four or five mornings a week, and she eats everything.”
After winning the Prioress, Salzman said, “She’s as good as they got. She can’t prove much more than she did today.”
Xtra Heat finished a close second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint in 2001 and placed third in the Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen the following year.
She won 25 black-type stakes races in her career, a record for a filly or mare. She was named the champion 3-year-old filly in 2001 and retired in 2003 with lifetime earnings of $2,389,635. Xtra Heat was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2015.
Salzman was known for his prowess with 2-year-old runners. In a 1994 Daily Racing Form piece, Tom Atwell wrote that Salzman “got his start in Maryland racing circles rubbing horses for the late Tex Anderson. Then, 25 years ago, he began winning races on his own. A few years later, [he] began going to Florida every winter to buy 2-year-olds. [He knew] talent when [he] saw it. First winners, then stakes-winners.”
In a Daily Racing Form article by Atwell, published September 10, 1992, Salzman said, “The first horse I bought was Noble Holme, and he made $250,000, back when that was quite a bit of money.”
The following month, Salzman’s 2-year-old Lord of the Bay won the Grade 3 Laurel Futurity. He also trained Tee Kay to win the Grade 3 Martha Washington Stakes at Laurel in 1994. His final win came on April 13, 2025, with Happy Hour Joker at Laurel.
Salzman’s training legacy lives on through his family. His son, John Salzman Jr., is a successful trainer based in Maryland. His daughter-in-law, Megan, won her first race as a trainer on September 13. Megan is the widow of Salzman Sr.’s son, Tim, who passed away earlier this year after a long, brave battle with cancer.