Thad Ackel is a retired American thoroughbred horse trainer

Horse trainer

In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...

. He was a California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

-based trainer and part-owner of Great Communicator

Great Communicator

Great Communicator is an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1988 Breeders' Cup Turf.Great Communicator suffered a breakdown in the 1990 Carleton F. Burke Handicap at Santa Anita Park and had to be euthanized.-References:...

, winner of the 1988 Breeders' Cup Turf

Breeders' Cup Turf

The Breeders' Cup Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for three-year-olds and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The race's current title sponsor is Emirates Airlines.The forerunner...

 and Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes

Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes

The Hollywood Turf Cup is an American stakes race for thoroughbred horses at Hollywood Park Racetrack. A Grade I event, it is open to horses, age three and up, and run at a distance of one and one-half miles. The Hollywood Turf Cup offers a purse of $250,000....

 as well as the 1989 Hollywood Turf Handicap

Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap

The Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually during the second week of June at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California...

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Ackel retired from training after his father, George Ackel, died in 1992. He returned to run his family's commercial real estate business in Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 where he then purchased a 30 acres (121,405.8 m²) farm in Covington, Louisiana

Covington, Louisiana

Covington is a city in and the parish seat of St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 8,483 at the 2000 census. It is located at a fork of the Bogue Falaya and the Tchefuncte River....

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