LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Peter Fuller, owner of the thoroughbred Dancer’s Image that won the 1968 Kentucky Derby but was disqualified days later, has died of cancer in Portsmouth, N.H. He was 89.
Fuller died Monday at a skilled-care facility, according to one of his daughters, Miranda Bocko of Rye, N.H.
Fuller was a second-generation Boston auto dealer and son of a former Massachusetts governor who watched Dancer’s Image rally from last to win by 1 1/2 lengths over Forward Pass.
A few days later, traces of the drug phenylbutazone were found in Dancer’s Image’s post-race urinalysis. Dancer’s Image was disqualified by the stewards and placed last. Forward Pass was declared the winner.
Fuller told The Associated Press in 2008 that the incident and resulting fallout remained “very bright” in his memory.
