Trevor Amitage, the breeder of Beach Beauty, died yesterday in a hospital in the Volksrust area, after a long battle with leukaemia.
Trevor had been in remission from his illness recently, but the leukaemia returned with a vengeance a fortnight ago, and his lungs eventually packed in.
A huge, genial man, he was much loved in the racing arena and in farming circles, in the Standerton and Volksrust areas, where he raised cattle and bred many top class racehorses for a period of several decades.
Trevor was the son of the late Jim Armitage, one of South Africa's most successful breeders, who produced champions of the likes of Home Guard, Storm Signal, Bridesman, and Nile Guard, most of them trained by the late Henry Eatwell on lease terms.
Trevor's brother, Geoff, became the most successful breeder in Zimbabwe, before transferring his interests to South Africa during the Mugabe regime.
For many years, Trevor Armitage served as a Steward of the Newmarket and Rand Turf Clubs, at Newmarket Racecourse, demonstrating a ready grasp of the business side of racing, as well as providing his instinctive knowledge of what was good and proper for the horse.
He and his wife, Minou, were devastated by the untimely death of their older son, Mark, a few years ago, and the story is now well worn of how Mark's death precipatated the formation of the Shanks Syndicate, which elected to race the filly, Beach Beauty. "Shanks" had been Mark Armitage's nickname at school, and his widow, Ruth, forms part of the group which owns the filly.
Trevor is survived by Minou, his second son, Patrick, and daughter, Sylvie, who kindly phoned me earlier today, to advise me of her father's passing. It is understood that the memorial service will take place on Saturday.
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