Trainer Oscar Barrera Dead

Oscar Sosa Barrera, long a prominent figure on the New York thoroughbred racing scene and a trainer of thoroughbreds for 47 years, is dead at 63.

Barrera died Thursday night at Jamaica Hospital after suffering a heart attack at Aqueduct.

He was stricken about an hour after he saddled Loco Bleu, a horse he also owned, in the fourth race. The horse finished fifth.

One of five brothers to train horses, the best known of them Hall of Famer Laz Barrera, Oscar Barrera reached his peak when he won the New York trainer’s title four consecutive years between 1983 and 1986.

He leaves his wife Zaida and a son, Oscar Jr.