Horseman and official, Frank Dubreuil, 71, dies

CUMBERLAND, ME – Francis (Frank) M. Dubreuil Jr. a well-known and well-respected harness racing horseman and racing official died on June 24, 2024, at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, MA due to complications of diabetes.

Frank Dubreuil Jr. was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1953 to Francis M. ‘Frank’ ‘Papa’ Dubreuil Sr. and Charlotte Jean (Johnson) Dubreuil.

An all-state, all-sport athlete Dubreuil excelled in Football, Basketball, Baseball and Softball.  He played football with the famed 1971-1972 Tolman High School, which were the undefeated state champions that season.

Dubreuil rubbed his first horse at Foxboro in the mid-70s, then bought one and shipped to Maine to race.

In 1978 he was first licensed by the USTA, and then advanced to a ‘P’ driver finishing on the board 28 times in 214 starts during the early 1980s.  Then he started training and picked up 113 wins with earnings of $194,919 throughout the 1990s.

After several decades of racing horses, he landed the position of paddock judge at Plainridge when they reopened in 1999 and held that job through 2015.  Dubreuil also worked in the race office as the assistant race secretary.

During that time, he also traveled from his home in Massachusetts to Scarborough Downs to earn his associate judge’s license.  His mentor Charles Malia noted, “Frank was a real road warrior.  He drove 300 miles a day for hundreds of days each year just to put his time in and earn his spot on the roof.”

Most recently Dubreuil enjoyed his role as the paddock gate security officer and identifier, checking in the horses on each race day.  This served him well in his other role as the presiding judge at Cumberland Raceway.  Enjoying the camaraderie and weekly interaction with the horse people, he could catch all the drivers after the draw on Tuesdays for their picks and changes due on Wednesdays.  Frank enjoyed sharing his program with the reinsmen, along with a smile and a story or two.

In addition, Dubreuil was also licensed as a race secretary and served in a variety of capacities around many of Maine’s popular pari-mutuel fairs.

Anyone that met Frank knew that they had a friend for life.  It was abundantly clear to his admirers throughout New England that not only had he ‘been around forever’ but also that ‘he knew just about everyone.’

An active participant on many levels, Dubreuil has owned over 40 horses in his 45-plus years in the Standardbred industry, and still boarded and foaled mares this season at his small farm in Rehoboth, Mass. Despite having one prosthetic leg and dealing with complications of diabetes, Frank still made his way up on the roof over the course of the last 10 weeks of racing at Cumberland and continued working the race paddock check-in gate at Plainridge.

Dubreuil is survived by his partner of 30-plus years, Jennifer Allen, with whom he built a home and a working farm. Despite the recent hardships of maintaining a horse farm and Dubreuil’s chronic illness, Allen has still managed to keep his hundreds of friends and colleagues updated on social media of his recent health struggles.

Service information will be announced when available.

by Chris Tully, for First Tracks Cumberland