Trainer Tim Salzman passes
Laurel-based trainer had battled cancer
Frank Vespe
February 8, 2026
Maryland-based trainer Tim Salzman has died Feb. 7 after a battle with cancer, his wife Megan said on Facebook. He was 54.
Salzman posted 425 training victories in a career that lasted from 2003 through 2025, generating more than $10.2 million in purse earnings from 2,958 career starts.
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Salzman’s early training years were his most productive, and he topped $1 million in purse earnings three times, in 2005, 2007, and 2008. The first of those saw him win a career-best 73 races, while in the last of them, his charges earned a career-top of more than $1.66 million.
Salzman’s best trainee was the multiple Grade 2 winner Bsharpsonata, whom he piloted through the most productive part of her career for Cloverleaf Farms II. Under his tutelage, the daughter of Pulpit registered a four-race win streak capped by triumphs in the Grade 2 Forward Gal and Grade 2 Davona Dale, both at Gulfstream Park. Those were the only graded wins of his career.
Salzman also trained Sensible Lady to a half-dozen stakes wins and over $400,000 in earnings for Three Lyons Racing.
He was also the trainer of the speedy turf sprinter Kosmo’s Buddy for Arnold and Adam Smolen. In 2008 she won the Crank It Up Stakes at Monmouth Park and then two months later bested the boys in the Maryland Million Turf Sprint. Kosmo’s Buddy later gained additional fame as the dam of Horse of the Year Knicks Go.
Salzman was the son of trainer John Salzman, Sr., who conditioned the Hall of Famer Xtra Heat, and the brother of Maryland trainer John Salzman, Jr.
“For those of you who know my brother Timmy, he fought cancer for a long time and he didn’t give in, but he couldn’t answer the bell for the last round,” John Jr. said in a message notifying the backstretch community at Laurel. “The dear Lord stopped the fight. Rest in peace brother, I love you.”
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