Dominick Imperio, a former Thoroughbred trainer mostly on the New York circuit, died Tuesday in a hospital in Ocala, Fla. due to complications from cancer. He was 78. According to Equibase, Imperio won 177 races from 1,812 starters from 1976 to 1992. His son, Michael Imperio, a current owner on the New York circuit, said his father trained and won races in the 1960s as well. Dominick Imperio was forced to stop training in 1992 after his arrest in a money-laundering scheme. He spent the last two decades in Florida, raising weanlings and breaking yearlings, mostly those belonging to his son, but some for other owners. “He was happy, all his friends were here,” Michael Imperio said from Ocala. “He’d go to all the farms and even get updates on horses I had that were training on other farms.” Among Dominick Imperio’s most accomplished horses were six-figure earners Hare Brain, Waterzip, I’llmakeitup, Ying n’ Yang, and Ethnarch. Ethnarch gave Imperio his lone graded stakes victory, that coming in the Grade 3 Display Handicap in 1979. Michael Imperio said he worked for his father as a hotwalker from ages 13 to 18 before he went into the commodities business. It was Dominick Imperio who brought his son back into the sport when, in 2004, he gave Elizabeth Loftus, Michael’s wife, a weanling as a birthday present. That horse turned out to be Unleaded Bridel, who won three races. Michael Imperio built his stable up to 60 horses. He now owns 30 horses. Joe Imperio, a former trainer and current NYRA clocker, said his uncle was “a great ambassador” for the game and helped get his training career started. “He helped me a lot,” Joe Imperio said. “I wouldn’t have been anything in this business without him.”