Long-time Kentucky Derby Jockey Sets Record

The Kentucky Derby is coming up this Saturday and Josh has some hot tips – he says.   If Willie Shoemaker was riding one of the horses – I’d go with him, but he passed away more than eight years ago, but during his career he was one of the greatest in the sport – especially the in the Triple Crown races.

Willie Shoemaker won four Kentucky Derbys, plus two Preakness Stakes and five Belmont Stakes.  He placed or showed….meaning he was second or third in 14 other Triple Crown races.  He set a racing record when he won 485 races in one year in 1953.  For a long time he held the record for most career victories with 8,833.  And pretty good for a guy who didn’t ride a horse until he was 17.

Just 4 feet 11 inches tall and 98 pounds, today is the day in 1986 that at the age of 54, Shoemaker became the oldest jockey ever to win the Kentucky Derby.  And riding 18 to 1 shot Ferdinand, it was a pretty good pay day.

SOURCE: HistoryChannel