Horse Racing Trivia

Did you know?

Here is some general horse racing trivia. See also some Melbourne Cup trivia.

Eddie Arcaro, one of the greatest jockeys in horse race history, rode 250 losers before he won his first race. Ultimately, Arcaro won 4,779 races - including five Derby winners, six in the Preakness, and six in the Belmont Stakes, on such famous horses as Whirlaway, Citation, and Kelso.
The lightest jockey on record weighed in at 49 lb! That is about 1/20 of the weight of an average race horse (1000 lb).
Sir Gordon Richards first won the Epsom Derby in 1953, when he was 49 years old. Scobie Breasley had to wait until he was 50 for his first Epsom Derby win, in 1964.
Sir Barton won the Belmont Stakes in New York in 1919, to become the first horse to capture the Triple Crown. This was the first time that the Belmont Stakes had been run as part of thoroughbred racing's most prestigious trio of events. Sir Barton had already won the first two jewels of the Triple Crown - the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Kentucky and the Preakness Stakes in Maryland.
The Kentucky Derby is the second oldest horse race in America. The race track was built on farmland in Louisville, Kentucky. The first race was held on May 17, 1875, with 10 thousand people in attendance. An African-American named Oliver Lewis rode the winner, Aristides.

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