Horse Racing News is the source of thoroughbred racing information with horse racing odds, betting tips, racing picks, race results, and handicapping. Latest news and articles on top horse racing contenders, jockeys, trainers, three-year-olds, race tracks, and major stakes races such as the Triple Crown races: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes as well as the Breeders' Cup horse races.Hall of Famer & 5-Time Kentucky Derby Winning Jockey Bill Hartack Dead
Posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
On the night of November 26, 74-year-old Bill Hartack, Hall of Famer and five-time Kentucky Derby winner, was found dead in a cabin while on a hunting vacation in Freer, Texas.
According to Dr. Corinne Stern, the chief medical examiner in south Texas’ Webb County, he died from natural causes due to heart disease. Bill Hartack’s family has been notified, and funeral arrangements were being made.
Bill Hartack and fellow Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Arcaro are the only jockeys to win the Kentucky Derby five times. Bill Hartack won his first Kentucky Derby aboard Iron Liege in 1957 then with Venetian Way in 1960, Decidedly in 1962, Northern Dancer in 1964 and Majestic Prince in 1969.
Hartack also won the Preakness Stakes with Northern Dancer in 1964, Majestic Prince in 1969 and Fabius in 1956. Bill Hartack’s lone Belmont Stakes win was with Celtic Ash in 1960.
In the 1950s, Bill Hartack was among the rulers of horse racing. He was the leading rider by earnings (1956-57) and the leader by number of wins (1955-57 and 1960). He became the second jockey to ride as many as 400 winners in a single year (1955) when winning with 417 of his mounts.
Considered among the fiercest riders in the game, Bill Hartack rode until 1974 and had 4,272 wins from 21,535 mounts, winning an impressive 19.8% of his races. He later rode in Hong Kong from 1978-80.
Following his retirement, Bill Hartack remained in the horse racing industry as a steward at several tracks. He recently worked the Louisiana Downs meeting.
“What we’ll remember is his tenacity, his competitiveness,” said Chick Lang, Bill Hartack’s agent in the 1950s and the former general manager of Pimlico Race Course. “He liked what he was doing, and he did it very well. In his profession, there was no one better.”
Born in 1932 at Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, William John Hartack Jr. was raised by his coal-mining father on a farm. At the age of 17, he took a job as an exercise and stable boy with trainer Junie Corbin at Charles Town Race Course in West Virginia. He won his first race in 1952 at Waterford Park in West Virginia and was later elected to the Hall of Fame in 1959 at age 26.
"Hall of Famer & 5-Time Kentucky Derby Winning Jockey Bill Hartack Dead" was posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2007 at 7:35 pm and is filed under Horse Racing Industry, Trainers, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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