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1954 Kentucky Derby
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The 1954 Kentucky Derby was the 80th running of the Kentucky Derby. The race took place on May 1, 1954. Full results References 1954 Kentucky Derby Derby Kentucky Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graded Stakes Race
A graded stakes race is a thoroughbred horse race in the United States that meets the criteria of the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA). A specific grade level (I, II, III or listed) is then assigned to the race, based on statistical analysis of the quality of the field in previous years, provided the race meets the minimum purse criteria for the grade in question. In Canada, a similar grading system is maintained by the Jockey Club of Canada. Graded stakes races are similar to Group races in Europe but the grading is more dynamic in North America. The grading system was designed in 1973 and first published in 1974. The original purpose of grading was to identify the most competitive races, which helps horsemen make comparisons of the relative quality of bloodstock for breeding and sales purposes. A high grading can also be used by racetracks to promote the race in question. When determining Eclipse Award winners, racing jour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Shoemaker
William Lee Shoemaker (August 19, 1931 – October 12, 2003) was an American jockey. For 29 years he held the world record for total professional jockey victories. Early life Referred to as "Bill", "Willie," and "The Shoe", William Lee Shoemaker was born in the town of Fabens, Texas. At , Shoemaker was so small at birth that he was not expected to survive the night. Put in a shoebox on the oven to stay warm, he survived, but remained small, growing to and weighing . His diminutive size proved an asset as he went on to become a giant in thoroughbred horse racing, despite dropping out of El Monte High School in El Monte, California. Jockey career Shoemaker's career as a jockey began in his teenage years, with his first professional ride on March 19, 1949. The first of his eventual 8,833 career victories came a month later, on April 20, aboard Shafter V, at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, California. In 1951, he won the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. At the age of 19, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony DeSpirito
Anthony "Tony" DeSpirito (December 24, 1935 – May 26, 1975) was a champion American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey who found instant fame when he won the national riding title in 1952 as an apprentice in his first full year of racing. Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Tony DeSpirito was the son of a millworker. He left school at an early age to work as an exercise rider at Rockingham Park in Salem, New Hampshire. There are conflicting newspaper reports of his birth year but the United States Social Security Death Index records him as being born in 1935. DeSpirito rode his first race as an apprentice jockey in 1951 at Narragansett Park in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. 1952 Championship In 1952, DeSpirito began his record-setting year well behind other American jockeys in races won, as he did not get his first win until January 22 at Sunshine Park in Oldsmar, Florida. He then began winning at a tremendous pace and had several racedays with multiple victories. During the week of J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homer C
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the most revered and influential authors in history. Homer's ''Iliad'' centers on a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles during the last year of the Trojan War. The ''Odyssey'' chronicles the ten-year journey of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, back to his home after the fall of Troy. The poems are in Homeric Greek, also known as Epic Greek, a literary language which shows a mixture of features of the Ionic and Aeolic dialects from different centuries; the predominant influence is Eastern Ionic. Most researchers believe that the poems were originally transmitted orally. Homer's epic poems shaped aspects of ancient Greek culture and education, fostering ideals of heroism, glory, and honor. To Plato, Homer was simply the one who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Boland
William Norris "Bill" Boland (born July 16, 1933 at Corpus Christi, Texas) is a retired American Hall of Fame jockey and trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing. Boland began his riding career in 1949 at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. While still a sixteen-year-old apprentice, riding Better Self for owner Robert J. Kleberg Jr.'s King Ranch and trainer Max Hirsch, Boland earned the first stakes race win of his career on April 29, 1950 in the Gallant Fox Handicap at Jamaica Race Course. He went on to the Kentucky Oaks aboard Ari's Mona then the following day rode Middleground to victory in the Kentucky Derby. Boland missed winning the U.S. Triple Crown series that year when he and Middleground finished second after a rough trip in the Preakness Stakes but then won the Belmont Stakes. In 1966 Boland won his second Belmont Stakes aboard Amberoid for trainer Lucien Laurin. Widely respected by his peers, in 1959 Bill Boland received the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert L
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honour, praise, renown" and ''berht'' "bright, light, shining"). It is the second most frequently used given name of ancient Germanic origin. It is also in use as a surname. Another commonly used form of the name is Rupert. After becoming widely used in Continental Europe it entered England in its Old French form ''Robert'', where an Old English cognate form (''Hrēodbēorht'', ''Hrodberht'', ''Hrēodbēorð'', ''Hrœdbœrð'', ''Hrœdberð'', ''Hrōðberχtŕ'') had existed before the Norman Conquest. The feminine version is Roberta. The Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish form is Roberto. Robert is also a common name in many Germanic languages, including English, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Scots, Danish, and Icelandic. It can be use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Erb
David Erb (November 28, 1923 – November 22, 2019) was an American jockey and trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing. He started riding as a young farm boy and began his professional riding career in 1938, competing at tracks in his native Nebraska. He got his first win at Oaklawn Park Race Track in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Born in Grand Island, Nebraska, as boy David Erb's family moved to a farm at York, Nebraska. He had his first introduction to horse racing at a Nebraska State Fair which triggered a desire to become a jockey and at age fifteen he rode competitively for the first time at a bush track in Clay Center, Nebraska. In the June 18, 1955 Californian Stakes at Hollywood Park Racetrack, Dave Erb was the substitute rider for the suspended Bill Shoemaker aboard Swaps. Erb piloted the three-year-old colt to a world record time of 1:40 2/5 for a mile and a sixteenth on dirt. That same year, Dave Erb became the regular jockey for future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Brooks (jockey)
Steve Brooks (August 12, 1922 – September 23, 1979) was an American Eclipse Award, National Champion and National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame jockey. The son of a horse dealer, he was born in McCook, Nebraska. He began riding horses as a boy of ten and at age sixteen in 1938 won his first race at an accredited race track. Steve Brooks skills led him to move to Chicago, Illinois to race at one of the United States' major venues, Arlington Park. There, in 1941 he won the Arlington Matron Stakes and in 1942 rode the Hal Price Headley-owned Lotopoise to victory in the first running of the Modesty Handicap, Modesty Stakes. Brooks later rode the prestigious Calumet Farm horses when they raced at Arlington Park and for three straight years from 1947 through 1949 won Arlington's riding title. In 1948 Steve Brooks won six races in a single day at Churchill Downs then at the same track the following year won the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Derby's Diamond Jubilee aboard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer. Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million; for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she reigned in the Quigley Poll's top 10 box office stars (a feat only matched by Doris Day, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand, although all were surpassed by Mary Pickford, who was in for 13 times). The U.S. Treasury Department in 1946 and 1947 listed her as the highest-salaried American woman; she earned more than $3 million during her career. Grable began her film career in 1929 at age 12, after which she was fired from a contract when it was learned she signed up under false identification. She had contracts with RKO and Paramount Pictures during the 1930s, and appeared in a string of B movies, mostly portraying college students. Grable came to prominence in the Broadway musical ''DuBarry Was a Lady'' (1939), which brought her to the attentio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry James
Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized and was active again with his band from then until his death in 1983. He was especially known among musicians for his technical proficiency as well as his Tone (musical instrument), tone, and was influential on new trumpet players from the late 1930s into the 1940s. He was also an actor in a number of films that usually featured his band. Early life Harry James was born in Albany, Georgia, United States, the son of Everett Robert James, a bandleader in a traveling circus, the Mighty Haag Circus, and Myrtle Maybelle (Stewart), an acrobat and horseback rider. He started performing with the circus at an early age, first as a contortionist at age of four, then playing the snare drum in the band from about the age of six. It was at this age ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney
Cornelius "Sonny" Vanderbilt Whitney (February 20, 1899 – December 13, 1992) was an American businessman, film producer, government official, writer and philanthropist. He was also a polo player and the owner of a significant stable of Thoroughbred racehorses. Early life Born in Old Westbury, New York, he was the only son of the wealthy and socially prominent Harry Payne Whitney (1872–1932) and his wife, Gertrude Vanderbilt (1875–1942). He had a younger sister, Barbara Vanderbilt Whitney (1903-1982), and an elder sister, Flora Payne Whitney (1897–1986). As a member of both the Whitney and Vanderbilt families, he inherited a substantial fortune. He also proved to be a very capable businessman in his own right. Career After graduating from Yale University in 1922, he went to work at a Nevada mine owned by his father. Whitney's paternal grandfather, William Collins Whitney, was a co-founder and director of the Guaranty Trust Company of New York, and in 1926, Whitney was ap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sylvester Veitch
Sylvester E. "Syl" Veitch (February 24, 1910 – February 14, 1996) was a Hall of Fame thoroughbred horse trainer. He was the son of Silas Veitch, a jockey and trainer who began his career as an exercise boy with the powerful Joseph E. Seagram stable in his native Canada and who would become a successful steeplechase trainer in the United States. Sylvester Veitch followed in his father's footsteps and also began his career in racing as a jockey and trainer in steeplechase racing. In 1939 he moved to flat racing when he was employed as a trainer with Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney in Kentucky. He won two Belmont Stakes while in Whitney's employment, one in 1947 with Phalanx and the second in 1951 with Counterpoint. In 1958 he left his position with C.V. Whitney and began employment with George D. Widener, Jr. where he trained What a Treat, and many other notable horses. In 1971, after Mr. Widener's death, Sylvester Veitch opened his own public stable. He was inducted int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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