David Erb (November 28, 1923 – November 22, 2019) was an American jockey and trainer in

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...

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 Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, formerly Oaklawn Park Race Track, is an American thoroughbred racetrack and casino in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is the home to "The Racing Festival of the South", a four-day series of races that concludes with the A ...

Hot Springs, Arkansas Hot Springs is a resort city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Garland County. The city is located in the Ouachita Mountains among the U.S. Interior Highlands, and is set among several natural hot springs for which the city is n ...

. Born in Grand Island, Nebraska, as boy David Erb's family moved to a farm at

York, Nebraska York is a city in and the county seat of York County, Nebraska, United States. At the 2010 census, the city population was 7,766. It is the home of York College and the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women. History York was platted in 1869. ...

. He had his first introduction to horse racing at a

Nebraska State Fair The Nebraska State Fair is the state fair of the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is held annually in Grand Island, approximately 100 miles west of the state capital of Lincoln, which hosted the fair until 2010. The fair usually runs for 11 days, an ...

which triggered a desire to become a jockey and at age fifteen he rode competitively for the first time at a

bush track Bush track is a term used in horse racing to describe unsanctioned, informal horse races run in rural areas of the United States and southern Canada. Quarter horses, ridden by amateur jockeys, are raced on makeshift tracks, often set up in the fiel ...

Clay Center, Nebraska Clay Center is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Nebraska, United States. It is part of the Hastings, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 760 at the 2010 census. Geography Clay Center is located at (40.522291, ...

. In the June 18, 1955

Californian Stakes The Californian Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in late April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California (relocated from the now closed Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California). The Grade II event is open to ...

Hollywood Park Racetrack Hollywood Park was a thoroughbred race course located in Inglewood, California, about 3 miles (5 km) from Los Angeles International Airport and adjacent to the Forum indoor arena. In 1994, the original Hollywood Park Casino was added to t ...

, Dave Erb was the substitute rider for the suspended

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 Sho ...

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, Swoon's Son. Ridden by Erb in all but one of his twenty-two career stakes race wins, they competed primarily at tracks in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. In 1956 Erb won the most important races of his career aboard the future Hall of Fame colt, Needles. After winning the

Flamingo Stakes The Flamingo Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses run over a distance of a mile and one-eighth. Run as the Florida Derby until 1937, the inaugural event took place at Tampa Downs on February 27, 1926. There was ...

and the

Florida Derby The Florida Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Since 2005, it has been run five weeks before the Kentucky Derby, which is held on the first Sat ...

, Erb and Needles narrowly missed winning the

American Triple Crown In the United States, the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, commonly known as the Triple Crown, is a series of horse races for three-year-old Thoroughbreds, consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. The three r ...

. They won the Kentucky Derby, finished second to

Fabius In Roman mythology, Fabius was the son of Hercules and an unnamed mother. In "The Life of Fabius Maximus" from the '' Parallel Lives'' by Plutarch, Fabius, the first of his name, was the son of Hercules by a nymph or a woman native to the coun ...

in the

Preakness Stakes The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs () o ...

, then won the Belmont Stakes."The Saratogian.com" Greenfield Man looks back on his Derby Days
After retiring as a jockey in 1960, Dave Erb trained horses. In 1963, he enjoyed great success with the colt Hurry to Market who was voted American Co-Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. David Erb retired from the industry in 1988. He and wife, Lenni, settled on a small farm near Greenfield Center, New York. In 2008, Dave Erb became the 29th jockey to add his handprint and signature in cement to the "''Gallup to Glory''" display at the Galt House hotel in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

. Erb was a contestat on the TV game show '' To Tell the Truth'' on February 26, 1957. In September 2019, Erb, then aged 95 and suffering from dementia went missing and an alert was sent out to the general public. He was later found safe. However, he died two months later, a week shy of this 96th birthday.Kentucky Derby-Winning Jockey Erb Dies at 95
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erb, David 1923 births 2019 deaths American horse trainers American jockeys People from Grand Island, Nebraska