Harry White (1944 – 21 October 2022) was an Australian jockey. He was one of the country's leading jockeys, especially in the 1970s, and was a four-time winner of the

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melb ...

. He also won three

Newmarket Handicap The Newmarket Handicap is a Victoria Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred open handicap horse race over a distance of 1200 metres, at Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia on Super Saturday in March during the VRC Autumn Racing Carnival. Prize ...

s, three Oakleigh Plates and three Futurity Stakes.

Early life

White was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, in 1944. His father was also a jockey who won the

Caulfield Cup The Caulfield Cup is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held under handicap conditions, although the Melbourne Racing Club is in the process of turning the race into weight for age (WFA) conditions. This is for all horses ...

in 1943. White was brought up by his grandparents and started working on riding track when he was a young teenager. His apprenticeship contract was revoked after he committed vandalism, but it was eventually reinstated after one year. He won his first race at the Braybrook Handicap held at Flemington Racecourse in July 1959.

Career

White usually rode for the "cups king"

Bart Cummings James Bartholomew Cummings (14 November 1927 – 30 August 2015), also known by his initials J. B. Cummings, was one of the most successful Australian racehorse trainers. He was known as the Cups King, referring to the Melbourne Cup, as he w ...

, George Hanlon, and Angus Armanasco. He rode the winners of four

s – on

Think Big In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, an ...

(1974 and 1975) and

Hyperno Hyperno (1973–2002) was a Thoroughbred racehorse foaled in New Zealand. He was a wayward but brilliant galloper that won the Melbourne Cup and other group and listed races. He was sired by Rangong (GB) out of Mikarla (NZ) by Persian Garden II ...

for Cummings (1979), as well as on Arwon for Hanlon in 1978. He tied Bobbie Lewis for most victories in that race. White was renowned for his judgment in long-distance events, and for sleeping in the jockeys' room before riding in a race, regardless of how important it was. He was also noted for preferring to use his hands rather than the whip, especially during the latter part of a race. His record in sprint races includes wins in three

s, three Oakleigh Plates and three Futurity Stakes. White also won the 1987 W. S. Cox Plate on

Rubiton Rubiton (18 October 1983 – 25 November 2005) was a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse of the mid-1980s. He was bred by the Oamaru Stud in Victoria. Rubiton's name was a combination of "Ruby" and "ton", a colloquial term for 100 runs ...

. Throughout his 35-year career, White registered 2,112 race wins, 60 Group 1 wins, and approximately 200 feature race wins. He was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2003.

Personal life

White was married to Lauris White for over 40 years, until her death from emphysema in January 2011. Together, they had three children: Karen, Dean, and Brent. After retiring in 1995, White resided with his family on a 200-hectare beef farm near Gisborne in

. Two of his horses – Think Big and Hyperno – were buried there. He ultimately sold the farm around the time of his wife's death. White went blind in his left eye after falling at the Caulfield Cup, a condition he disclosed only after retiring. He was later diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in July 2003. He died on 21 October 2022.

References

External links

Australian Racing Hall of Fame Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Harry 1944 births 2022 deaths Jockeys from Melbourne Australian Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees