Joseph Culmone (May 13, 1931 – July 23, 1996) was an American Champion

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

. in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing. Joe Culmone was born in

Delia Delia is a feminine given name, either taken from an epithet of the Greek moon goddess Artemis, or else representing a short form of '' Adelia'', '' Bedelia'', ''Cordelia'' or '' Odelia''. Meanings and origins According to records for the 1901 ...

, Sicily, where he lived in a farming area and learned to ride horses. His mother died during World War II and in 1946 he emigrated to the United States to join his father in

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

. He began working as a stable hand and exercise rider at the Atlantic City Race Course and embarked on his jockey career at Florida's

Tropical Park Race Track Tropical Park Race Track was a horse racing facility built on at the current intersection of Bird Road and the Palmetto Expressway in Southwest Dade Miami part of metropolitan Miami, Florida and what is now Olympia Heights. The race track was ...

in late 1948. A year later he was meeting with great success as an apprentice rider, scoring back-to-back triple wins on racecards at Tropical Park in December 1949

In 1950 Culmone tied the great Bill Shoemaker for the most wins of any jockey in the United States with 388, a total that equaled a forty-four-year-old world record set by Walter Miller in 1906

Culmone worked as a contract rider for the famous

Brookmeade Stable Brookmeade Stable was a successful thoroughbred horse racing stable owned by Dodge automobile heiress and socialite Isabel Dodge Sloane. Sloane first won using the name Brookmeade Stable at the Manly Memorial Steeplechase at Pimlico in 1924. I ...

and also rode for noted owners such as

Calumet Farm Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of the Bluegras ...

and

Harry Z. Isaacs Harry Z. Isaacs (May 30, 1904 – September 23, 1990) was a Baltimore, Maryland businessman, a philanthropist, and a major owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses who operated and resided at Brookfield Farm in Glyndon, Maryland. Among his ...

. During his career, he competed primarily at racetracks from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

along the Eastern Seaboard to Florida and at Oriental Park Racetrack in Cuba. He rode five winners on a single racecard several times and on November 27, 1950 won six races on a single card at

Bowie Race Track The Bowie Race Track was a horse racing track located just outside the city limits of Bowie, Maryland. The one mile oval racetrack, known as Prince George's Park, was opened October 1, 1914 under the auspices of the Southern Maryland Agricultural ...

In the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, U.S. Triple Crown series, Culmone had five rides in the Preakness Stakes with his best finish a sixth in 1957 and again in 1964. Retired from racing in 1972, Joe Culmone died in 1996 at age 65 at his home in

Cherry Hill, New Jersey Cherry Hill is a township within Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a population of 74,553, which reflected an increase of 3,508 (+4.94%) from the 71,045 counted in the 2010 census.

.Staff
"Joseph Culmone Sr., 65, a Hall of Fame jockey"
'' The Baltimore Sun'', July 28, 1996. Accessed January 1, 2018. "Joseph Culmone Sr., 65, a Hall of Fame jockey who rode Prince Siam to a $311,000 first-place finish in the Garden State Stakes in 1965, died of natural causes Tuesday at his Cherry Hill, N.J. home."

References

Sources

December 15, 1949 ''Miami News'' article on jockey Joe CulmoneObituary for Joseph Culmone at ''The Press of Atlantic City''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Culmone, Joseph 1931 births 1996 deaths American Champion jockeys Sportspeople from Cherry Hill, New Jersey Sportspeople from the Province of Caltanissetta Italian emigrants to the United States