Larry Lloyd Snyder (June 29, 1942 – October 29, 2018) was an American

Thoroughbred horse racing Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in t ...

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 ...

whose career spanned thirty-five years from 1960 to 1994. In the early 1960s he began competing 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 ...

where he would win eight riding titles. Beginning in 1964, he also rode at

Arlington Park Arlington International Racecourse (formerly Arlington Park, the name was Arlington Park Jockey Club from as soon as 1948 up to 1955) was a horse race track in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Horse racing in the Chicago regi ...

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

where he won the riding title in 1974 and 1976, then at

Louisiana Downs Louisiana Downs Casino & Racetrack is a horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It i ...

Bossier City, Louisiana Bossier City ( ) is a city in Bossier Parish in the northwestern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana in the United States. It is the second most populous city in the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan statistical area. In 2020, it had a ...

he won six riding titles between 1981 and 1986. In 1969 Snyder won 352 races, more than any other jockey in the United States that year. On April 1, 1969, Snyder won six races on a single card at Oaklawn Park, the first jockey to ever do so at that racetrack. On August 17, 1981 Snyder tied a

record when he rode five winners on a single program, including for all three divisions of the Myrtlewood Stakes. Among his notable wins were victories in the 1983

Rebel Stakes The Rebel Stakes is a Grade II American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt run annually in March, at Oaklawn Park Race Track in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The event currently offe ...

aboard that year's

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 ...

winner,

Sunny's Halo Sunny's Halo (February 11, 1980 – June 3, 2003) was a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1983 Kentucky Derby. In 1986, Sunny's Halo was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Background Foaled at Oshawa, Ontario, Sunny's Halo wa ...

, as well as the 1989

Arkansas Derby The Arkansas Derby is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually in April at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It is currently a Grade I race run over a distance of 1 1/8 miles (9 furlongs) on dirt. In 2004, t ...

on Dansil whom he would ride to a fourth-place finish in both the Kentucky Derby and

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 () on ...

. At Louisiana Downs on August 24, 1989, Larry Snyder became only the sixth rider in U.S. racing history to reach 6,000 wins. That year, his distinguished career was recognized by his peers through the prestigious

George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award The George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award has been presented by Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, annually since 1950 to the thoroughbred horse racing jockey in North America who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct ...

. The honor is awarded by

Santa Anita Park Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races ...

to a

North American North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...

jockey who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack. Snyder's last full season of riding was in 1994. He retired with career earnings of $47,207,289 and 6,388 victories which ranked him in the top ten in career wins among American jockeys. After retiring, he worked as a race steward at Louisiana Downs and Oaklawn Park. While still an active rider, in 1988 Larry Snyder was inducted in the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and in retirement, in 2001 was honored on the Arkansas Walk of Fame in Hot Springs. He was nominated for induction in 2006 in the

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American Thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers. In 1955, the museum moved to its current location on Union Av ...

. In 1999, he was inducted into the

Fair Grounds Racing Hall of Fame The Fair Grounds Racing Hall of Fame was created in 1971 by the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the Uni ...

. Snyder died of cancer on October 29, 2018, aged 76.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snyder, Larry 1942 births 2018 deaths American jockeys American Champion jockeys Sportspeople from Toledo, Ohio