Laverne Andrew Fator (October 21, 1899 – May 16, 1936) was an American

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

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 ...

. Born in

Hailey, Idaho Hailey is a city in and the county seat of Blaine County, in the Wood River Valley of the central part of the U.S. state of Idaho. The population was 7,960 at the 2010 census, up from 6,200 in 2000.Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

and Elmer all became jockeys. The most successful of the three, Laverne Fator's riding career began at small

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 ...

s in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

. His first major win came in 1918 at

Oriental Park Racetrack Oriental Park Racetrack in Marianao, Havana, Cuba, was a thoroughbred horse-racing facility operated during the winter by the Havana-American Jockey Club of Cuba. Founded in 1915, Oriental Park was the only race track in Cuba in the days before ...

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. Returning to the United States, he raced on the

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

circuit in a professional career that lasted through 1933. A contract jockey for

Rancocas Stable Rancocas Farm was an American thoroughbred horse racing stud farm and racing stable located on Monmouth Road ( County Road 537) in the Jobstown section of Springfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey. Pierre Lorillard IV The farm was foun ...

, in 1925 and 1926 he was the

United States Champion Jockey by earnings There is recognition for the United States Champion Jockey by earnings but no formal award is given to the jockey whose mounts earned the most purse money in American Thoroughbred racing.American Classic Races 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 ...

, Laverne Fator rode in the

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 ...

four times, earning his best finish in 1926 when he finished fifth aboard

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

. For the 1932 running, prominent stable owner

Edward R. Bradley Edward Riley Bradley (December 12, 1859 – August 15, 1946) was an American steel mill laborer, gold miner, businessman and philanthropist. As well as a race track proprietor, he was the preeminent owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehor ...

offered top rider Laverne Fator his choice of the two horses he had entered. Fator chose the colt Brother Joe, leaving

Burgoo King Burgoo King (1929–1946) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the first two legs of the U.S. Triple Crown series but who did not run in the final race, the Belmont Stakes. Background Owned by Colonel Edward R. Bradley and foaled ...

for 19-year-old

Eugene James Eugene D. James (March 14, 1914 - June 10, 1933) was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, James was a very promising young jockey who began racing in 1930 at age seventeen. According to ''Time'' magazine, h ...

who won the race. Of his three mounts 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 () on ...

, Fator's best result came aboard

Mad Play Mad Play (foaled 1921 in Kentucky) was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by August Belmont, Jr., he was sired by Fair Play, who also sired Man o' War, out of a Rock Sand mare, Mad Cap. He was a full brother to 1921 U.S. Champion ...

when he finished third in 1923. Laverne Fator died in a fall from a Jamaica (N.Y.) Hospital window while awaiting an

operation Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

. The cause of death was said by

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

magazine to be suicide but it has been reported that he may have been disoriented from his illness and fell accidentally. On its creation, Laverne Fator was inducted in the United States'

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 1955.

References

May 17, 1948 TIME magazine article

Laverne Fator at the United States' National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fator, Laverne 1899 births 1936 deaths People from Hailey, Idaho American jockeys American Champion jockeys United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees