Albert M. Johnson (November 18, 1900 - September 18, 1966) was an American Hall of Fame jockey and trainer. [1] Born in the rural community of Milan, Washington, Albert Johnson began his career in 1917 at Playfair Race Track in nearby Spokane.
Owner/trainer Stuart Polk recognized Johnson's potential and signed him to a contract. [2] A year later, Polk sold Johnson's contract for a reported $15,000 to California horseman John H. Rosseter. [3] The astute Polk would then sign another future Hall of Famer, Laverne Fator and in 1920 his brother Mark Fator who would become the 1922 American National Champion jockey by wins.
Albert Johnson's success at local racetracks led to a move to tracks in the New York City area where he was the principal jockey for Morvich in his undefeated two-year-old season in 1921 and with whom he won the 1922 Kentucky Derby. [4] Johnson was hired by prominent owner/breeder Willis Sharpe Kilmer, whose racing stable had included Sun Briar and Exterminator. Riding for Kilmer brought Albert Johnson rode Exterminator to a number of important wins and ended 1922 as the United States Champion Jockey by earnings. [5]
In all, Albert Johnson won four American Classic Races. In 1925, riding for Glen Riddle Farm, he won the Belmont Stakes aboard a son of Man o' War named American Flag. [6] The following year Johnson won his second Kentucky Derby on Col. Edward R. Bradley's colt, Bubbling Over. [7] Back in New York a few weeks later, he won his second straight Belmont Stakes for Glen Riddle Farm with Crusader, another colt sired by Man o' War. [8] In the Preakness Stakes, Johnson had five career mounts with his best finish a fourth in 1926 and again in 1929.
Fighting to maintain his weight, in 1929 Johnson traveled to France where he rode in steeplechase races that accommodate heavier weight limits for jockeys. Returning home, he turned to training and in the mid-1930s was hired by longtime friend Bing Crosby to help condition horses for his Binglin Stable partnership. In 1937, Johnson was the trainer of record for Crosby's High Strike that won the Chula Vista Handicap.
Johnson went on to work as a timer at various major racetracks in California and was living in Millbrae at the time of his death in 1966. In 1971 he was inducted in the United States' Racing Hall of Fame, the Washington Racing Hall of Fame in 2006, and in 2018, the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame. [9] [10]
Desmond Sandford "Sandy" Hawley, is a Canadian Hall of Fame jockey.
Gary Lynn Stevens is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey, actor, and sports analyst. He became a professional jockey in 1979 and rode his first of three Kentucky Derby winners in 1988. He had nine wins in Triple Crown races, winning the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes three times each, as well as ten Breeders' Cup races. He was also a nine-time winner of the Santa Anita Derby. He entered the United States Racing Hall of Fame in 1997. Combining his U.S. and international wins, Stevens had over 5,000 race wins by 2005, and reached his 5,000th North American win on February 15, 2015.
John R. Velazquez is a Puerto Rican jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. He began his career in Puerto Rico and moved to New York in 1990. In 2004 and 2005 he was the United States Champion Jockey by earnings and both years was given the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey. He was inducted into the Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2012, rode his 5,000th winner in 2013, and became the leading money-earning jockey in the history of the sport in 2014.
Frederick J. Taral was an American Hall of Fame jockey.
Runaway Groom (1979–2007) was a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse.
Albert Snider was a jockey in Thoroughbred racing who had success in his native Canada as well as the United States.
Steven Mark Asmussen is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. The leading trainer in North America by wins, he is a two-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2016. His horses have won the Breeders' Cup Classic, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes, Breeders' Cup Distaff, Kentucky Oaks and Dubai World Cup.
Morvich was an American Thoroughbred who was the first California-bred racehorse to win the Kentucky Derby.
Master Derby was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1975 Preakness Stakes.
The Saratoga Cup was an American Thoroughbred horse race open to horses of either sex age three and older although geldings were not eligible from 1865 through 1918. Between 1865 and 1955 it was hosted by Saratoga Race Course, in Saratoga Springs, New York with the exception of 1943 through 1945 when wartime restrictions were in place and the race was held at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.
The Havre de Grace Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race first run on the August 26, 1912 opening day of the new Havre de Grace Racetrack in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Although most of its runnings would take place in early fall, its final edition was run there on April 30, 1949. Due to Federal government wartime regulations, the 1943 edition was held at Laurel Park and in 1945 at Pimlico Race Course. A race for horses age three old or older, it was run on dirt over a distance of 1 1/8 miles with the exception of 1918 when it was set at 1 mile and 70 yards. From inception through 1939, the race was known as the Havre de Grace Cup Handicap.
William Norris "Bill" Boland is a retired American Hall of Fame jockey and trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing.
Luke McLuke was a bay Thoroughbred stallion born in the United States. He won the 1914 Belmont Stakes, the Carlton Stakes, Kentucky Handicap, and Grainger Memorial Handicap among his four wins from six starts. After his racing career was over, he became a breeding stallion, siring 11 stakes winners. Two of his daughters were named as year-end Champions in the United States.
Andrew Mack Garner was an American jockey who won the 1934 Kentucky Derby as well as the 1929 and 1933 Belmont Stakes. He was inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1969. Mack Garner made his professional racing debut on July 16, 1914, at a Butte, Montana racetrack.
Mother Goose was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was named the American Co-Champion Two-Year-Old Filly of 1924. From the 128 runnings of the Belmont Futurity Stakes since its inception in 1888 through 2019, Mother Goose is one of only thirteen fillies to have ever won the event. The Mother Goose Stakes at New York's Belmont Park is named in her honor.
The Keene Memorial Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run for twenty years from 1913 through 1932 at Belmont Park, in Elmont, New York. The race was created to honor James R. Keene who died on January 3, 1913. A Wall Street stockbroker, Keene was a major owner and breeder of Thoroughbred racehorses and would become one of the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame's Pillars of the Turf.
The Chesapeake Stakes was an important American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses of either sex contested on dirt over a distance of a mile and one-sixteenth at Havre de Grace Racetrack in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Run from 1920 until the track closed after the 1950 edition, the race usually run in late April race was a last major prep before the Kentucky Derby. For owners who had not nominated their horse for the Derby it was a chance to test their horse's ability against some of the best three-year-olds in the country, a number of which they would undoubtedly encounter in the ensuing Preakness Stakes.
The Eastern Shore Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run between 1913 and 1949 at Havre de Grace Racetrack, in Havre de Grace, Maryland. A race for two-year-old horses of either sex, it was inaugurated and run for most of its existence as the Eastern Shore Handicap.
The Champlain Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race for horses age three and older first run in 1901 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. Placed on hiatus in 1945, it was revived in 1954 at Jamaica Racetrack as a sprint race restricted to fillies and mares. The race was discontinued after the 1957 running.
Lester Mark Fator was the 1922 American National Champion jockey in Thoroughbred racing.