Darrel G. McHargue (born September 26, 1954, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is a retired American Champion jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. One of five children from a family not connected to horse racing, he was first introduced to riding as a teenage boy when he rode a neighbor's Quarter Horse. He was 17 years old when he made his professional debut in 1972 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The following year he was the leading rider at Laurel Park Racecourse in Laurel, Maryland.
Darrel McHargue competed in eight Kentucky Derbys between 1974 and 1986. His best finishes were a second with Run Dusty Run in 1977 and a third with actor Jack Klugman's colt Jaklin Klugman in 1980.
In 1975, the twenty-year-old McHargue earned the most important win of his career when he rode Master Derby to victory in the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series.
McHargue had two mounts in the Belmont Stakes, finishing third with Master Derby in 1975 and second with McKenzie Bridge in 1976.
McHargue was the leading jockey at the 1977 Oak Tree Racing Association fall meet. The next year would be the best of his career. He rode six winners in one day at Santa Anita Park on March 5, 1978 and again on October 25, 1979. In 1978, he was the leading money-winning jockey in the United States with a record $6,188,353 and was voted the Eclipse Award as the United States' Outstanding Jockey. [1] In addition, he was voted the 1978 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award presented by Santa Anita Park to the jockey in North America who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack.
Beginning in 1980, McHargue rode the great John Henry in eleven of his starts, winning such races as the San Juan Capistrano Handicap, Hollywood Invitational Turf Handicap, San Gabriel Handicap, San Luis Rey Handicap, and San Marcos Stakes.
A proven rider on turf, in 1983 McHargue moved to a base in Ireland, where he rode for various trainers including Luca Cumani and Dermot Weld and for owners such as the American husband and wife team of Bertram and Diana Firestone and Englishman Ivan Allan. In 1984, he was the stable jockey for Cumani and had ridden Allan's outstanding colt Commanche Run in most of his races . Commanche Run had, however, put up a vastly improved performance in the Gordon Stakes under Lester Piggott when McHargue was suspended . McHargue was scheduled to ride Commanche Run in the St. Leger Stakes. However, Piggott replaced McHargue shortly before the race at the instigation of Ivan Allan Commanche Run won the British Classic by a neck in a very close finish under a superb ride from Piggott. McHargue soon returned home to Pasadena, California.
McHargue retired from riding in early April 1988 and began a new career a few weeks later as a racing official. In 1994, he graduated from the Racing Officials Accreditation Program (ROAP). He worked at northern California tracks and in 2005 was appointed a race steward at Hollywood Park.
McHargue is married to Robin McHargue, daughter of the late trainer Robert Wingfield.
Nijinsky was a Canadian-bred, Irish-trained champion Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was the outstanding two-year-old in Europe in 1969 when he was unbeaten in five races. In the following season, he became the first horse for thirty-five years to win the English Triple Crown, a feat that has not been repeated as of 2023. He is regarded as one of the greatest European flat racehorses of the 20th century.
Lester Keith Piggott was an English professional jockey and trainer. With 4,493 career flat racing wins in Britain, including a record nine Epsom Derby victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest flat racing jockeys of all time and the originator of a much-imitated style. Popularly called "The Long Fellow", he was known for his competitive personality, restricting his weight and, on occasion, not sparing the whip, such as in the 1972 Derby. Piggott was convicted of tax fraud in 1987 and sentenced to three years in prison. He served just over one year.
Steve Cauthen is a retired American jockey.
Kent Jason Desormeaux is an American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who holds the U.S. record for most races won in a single year with 598 wins in 1989. He has won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes three times each, and the Belmont Stakes once. Aboard Real Quiet, he lost the 1998 Triple Crown by a nose.
Laurel Park, formerly Laurel Race Course, is an American thoroughbred racetrack located just outside Laurel, Maryland which opened in 1911. The track is 1+1⁄8 miles in circumference. Its name was changed to "Laurel Race Course" for several decades until returning to the "Laurel Park" designation in 1994.
Jean Cruguet is a retired French-American thoroughbred horse racing jockey who won the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing.
Sir Ivor was an American-bred, Irish-trained champion Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career which lasted from July 1967 to October 1968 he ran thirteen times and won eight races. He won major races in four countries: the National Stakes in Ireland, the Grand Criterium in France, the 2000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and Champion Stakes in England and the Washington, D.C. International in the United States.
Dahlia was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. She won major races in France, England, Ireland, Canada, and the United States. She was the first Thoroughbred mare to earn more than $1 million and was one of the pioneers of inter-continental racing.
Theatrical was an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1987 Breeders' Cup Turf and was a successful sire.
Luca M. Cumani is an Italian thoroughbred horse trainer and breeder. He trained at Bedford House Stables in Newmarket from 1976 to 2019. He has trained a multitude of high-profile horses, including seven Classic race winners, two Epsom Derby winners in Kahyasi (1988) and High-Rise (1998), as well as a Breeders' Cup Mile winner in Barathea (1994).
Jaklin Klugman (1977–1996) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He was owned and bred in California by John Dominguez and actor Jack Klugman. He showed promise as a two-year-old, winning the California Breeders' Champion Stakes. At age three, after winning the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields in March, he raced in the Kentucky Derby.
Joseph Mercer, OBE was an English thoroughbred race horse jockey. He was active from 1947 to 1985, riding 2,810 winners in Britain. Mercer's nickname was "Smokin' Joe.”
Never Say Die (1951–1975) was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. After winning only once from his first nine races, he demonstrated much improved form in the summer of 1954 to win the Derby, becoming the first American-bred colt to win the race in 73 years. Later that year he added a second British Classic, when winning the St. Leger Stakes by a record margin of twelve lengths. He was later retired to a successful stud career.
Master Derby was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1975 Preakness Stakes.
Run the Gantlet (1968–1986) was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse and noted sire.
Commanche Run (1981–2005) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. He was a versatile top-class colt who won a number of Group One races at from one and a quarter to one and three-quarter miles in the 1980s.
Smarten was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and successful sire. Bred in Maryland by Jim and Eleanor Ryan and raced under their Ryehill Farm banner, he had a record of 27: 11-8-2 with career earnings of $716,426.
Shantou was a classic-winning Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. As a three-year-old in 1996 he won the St. Leger and the Gran Premio del Jockey Club as well as finishing third in the Epsom Derby and fourth in the Breeders' Cup Turf. In the following year he won the Gran Premio di Milano and the Princess of Wales's Stakes. After his retirement from racing he had success as a sire of National Hunt horses.
Ribero was an American-bred British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career which lasted from September 1967 until May 1969 he ran twelve times and won three races. He is best known for his performances in 1968 when he won two of the most important European races for three-year-olds; the Irish Derby, and the St Leger.
Alphabatim was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire who won at the highest level in both Europe and North America. As a two-year-old in Britain in 1983, he showed great promise, winning two of his three races including the Group One William Hill Futurity. In the spring of the following year he won the Sandown Classic Trial and the Lingfield Derby Trial before finishing fifth when second favourite for the Epsom Derby. After finishing third in the St Leger he was transferred to race in the United States where he won the Hollywood Turf Cup in December. After missing most of the 1985 season with injury he returned in 1986 to post several placed efforts in top class events on both turf and dirt before ending his racing career with a second victory in the Hollywood Turf Cup. He later stood as a breeding stallion in Kentucky and Ireland but was not a conspicuous success as a sire of winners. He died in 2004 at the age of twenty-three.