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Eddie Arcaro

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Eddie Arcaro
Arcaro in 1957
OccupationJockey
Born(1916-02-19)February 19, 1916
Cincinnati, Ohio,
United States
DiedNovember 14, 1997(1997-11-14) (aged 81)
Miami, Florida, United States
Resting placeOur Lady of Mercy Catholic Cemetery, Miami, Florida, United States
Career wins4,779
Major racing wins
Jockey Club Gold Cup (10)
Juvenile Stakes (7)
National Stallion Stakes (7)
Wood Memorial Stakes (9)
Suburban Handicap (8)
Withers Stakes (6)
Kentucky Oaks (4)
U.S. Triple Crown series:
Kentucky Derby (5)
Preakness Stakes (6)
Belmont Stakes (6)
Racing awards
United States Triple Crown (1941, 1948)
United States Champion Jockey by earnings
(1940, 1942, 1948, 1950, 1952, 1958)
George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award (1953)
Big Sport of Turfdom Award (1974)
Honours
United States Racing Hall of Fame (1958)
Fair Grounds Racing Hall of Fame (1971)
Eddie Arcaro Stakes at Hialeah Park
Significant horses
Whirlaway, Citation, Ponder, Hoop Jr., Challedon, Kelso, Nashua, Mark-Ye-Well, Hill Prince, Bold Ruler, Sword Dancer, Real Delight

George Edward Arcaro (February 19, 1916 – November 14, 1997)[1] was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who won more American classic races than any other jockey in history and is the only rider to have won the U.S. Triple Crown twice. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest jockeys in the history of American Thoroughbred horse racing. Arcaro was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of an impoverished taxi driver. His parents, Pasquale and Josephine, were Italian immigrants and his father held a number of jobs, including taxi driver and operator of an illegal liquor enterprise during Prohibition. Arcaro was born prematurely, and weighed just three pounds at birth; because of this, he was smaller than his classmates and was rejected when he tried out for a spot on a baseball team. His full height would reach just five-foot, two inches. Eventually nicknamed "Banana Nose" by his confreres, Arcaro won his first race in 1932 at the Agua Caliente racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico; he was 16 years old. In 1934, the inaugural year of Narragansett Park, Arcaro was a comparative unknown who rode many of his early career races at 'Gansett.[2]

American classic races

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Arcaro won his first Kentucky Derby in 1938 aboard Lawrin. He is tied with Bill Hartack for most Derby wins with five, and has the most wins in the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes with six. He won the U.S. Triple Crown in 1941 on Whirlaway and again in 1948 on Citation. His other Kentucky Derby wins were Hoop Jr. (1945) and Hill Gail (1952). Arcaro also won the most triple crown races at 17 with the next highest total at only 11.

Major stakes wins

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Arcaro also won the Suburban Handicap eight times, the Wood Memorial Stakes nine times and the Jockey Club Gold Cup ten times.

In international competition, at old Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Arcaro won the 1953 Queen's Plate (Canada's most prestigious race); at Laurel Park Racecourse in Laurel, Maryland, he won the 1954 Washington, D.C. International against the best horses and riders from Europe.

In 1953 Arcaro was voted the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, and in 1958 he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Active in jockey affairs, Arcaro was a driving force behind the creation of the Jockeys' Guild. He retired in 1962, due to severe bursitis in his arm. During his career Arcaro rode in 24,092 races and won 4,779, with record setting earnings of $30,039,543. After working as a television commentator on racing for CBS and ABC, he was a public relations officer for the Golden Nugget Casino in Las Vegas before retiring to Miami, Florida. He also worked as a spokesman for the Buick Motor Division of General Motors, for which he voiced the well-known phrase "If you price a Buick, you'll buy a Buick." For many years, he was the proprietor of a popular Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills.

Death and legacy

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According to his wife Vera, Arcaro suffered a long illness. He died at his Miami home in 1997.[3] His body was cremated and his ashes were interred in the columbarium at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Cemetery in Miami. Today, he remains one of the best-known jockeys in the history of horse racing, called "the Master" for his riding skills, good sense of pace and the ability to switch his whip from one hand to the other with ease during a race.[4]

Triple Crown race record

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Year Kentucky Derby Finish Preakness Finish Belmont Finish
1935 Nellie Flag 4th Nellie Flag 7th - -
1938 Lawrin 1st - - - -
1938 - - - - Gentle Savage 6th
1939 - - - - Hash 5th
1941 Whirlaway 1st Whirlaway 1st Whirlaway 1st
1942 Devil Diver 6th Devil Diver 8th - -
1942 - - - - Shut Out 1st
1944 Stir Up 3rd Stir Up 3rd - -
1944 - - - - Who Goes There 4th
1945 Hoop Jr. 1st - - - -
1945 - - - - Pavot 1st
1946 Lord Boswell 4th - - - -
1946 - - Hampden 3rd Hampden 4th
1947 Phalanx 2nd Phalanx 3rd - -
1947 - - - - Khyber Pass 8th
1948 Citation 1st Citation 1st Citation 1st
1949 Olympia 6th - - - -
1949 - - Palestinian 2nd Palestinian 3rd
1950 Hill Prince 2nd Hill Prince 1st Hill Prince 7th
1951 Battle Morn 6th - - - -
1951 - - Bold 1st - -
1951 - - - - Battlefield 2nd
1952 Hill Gail 1st - - - -
1952 - - One Count 3rd One Count 1st
1953 Correspondent 5th - - - -
1953 - - Jamie K. 2nd Jamie K. 2nd
1954 Goyamo 4th - - - -
1954 - - - - Correlation 5th
1955 Nashua 2nd Nashua 1st Nashua 1st
1956 Head Man 8th - - - -
1956 - - - - Jazz Age 7th
1957 Bold Ruler 4th Bold Ruler 1st Bold Ruler 3rd
1958 Jewel's Reward 4th - - - -
1958 - - - - Nasco 4th
1959 First Landing 3rd First Landing 9th - -
1959 - - - - Black Hills 9th
1960 - - - - Venetian Way 2nd
1961 Sherluck 5th - - - -

† - Won the Triple Crown

‡ - Filly

Kentucky Derby: 21-5-3-2

Preakness: 15-6-2-4

Belmont: 21-6-3-2

References

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  1. ^ Christine, Bill (15 November 1997). "Eddie Arcaro, 'the Master,' Is Dead at 81". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  2. ^ Daily Racing Form 6/29/53
  3. ^ Durso, Joseph (15 November 1997). "Eddie Arcaro, Only Jockey to Win Racing's Triple Crown Twice, Is Dead at 81". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 11 August 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  4. ^ Eddie Arcaro at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Archived 2012-04-06 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2011-09-29.
Preceded by
Sterling Young
Jockeys' Guild president
1949–1962
Succeeded by
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