Columnist Ralph Siraco: Legendary jockey Longden dead at 96

Ralph Siraco

Monday, Feb. 17, 2003 | 10:04 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday and his Southern California selections run Tuesday-Sunday.

The Sport of Kings lost a king of the sport on Friday.

Legendary jockey Johnny Longden died early afternoon on his 96th birthday at his home in Banning, Calif. The Hall of Fame rider who retired from 40 years in the saddle as the world's winningest jockey 26 years ago leaves a storybook career of which Hollywood movies are made.

Longden's final ride -- his 32,413th -- came on March 12, 1966, at Santa Anita in the San Juan Capistrano Handicap aboard George Royal. Longden, who had announced his retirement just days before, would scale the outsider for the marathon turf event. Most racing pundits gave "the pumper" little chance to repeat a San Juan win that came aboard George Royal just a year earlier.

But when George Royal came charging down the Arcadia turf stride-for-stride with Plaque, the 60,792 on hand to witness Longden's last ride were not disappointed.

When they put George Royal's number on the tote board, a thunderous roar went up and a lengthy ovation followed for the 4-foot-11 giant of the turf. George Royal had won by a nose. John Longden had retired a winner. His record of 6,032 career victories would stand until Bill Shoemaker surpassed the plateau in 1972, who in turn was surpassed by current record holder Laffit Pincay, Jr., still riding at Santa Anita.

Longden was the nation's leading money-winning rider in 1943 and 1945 and won the most races by a jockey in 1938, 1947 and 1948. His mounts earned $24,665,800.

In 1943, Longden won the Triple Crown aboard Count Fleet and rode many top horses of his time. During the winter meeting of 1950 at Santa Anita, Longden engineered a pair of victories atop Noor at the hands of the great Citation. He also scaled the likes of Swaps, Whirlaway and T. V. Lark. He was instrumental in founding the Jockeys' Guild in 1941 and was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1958.

Longden received a Special Eclipse Award in 1994, since there were no such trophies during his riding career.

Giving up a career working with his father as a coal miner, the young Longden rode for years in the bush tracks of Western Canada and the U.S. His first recognized victory came in Salt Lake City in 1927 aboard Hugo K. Asher.

Longden also trained race horses for 23 years following his retirement from the saddle. He guided Majestic Prince to the 1969 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes wins and the horse brought an undefeated record to the Belmont Stakes. Sitting on racing immortality, Majestic Prince broke down in the race and never competed again.

Longden is the only person in history to win the Kentucky Derby as both a rider and trainer.

John Eric Longden was born on February 14, 1907 in England. If not for fate, Longden would have never made his mark on racing. In 1912, he and his mother were to join his father in Alberta, Canada. Boarding a train from their home in Wakefield they were to commute to Southhampton on the British coast and board a ship to North America. The train was late. They missed their passage -- on the inaugural voyage of the Titanic.

It was a storybook beginning of a storybook career to a peaceful last chapter. Johnny Longden's passage is now complete.