Clyde Van Dusen
Encyclopedia
Clyde Van Dusen was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 jockey
Jockey
A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

 and trainer
Horse trainer
In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...

 of Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorses
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 best known for winning the 1929 Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

.

Following a career as a jockey
Jockey
A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

, Van Dusen turned to training. Handling the racing stable of Amsterdam, New York businessman, Herbert P. Gardner, in 1929 Clyde Van Dusen became the only trainer to ever win the Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

 with a horse named in their honor. The gelding
Gelding
A gelding is a castrated horse or other equine such as a donkey or a mule. Castration, and the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male horse to be calmer and better-behaved, making the animal quieter, gentler and potentially more suitable as an everyday...

, Clyde Van Dusen
Clyde Van Dusen (horse)
Clyde Van Dusen was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and the winner of the 1929 Kentucky Derby.Although he was a son of the noted Man o' War, Clyde Van Dusen had an unimpressive appearance, being described as "a mere pony of a horse with a weedy frame." Owner/breeder Herbert Gardner, an...

, was the first son of the legendary Man o' War
Man O' War
Man O' War, man o' war or manowar may refer to:* Man-of-war, a warship* Man of war for uses with this spelling - Places :...

. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70715F9355A127A93CBA8178ED85F4D8285F9 Shortly after winning the Derby, van Dusen went to work for Detroit auto body
Coachbuilder
A coachbuilder is a manufacturer of bodies for carriages or automobiles.The trade dates back several centuries. Rippon was active in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Barker founded in 1710 by an officer in Queen Anne's Guards, Brewster a relative newcomer , formed in 1810. Others in Britain included...

 manufacturer, Charles T. Fisher
Charles T. Fisher
Charles Thomas Fisher was a Catholic American businessman and an automotive pioneer.Born in Norwalk, Ohio, Charles was the second son of Lawrence and Margaret Fisher. The family would grow to include seven boys and four girls...

, owner of Dixiana Farm. Van Dusen trained Fisher's colt Sweep All who ran second to Horse of the Year and future Hall of Fame
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...

 inductee Twenty Grand
Twenty Grand
Twenty Grand was an American thoroughbred race horse. Owned and bred by Helen Hay Whitney's Greentree Stable, Twenty Grand was a bay colt by St. Germans out of Bonus.- Racing career :Trained at age three by James G. Rowe, Jr...

 in the 1931 Kentucky Derby. In 1933 and 1934 he trained Fisher's Mata Hari
Mata Hari (horse)
Mata Hari was an American Champion Thoroughbred filly racehorse bred and owned by Charles T. Fisher, a Detroit automobile body manufacturer who raced under the Dixiana Stable banner named for his Dixiana Farm in Lexington, Kentucky....

 to American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly and Three-Year-Old Filly honors. In December 1938, after nine years working for Charles Fisher, Van Dusen gave notice that he would be leaving. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/848643522.html?dids=848643522:848643522&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Dec+06%2C+1938&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=Clyde+Van+Dusen+Quits+Dixiana+Farms&pqatl=google In 1939, he accepted the job of trainer for the California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 stable of movie studio
Movie studio
A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies...

 boss, Louis B. Mayer
Louis B. Mayer
Louis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...

.

The leading trainer at the 1941 Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita Park is a thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent racing events in the United States during the winter and in spring. With its backdrop of the purple San Gabriel Mountains, it is considered by many as the world's most beautiful race...

 winter meeting, on February 6 he became the first trainer to saddle four winners on a single racecard at Santa Anita, a record that as of 2009 has been tied but never broken. Van Dusen retired at the beginning of March that year but remained active in racing with a small string of his own horses. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/410909011.html?dids=410909011:410909011&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Mar+03%2C+1941&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Van+Dusen+Resigns+as+Mayer+Trainer&pqatl=google During 1941, he and the horse Clyde Van Dusen were reunited when the retired gelding was sent to Hollywood Park Racetrack to serve as a lead pony. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F3081FFF385F167B93C4A9178AD85F458485F9

Clyde Van Dusen died in Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...

 of a heart attack at age sixty-five.
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