David Erb is a retired 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...

 in 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...

 horse racing

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...

. He started riding as a young farm boy and began his professional riding career in 1938, competing at tracks in his native Nebraska. He got his first win at Oaklawn Park Race Track in Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs, Arkansas

Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...

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In the June 18, 1955 Californian Stakes

Californian Stakes

The Californian Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually during the second week of June at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. The Grade II event is open to horses age three and up willing to race one and one-eighth miles on the dirt...

 at Hollywood Park Racetrack, Dave Erb was the substitute rider for the suspended Bill Shoemaker aboard Swaps

Swaps (horse)

Swaps was a California bred American thoroughbred racehorse. He was the son of Khaled, a stallion imported from the Aga Khan's stud in Europe. Swaps goes back to the immortal Man o' War, via his dam, Iron Reward, through the Triple Crown winner, War Admiral. In the list of the top 100 U.S...

. Erb piloted the three-year-old colt to a world record time of 1:40 2/5 for a mile and a sixteenth on dirt. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1129825/index.htm That same year, Dave Erb became the regular jockey for future U.S. Racing 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, Swoon's Son

Swoon's Son

Swoon's Son is an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. Foaled February 13, 1953 in Lexington, Kentucky, he was bred and raced by E...

. Ridden by Erb in all but one of his twenty-two career stakes race wins, they raced primarily at tracks in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

In 1956 Erb won the most important races of his career aboard the future Hall of Fame colt, Needles

Needles (horse)

Needles was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred and raced in Florida, the descendant of Blenheim II and a son and grandson of Kentucky Derby winners Ponder and Pensive, Needles was a sickly foal who was given his name because of the numerous veterinary injections he was...

. After winning the Flamingo Stakes

Flamingo Stakes

The Flamingo Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually in March at the Hialeah Park Race Track in Hialeah, Florida. Run over a distance of nine furlongs, the inaugural race took place in 1926 at the Tampa, Florida racetrack...

 and the Florida Derby

Florida Derby

The Florida Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida on the Saturday closest to the end of March or the first of April. Added to the racing schedule in 1952, the Grade 1 race is run at 1⅛ miles on the dirt...

, Erb and Needles narrowly missed winning the American Triple Crown

United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing

In the United States, the "Triple Crown" is usually the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a series of three Thoroughbred horse races for three-year-old horses run in May and early June of each year consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.While Daily Racing Form...

. They won 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...

, finished second to Fabius

Fabius (horse)

Fabius was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1956 Preakness Stakes.-Background:Bred and raced by Lexington, Kentucky's Calumet Farm, Fabius was out of the mare Shameen, a daughter of the British Eclipse Stakes winner Royal Minstrel who was a son of the 2,000 Guineas...

 in the Preakness Stakes

Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...

, then won the Belmont Stakes

Belmont Stakes

The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

.

After retiring as a jockey in 1960, Dave Erb trained horses. In 1963, he enjoyed great success with the colt Hurry to Market

Hurry to Market

Hurry to Market was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by Louise Clements, he was out of Hasty Girl, a daughter of two-time Leading sire in North America, Princequillo...

 who was voted American Co-Champion Two-Year-Old Colt.

David Erb retired from the industry in 1988. He and wife, Lenni, with whom he had a son, David, settled on a small farm near Greenfield Center, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. In 2008, Dave Erb became the 29th jockey to add his handprint and signature in cement to the "Gallup to Glory" display at the Galt House hotel in Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

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