Kenneth Church
Encyclopedia
Kenneth Church is a retired jockey
in Thoroughbred
horse racing
.
In his early teens, Church began riding ponies and in 1946 got a job as an exercise rider at Old Woodbine Race Course
in Toronto
, Ontario
. The following year, he was offered a chance to apprentice for future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame
trainer Harry Trotsek who was widely recognized for his eye for riding talent and who also developed Hall of Fame jockeys, Johnny Sellers
and John Rotz
. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1093826/index.htm Kenneth Church began competing in novice races for jockeys which Trotsek had organized at Detroit Fair Grounds Racetrack. On July 12, 1947, he won the first race of a twenty-year career that would see him win more than 2,000 races from 14,000 mounts.
During his career, Church rode at various tracks throughout the United States and was nicknamed "The Prince" by his fellow jockeys because of his blonde wavy hair and good looks. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=19550619&id=VHMEAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MjEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4062,5040349 In Chicago
, he won riding titles at Arlington Park
and Washington Park Race Track
and one year had more combined wins on the Florida
racing circuit than any other jockey. On June 10, 1952 he won five races in a row on a single racecard at the Lincoln Fields program at Washington Park. Of his four mounts in the Kentucky Derby
, Kenneth Church's best result was a fifth place finish in 1950 aboard Oil Capitol
. Among his major race wins, Church won a premier Florida event in 1953, capturing the Gulfstream Park Handicap
aboard Crafty Admiral with what the Los Angeles Times
described as a "masterful ride." http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/426265181.html?dids=426265181:426265181&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Mar+15%2C+1953&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Crafty+Admiral+Scores+Neck+Win&pqatl=google In 1960 he won the Canadian Championship Stakes
at Woodbine Racetrack
. In 1963, he relocated to California
where he made his permanent home and in 1964, won the richest and most important race in California, the Santa Anita Handicap
aboard Mr. Consistency
.
lost his stirrup and dangled perilously from his horse. Seeing the danger, Church charged up from behind and once alongside reached over with his left arm and lifted Eads back onto his horse. At the finish of the race, fans gave him a standing ovation. In a ceremony three days later at the track, for his heroism Kenneth Church received a gold watch from America's preeminent horseman, Warren Wright of Calumet Farm
, plus a special commendation from the State of Illinois
.
Following his retirement from riding at the end of May, 1967, Kenneth Church remained in the industry and worked for many years in the publicity department at Del Mar Racetrack
in Del Mar, California
.
In 1997, Kenneth Church was inducted in the city of Windsor, Ontario
/ Essex County, Ontario
Sports Hall of Fame.
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:...
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...
.
In his early teens, Church began riding ponies and in 1946 got a job as an exercise rider at Old Woodbine Race Course
Greenwood Raceway
Greenwood Raceway is a defunct horse racing facility in Toronto.Inaugurated in 1874 as Woodbine Race Course at the foot of Woodbine Avenue and Lake Ontario, it was owned and operated by two gentlemen named Pardee and Howell. Within a few years financial problems resulted in the property reverting...
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. The following year, he was offered a chance to apprentice 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...
trainer Harry Trotsek who was widely recognized for his eye for riding talent and who also developed Hall of Fame jockeys, Johnny Sellers
Johnny Sellers
Johnny Sellers was an American jockey. Born in Los Angeles, but raised in Oklahoma, he began his professional career in 1955 and between 1959 and 1968 rode in six Kentucky Derbys. He won the prestigious race aboard Carry Back in 1961 then riding the colt to victory in the Preakness Stakes...
and John Rotz
John L. Rotz
John L. Rotz is a retired American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey and an active World Champion in Western riding competitions....
. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1093826/index.htm Kenneth Church began competing in novice races for jockeys which Trotsek had organized at Detroit Fair Grounds Racetrack. On July 12, 1947, he won the first race of a twenty-year career that would see him win more than 2,000 races from 14,000 mounts.
During his career, Church rode at various tracks throughout the United States and was nicknamed "The Prince" by his fellow jockeys because of his blonde wavy hair and good looks. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=348&dat=19550619&id=VHMEAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MjEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4062,5040349 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...
, he won riding titles at Arlington Park
Arlington Park
Arlington Park is a horse race track in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Horse racing in the Chicago region has been a popular sport since the early days of the city in the 1830s, and at one time Chicago had more horse racing tracks than any other major metropolitan area...
and Washington Park Race Track
Washington Park Race Track
Washington Park Race Track was a popular horse racing venue in the Chicago metropolitan area from 1884 until 1977. It had two locations during its existence. It was first situated in what is the current location of the Washington Park Subdivision of the Woodlawn community area of Chicago in Cook...
and one year had more combined wins on the Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
racing circuit than any other jockey. On June 10, 1952 he won five races in a row on a single racecard at the Lincoln Fields program at Washington Park. Of his four mounts in 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...
, Kenneth Church's best result was a fifth place finish in 1950 aboard Oil Capitol
Oil Capitol
Oil Capitol was an American Thoroughbred Champion racehorse. Bred by the Widener family's Elmendorf Farm in Fayette County, Kentucky, he was sired by the French-bred runner Mahmoud, the 1936 winner of England's Epsom Derby...
. Among his major race wins, Church won a premier Florida event in 1953, capturing the Gulfstream Park Handicap
Gulfstream Park Handicap
The Gulfstream Park Handicap is a race for thoroughbred horses run at Gulfstream Park each year. The race is open to horses age four and up, willing to race one mile on the dirt...
aboard Crafty Admiral with what the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
described as a "masterful ride." http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/426265181.html?dids=426265181:426265181&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Mar+15%2C+1953&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Crafty+Admiral+Scores+Neck+Win&pqatl=google In 1960 he won the Canadian Championship Stakes
Canadian International Stakes
The Canadian International Stakes is a $2 million Grade I Canadian stakes race on Turf for thoroughbred racehorses three years of age and up held annually in October at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario....
at Woodbine Racetrack
Woodbine Racetrack
Woodbine Racetrack is a Canadian racetrack for Thoroughbred horse races located at 555 Rexdale Blvd. in the city of Toronto, Ontario. It is the only horseracing track in North America which stages, or is capable of staging, thoroughbred and standardbred horseracing programs on the same day...
. In 1963, he relocated to 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...
where he made his permanent home and in 1964, won the richest and most important race in California, the Santa Anita Handicap
Santa Anita Handicap
The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early March at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses four years old and up , and is considered the most important race for older horses in North America during the winter racing season...
aboard Mr. Consistency
Mr. Consistency
Mr. Consistency was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was a multiple stakes winner including the Santa Anita Handicap, California's richest race and most important for older horses. He was bred and raced by Travis M. Kerr, best known as the owner of Hall of Fame inductee Round Table. He was...
.
Heroism on the track
On July 5, 1950, at Chicago's Arlington Park, Kenneth Church was the hero of an incident the Chicago Daily Tribune called, "One of the most unselfish and gallant acts to be found in all the lore of the turf." http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/502840962.html?dids=502840962:502840962&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Jul+06%2C+1950&author=MAURICE+SHEVLIN&pub=Chicago+Daily+Tribune&desc=Church+Saves+Jockey%3B+Loses+Race&pqatl=google During the third race of the day, jockey Wendell EadsWendell Eads
Wendell W. Eads was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. In the early 1940s he was a contract jockey with the prestigious Calumet Farm. Small, even by jockey standards, Eads weighed just 102 pounds and as a result could not control Calumet's extremely high strung but talented colt,...
lost his stirrup and dangled perilously from his horse. Seeing the danger, Church charged up from behind and once alongside reached over with his left arm and lifted Eads back onto his horse. At the finish of the race, fans gave him a standing ovation. In a ceremony three days later at the track, for his heroism Kenneth Church received a gold watch from America's preeminent horseman, Warren Wright of Calumet Farm
Calumet Farm
Calumet Farm is a Thoroughbred breeding and training farm established in 1924 in Lexington, Kentucky, United States by William Monroe Wright, founding owner of the Calumet Baking Powder Company. Calumet is located in the heart of Lexington's blue grass country, the finest horse breeding region in...
, plus a special commendation from the State of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
.
Following his retirement from riding at the end of May, 1967, Kenneth Church remained in the industry and worked for many years in the publicity department at Del Mar Racetrack
Del Mar Racetrack
Del Mar Racetrack is an American Thoroughbred horse racing track at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in the seaside city of Del Mar, California, 20 miles north of San Diego. Operated by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, it is known for the slogan: "Where The Turf Meets The Surf." It was built by a partnership...
in Del Mar, California
Del Mar, California
Del Mar is an upscale beach town in San Diego County, California. The population was 4,161 at the 2010 census, down from 4,389 at the 2000 census. The San Diego County Fair is hosted on the Del Mar Fairgrounds every summer. Del Mar is Spanish for "of the sea" or "by the sea", because it is located...
.
In 1997, Kenneth Church was inducted in the city of Windsor, Ontario
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
/ Essex County, Ontario
Essex County, Ontario
Essex County is a county and census division located in Southwestern Ontario and covers an area at the southernmost tip of Canada. The administrative seat is Essex...
Sports Hall of Fame.