Vance Longden was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 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 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...

 based in 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...

.

Vance Longden was the son of 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...

 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:...

 Johnny Longden

Johnny Longden

John Eric Longden was an American Hall of Fame jockey. He was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England but his father wanted to build a better life for his family so in 1909 emigrated to Canada, settling in Taber, Alberta. By 1912 Longden Sr. had saved enough money to send for his wife and young son...

 and his first wife, Helen. He was raised around horses and apprenticed with trainer William Molter

William Molter

William "Willie" Molter was an American Hall of Fame horse trainer in the sport of Thoroughbred racing.A native of Fredericksburg, Texas, Willie Molter began his career in horse racing as a jockey at racetracks across the Texas border in Mexico...

. At age twenty-three, Vance Longden was training on his own and using his father to ride some of his horses. Together, and as part of the Alberta Ranches, Ltd.

Alberta Ranches, Ltd.

Alberta Ranches, Ltd. was a Thoroughbred horse racing partnership between U.S. Racing Hall of Fame jockey and Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Johnny Longden, his son Vance, and businessmen and Frank McMahon, Wilder H. Ripley, and Max Bell. The three men were all longtime friends from the Province of...

 partnership, they successfully raced a number of horses including the 1953 Hollywood Gold Cup

Hollywood Gold Cup

The Hollywood Gold Cup is an American Grade I stakes race for thoroughbred horses inaugurated in 1938 at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. It was run as a handicap race until 1997 when it was switched to weight-for-age conditions...

 winner Royal Serenade, the 1955 U.S. Champion Turf Horse

Eclipse Award for Outstanding Male Turf Horse

The American Champion Male Turf Horse award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor. In 1971 it became part of the Eclipse Awards program and is awarded annually to a Colt or Gelding, regardless of age, for their performance on grass race courses....

 St. Vincent

St. Vincent (horse)

St. Vincent was a Thoroughbred racehorse who won in England and in the United States where he was a Champion who set or equaled five turf course records including two new North American records....

, plus Four-and-Twenty

Four-and-Twenty

Four-and-Twenty was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He was red and raced by the Alberta Ranches, Ltd. partnership of Max Bell, Frank McMahon and superstar jockey Johnny Longden and his son, Vance. He was sired by a son of the two-time Leading sire in North America, Princequillo...

, winner of the 1961 Santa Anita Derby

Santa Anita Derby

The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California and carries a purse of $1 million. Inaugurated in 1935, it is considered the most important West Coast stepping-stone to the Kentucky Derby...

. The North American Pari-Mutuel Regulators Association says they are perhaps the only father-son, jockey-trainer duo ever to win major races at major tracks.

Longden also raced a few seasons at Hastings Racecourse

Hastings Racecourse

Hastings Racecourse is a horse racing facility at Hastings Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Originally called East Park, it opened for business in 1889...

 in Vancouver, British Columbia where he won thirty-six stakes races. In 1961 Vance Longden had two starters 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...

, both finishing off the board.

Vance Londgen battled throat cancer

Esophageal cancer

Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...

 for several years and eventually was only able to speak through the use of a voice box

Larynx

The larynx , commonly called the voice box, is an organ in the neck of amphibians, reptiles and mammals involved in breathing, sound production, and protecting the trachea against food aspiration. It manipulates pitch and volume...

. His illness forced his reirement from racing and he was living in Arcadia, California

Arcadia, California

Arcadia is an affluent city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and located approximately northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains....

at the time of his death in 2003.