Wayne Danforth Wright was a Champion

United States Champion Jockey by earnings

There is recognition for the United States Champion Jockey by earnings but no formal award is given to the jockey whose mounts earned the most purse money in American Thoroughbred racing. The American Racing Manual shows that since 1910 the following jockeys headed the annual earnings list the most...

 American Thoroughbred horse racing

Thoroughbred horse race

Thoroughbred horse racing is a worldwide sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport: Flat racing and National Hunt racing...

 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:...

 who won all three of the Triple Crown

Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing

The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing consists of three races for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplishment of a Thoroughbred racehorse...

 races in different years.

Wayne Wright began riding in his small town of Rexburg, Idaho

Rexburg, Idaho

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 17,257 people, 4,274 households, and 2,393 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,534.4 people per square mile . There were 4,533 housing units at an average density of 928.4 per square mile...

  and by age ten was riding in area fairground races. He began his professional career at age fourteen at a racetrack in Reno, Nevada

Reno, Nevada

Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...

 where he got his first win on July 15, 1931. Soon his skills saw him move to the race with the best on the New York State

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...

 racing circuit where in 1934 he was the United States Champion Jockey by earnings

United States Champion Jockey by earnings

There is recognition for the United States Champion Jockey by earnings but no formal award is given to the jockey whose mounts earned the most purse money in American Thoroughbred racing. The American Racing Manual shows that since 1910 the following jockeys headed the annual earnings list the most...

 and won the first of his three Triple Crown races. In 1936 he again led all American jockeys in earnings, winning stakes races on the U.S. East Coast

East Coast of the United States

The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...

 plus 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...

 where he won the West's

West Coast of the United States

West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...

 most prestigious races at 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...

, the 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...

 and 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...

.

In 1939, Wright appeared in the Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

 film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

, Columbia World of Sports: Jockeys Up in which future National Radio Hall of Fame and American Sportscasters Hall of Fame inductee Bill Stern

Bill Stern

Bill Stern was a U.S. actor and sportscaster who announced the nation's first remote sports broadcast and the first telecast of a Major League Baseball game. In 1984, Stern was part of the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame’s inaugural class which included sportscasting legends Red...

 went to Santa Anita Park and spent the day visiting the stables and meeting with several jockeys, trainers, and horses. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1192565/

Triple Crown wins

At age seventeen, Wayne Wright won his first Classic race, taking the 1934 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...

 with Peace Chance

Peace Chance

Peace Chance was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1934 Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series....

. The following year he got his best result out his other four Belmont rides when he finished third on Rosemont

Rosemont (horse)

Rosemont was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his win in the 1937 Santa Anita Handicap, defeating Seabiscuit, a scene used in the 2003 motion picture Seabiscuit....

.

Wright had six 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...

, finishing second in 1936 and third in 1935 before winning the race in 1942 aboard Shut Out

Shut Out (horse)

Shut Out , was an American Thoroughbred racehorse sired by Hall of Famer Equipoise, the multiple stakes winning champion his fans called "The Chocolate Soldier." Shut Out was bred by the Greentree Stable in Lexington, Kentucky owned by Mrs...

. Wright got the ride on Shut Out after Greentree Stable's

Greentree Stable

Greentree Stable, in Red Bank, New Jersey, was a major American thoroughbred horse racing stable and breeding farm established in 1914 by Payne Whitney of the Whitney family of New York City. Payne Whitney operated a horse farm and stable at Saratoga Springs, New York with his brother Harry Payne...

 star jockey Eddie Arcaro

Eddie Arcaro

George Edward Arcaro , known professionally as Eddie Arcaro, was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who won more American classic races than any other jockey in history and is the only rider to have won the U.S. Triple Crown twice...

 chose to ride the stable's top colt Devil Diver

Devil Diver

Devil Diver was an American Thoroughbred racehorse foaled at Mrs. Payne Whitney's Greentree Stable in Lexington, Kentucky. A bay colt by Sir Germans, he was out of Dabchick, and a member of the same foal crop as Shut Out...

 who finished sixth.

Wayne Wright also had six rides 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...

. In addition to his win in the 1945 Preakness Stakes on Polynesian

Polynesian (horse)

Polynesian was an American Thoroughbred racehorse owned by Gertrude T. Widener, of the prominent Widener family of Philadelphia, and bred by her father-in-law Joseph E...

, of his five other rides he had second place finishes in 1935 and in 1937.

Aboard two Triple Crown Champions

Wayne Wright was recognized as one of the best jockeys in North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and as such two owners and their trainers entrusted their Triple Crown chamions to him. In 1935, Wright rode the Triple Crown winner Omaha

Omaha (horse)

Omaha was a United States thoroughbred horse racing champion.Foaled at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky, he was the son of 1930 U.S. Triple Crown winner Gallant Fox and the mare Flambino. Omaha was the third horse to win the Triple Crown having won as a three-year-old in 1935.Omaha was an...

 to a win in the Dwyer Stakes

Dwyer Stakes

The Dwyer Stakes is an American Grade II stakes race for three-year-old thoroughbred racehorses held annually at Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, Long Island, New York. Run in early July, it is open to three-year-old horses and is raced over a distance of 1 1/16-miles on dirt...

 and the Arlington Classic

Arlington Classic

The Arlington Classic Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race for 3-year-old horses held annually at the end of June at Arlington Park race track near Chicago, Illinois...

. In 1937, after Charley Kurtsinger

Charles Kurtsinger

Charles E. Kurtsinger was an American Hall of Fame jockey who won the Triple Crown in 1937.Known as "Charley" but in racing received the nickname "The Flying Dutchman", Kurtsinger was born in Shepherdsville, Kentucky and learned race riding from his jockey father and from veteran rider Mack Garner...

 was sidelined with an injury, Wright rode Triple Crown Champion War Admiral

War Admiral

War Admiral was an American thoroughbred racehorse, the offspring of the great thoroughbred Man o' War and the mare Brushup. He inherited his father's fiery temperament and talent, but did not resemble him physically...

 to victory in the 1938 Jockey Club Gold Cup

Jockey Club Gold Cup

The Jockey Club Gold Cup, established in 1919, is a prestigious thoroughbred flat race open to horses of either gender three-years-old and up. It is typically the main event of the fall meeting at Belmont Park, just as the Belmont Stakes is of the spring meeting and the Travers Stakes is of the...

, Whitney Handicap

Whitney Handicap

The Whitney Handicap is an American Grade 1 handicap race for Thoroughbred racehorses three years of age and older run at a distance of 1⅛ miles. In 2007, the Breeders' Cup Ltd...

 and Saratoga Cup.

Retirement

Battling weight gains throughout his career, Wayne Wright retired from riding in 1950. He then spent some time training horses until 1956 when he and his wife Nadia purchased an 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) farm next to where his sister lived near Wellington

Wellington, Nevada

Wellington is an unincorporated town in southwestern Lyon County, Nevada, United States. It lies along State Route 208 and southwest of the city of Yerington, the county seat of Lyon County. Its elevation is 4,836 feet , and it is located at about...

 in Smith Valley, Nevada

Smith Valley, Nevada

Smith Valley is a census-designated place in Lyon County, Nevada, United States. The population was 1,425 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Smith Valley is located at ....

.

In 2003, eighty-six-year-old Wayne Wright died in hospital in Yerington, Nevada

Yerington, Nevada

Yerington is a city in Lyon County, located in western Nevada, USA. The population was 2,883 at the 2000 census. It is named after Henry M. Yerington, Superintendent of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad from 1868 to 1910. It is the county seat of Lyon County....

.