Don Meade
American jockey
Donald Lawrence Meade (December 12, 1913, December 22, 1996) was an American National Champion jockey. Called the "Bad Boy" of the sport by Time magazine because of his numerous suspensions and fines, he is widely remembered as a result of his win on Brokers Tip in the 1933 Kentucky Derby.
01Background
Meade began riding ponies as a child and eventually horses at bush tracks and at county Fair races. In the summer of 1929 he rode horses for the mayor of his hometown who contacted a friend, trainer Sam Orr, who agreed to take Meade on as an apprentice. In July 1930, Meade got his first win aboard Queens Bessie at Lansdowne Park in Richmond, British Columbia.
02The "Fighting Finish"
In what became known as the "Fighting Finish", Don Meade on Brokers Tip and jockey Herb Fisher aboard Head Play battled their way to the finish line of the 1933 Kentucky Derby. Head Play was leading when Meade sent Brokers Tip through an opening on the inside to pull even. As the horses ran side by side down the stretch, their jockeys grabbed and whipped each other. The racing stewards declared Brokers Tip the winner by a nose. A photo of the Fighting Finish taken by a photographer for the Louisville Courier-Journal is one of the most widely recognized in Thoroughbred racing.
Meade died on December 22, 1996, in Hollywood, Florida at age 83.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Don Meade”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Don Meade 1942.jpg by Unknown, Public domain
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