71. Foolish Pleasure & Jacinto Vasquez win the Derby

In the middle of the 70’s horse racing was huge, and in the middle of it all in 1975 was Hall of Fame jockey Jacinto Vasquez who had the pleasure of riding some of the greatest horses of that era. And on May 12, 1975, he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated as he helped guide Foolish Pleasure to victory in the Kentucky Derby. The great horse had lost but once entering the race at Churchill Downs, yet some didn’t think he could handle the distance. They were wrong. Vasquez knew he had the right horse at the right time to win his first Derby. The same held true 5 years later, when aboard Genuine Risk, he won it again. Only one of three fillies to win the Derby ever and the first since Regret in 1915! Despite being on the Kentucky Derby winner, Vasquez would get off of Foolish Pleasure to mount another great horse and another filly later that summer of ’75 when he rode Ruffian in a match race against Pleasure. One of the greatest horses ever, Ruffian had been in 10 races since May of 1974… and won all of them… in fact, in all 10 races, she won wire-to-wire. That’s right, she never trailed in a race. And in the 8 stakes races she entered, she set new stakes records in all 8 of them. But on that summer day at Belmont Park against Foolish Pleasure, Ruffian broke down, breaking two bones in her right foreleg. After surgery, the great thoroughbred came out of anesthesia and reacted poorly. She had to be put down. Vasquez and the racing world mourned the loss of one of the top 100 American horses of the 20th century. With over 5,200 wins, and a member of the United States Racing Hall of Fame since 1998, Vasquez is one of the all-time greats, but he tells us on the Past Our Prime podcast, that great horses make great jockeys and he would know. He also recounts the three times he beat Secretariat… the only jockey to ever beat the iconic horse three times. And he tells us why he was suspended from racing for a year and how to this day he vehemently denies the charges that were brought up against him. Vasquez is one of the all-time greats and at 81 years old, you can hear the competitive fire still burn inside of him when he recounts his rides on Pleasure, Ruffian and Forego or his battles with other great jockey’s of his time such as Angel Cordero and Willie Shoemaker. It was a great time for fans of horse racing and Vasquez was one of the greats. Listen and subscribe to the Past Our Prime podcast for weekly shows that look back at sports icons like Jacinto Vasquez wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices