Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye will be presented the 10th annual
Laffit Pincay Jr. Award during the Hollywood Gold Cup program on July 6. Pincay,
a member of racing’s Hall of Fame since 1975, will make the presentation between
the fifth and sixth races.
The Pincay Award is presented yearly to someone who has served the sport with
integrity, extraordinary dedication, determination and distinction.
“Eddie is one of the very best jockeys I ever rode against and he was
definitely the best I faced on horses that came from behind,” Pincay said. “If
you heard him coming during a race, you knew you were in big trouble.”
A native of New Iberia, Louisiana, Delahoussaye won 6,384 races — making him
one of 17 jockeys with at least 6,000 wins — during a career that spanned all
or part of five decades, ending with his retirement in January, 2003.
“He’s a very low-key guy who has always handled things the right way and
that’s something I continue to admire about him,” Pincay said.
Nearly a quarter of Delahoussaye’s victories came at Hollywood Park and he
ranks fifth on the all-time list at the historic track with 1,535 wins. He is
fourth with 170 stakes successes, including three Gold Cup victories — Go West
Young Man (1980), Island Whirl (1983) and Desert Wine (1984).
Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1993, Delahoussaye won the Kentucky Derby
in consecutive years — Gato Del Sol (1982) and Sunny’s Halo (1983) — and also
captured the Belmont Stakes twice with Risen Star (1988) and A.P. Indy (1992)
and the 1988 Preakness with Risen Star.
A member of the Fair Grounds Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Sports Hall of
Fame, Delahoussaye also won seven Breeders’ Cup events, including the Distaff
with Princess Rooney in the inaugural Breeders’ Cup in 1984 at Hollywood Park.
Still active in racing as an owner-breeder and bloodstock advisor,
Delahoussaye is a director on the board of the Edwin J. Gregson Foundation, a
nonprofit established in 1998 to develop programs to benefit and enhance the
quality of life of California’s backstretch workers and their families.
The foundation was renamed in 2000 to honor the memory of Gregson, the
primary advocate for the creation of the foundation and Gato Del Sol’s trainer
when the gray son of Cougar II won the Kentucky Derby.
The Pincay Jr. Award was introduced by Hollywood Park in 2004 with esteemed
executive and racing publicist Bob Benoit the initial winner. Trainer Noble
Threewitt was the recipient in 2005, while the Stute brothers — Mel and Warren
— shared the award in 2006.
Owner/breeder Ellwood W. “Bud” Johnston, whose Old English Rancho is one of
the most storied names in California racing, won the award in 2007, while
distinguished steward Pete Pedersen was the recipient in 2008. Merlin Volzke,
who also had a noteworthy career as a steward, became the first former jockey to
win the award in 2009.
The Oak Tree Racing Association was honored in 2010, Jerry and Ann Moss were
the 2011 winners and prominent owner-breeder and former California Horse Racing
Board chairman John Harris was the 2012 recipient.
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