HORSE RACING
HOF trainer Jolley dies Arkansas native LeRoy Jolley, a Hall of Fame trainer who twice won the Kentucky Derby and was involved in one of thoroughbred racing’s most famous match races that ended in tragedy, died Monday. He was 79. Jolley won the 1975 Kentucky Derby with Foolish Pleasure, who went on to finish second in the Preakness and in the Belmont. In 1980, Jolley won the Derby with Genuine Risk, only the second filly to win the Run for the Roses and the first in 65 years. In 1976, he trained 2-5 favorite Honest Pleasure to a second-place finish in the Derby, and he finished second in 1979 with General Assembly. On July 6, 1975, a match race was run between Foolish Pleasure and unbeaten filly Ruffian at Belmont Park. It was highly anticipated and attracted a crowd of over 50,000 and a huge television audience. While on the lead, Ruffian broke down, snapping both sesamoid bones in her right front leg. She had to be euthanized. Born Jan. 14, 1938, in Hot Springs, Jolley was the son of famed trainer Moody
S. Jolley. At age seven, he began cooling off horses after morning workouts for his father and spent summers working in his father’s barn. Training mostly on the New York circuit, he saddled 991 winners in 6,907 career starts and had purse earnings of $35,125,553, according to Equibase. During the height of his career from 1975-1991, Jolley’s earnings often topped $1 million a year. Among his clients was investor Carl Icahn. Jolley’s major stakes victories included the Travers, Whitney, Wood Memorial, Florida Derby, Metropolitan Handicap, Woodward Stakes, Arlington Million and Blue Grass.