Earlie Stancel Fires is a retired
United States' Racing Hall of FameThe National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
jockeyA 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:...
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Fires began riding professionally in 1964 and led all American apprentices in wins that year with 224. He retired on September 21, 2008 having won 6,470 races at racetracks across
North AmericaNorth 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...
. In 1983, and again 1987, Fires set a record for
Arlington ParkArlington Park is a horse race track in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Horse racing in the Chicago region has been a popular sport since the early days of the city in the 1830s, and at one time Chicago had more horse racing tracks than any other major metropolitan area...
by winning seven races in a single day of racing. He is Arlington Park's all-time leading rider with 2,886 wins and holds the record for most wins in that track's
Lincoln Heritage HandicapThe Lincoln Heritage Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Illinois. An ungraded stakes raced on turf open to fillies and Mares, age three and older, it is contested over a distance of 1 1/16 miles .The 2009 edition had to be moved to...
with seven.
In 1991, Fires was voted the
George Woolf Memorial Jockey AwardThe George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award has been presented by Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, annually since 1950 to the thoroughbred horse racing jockey in North America who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack.The award was created...
, given to a jockey who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack. He was inducted in the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame in 2001 and following its creation, the
Chicagoland Sports Hall of FameThe Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, located in the Hawthorne Race Course, in Stickney/Cicero, near Chicago, Illinois, honors sports greats associated with the greater Chicago area. It was founded in 1979 as a trailer owned by the Olympia Brewing Company parked at Soldier Field in Chicago. The...
in 2007.
Earlie Fires' brother is trainer
William H. FiresWilliam H. "Jinks" Fires is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. He is the trainer of 2011 Arkansas Derby winner Archarcharch who is scheduled to run in the Kentucky Derby....
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