Edward "Eddie" C. Hayward (February 13, 1903 – January, 1983) was a
Canadian-bornCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
trainerIn horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...
in
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Thoroughbred horse racingThe Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
best known for winning the 1953
Kentucky DerbyThe Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
in which his colt
Dark StarDark Star was an American thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1953 Kentucky Derby, in the process becoming the only horse ever to defeat Hall of Fame horse Native Dancer.Dark Star finished fifth in the Preakness Stakes...
defeated the great
Native DancerNative Dancer , nicknamed the Grey Ghost, was one of the most celebrated and accomplished Thoroughbred racehorses in history, the first horse made famous through the medium of television. He was one of the best horses produced in USA after the war...
.
Racing career
A native of
Brighton, OntarioBrighton is a town in Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada, approximately east of Toronto and west of Kingston. It is intersected by both Highway 401 and the former Highway 2. It is on the West end of the Bay of Quinte on the entrance of the Murray Canal....
, he began his career as a jockey. In 1918 he was galloping horses at a racetrack in
SaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
where he would ride his first winner before leaving to compete in
Spokane, WashingtonSpokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
. He rode until around 1923 and after learning the art of horse conditioning for racing, in the latter part of the decade embarked on a training career. His first client was
James NorrisJames Dougan Norris was an American sports businessman, with interests in boxing, ice hockey, and horse racing. He was the son of James E. Norris and half-brother of Bruce Norris and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.Born in Chicago, Norris served as a Lieutenant with the United States Navy...
, owner of the
Detroit Red WingsThe Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
of the
National Hockey LeagueThe National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
, for whom he would win the 1938
Metropolitan HandicapThe Metropolitan Handicap, frequently called the "Met Mile," is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the last week of May at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to horses age three and older, it is contested on dirt over a distance of one mile .The Met Mile was first...
with Danger Point. In 1928, Hayward returned temporarily to Canada where he won the Whittier Park Handicap.
In 1940, Hayward trained a horse in California for Canadian-born actor
Victor JoryVictor Jory was a Canadian actor.-Biography:Born in Dawson City, Yukon, Jory was the boxing and wrestling champion of the Coast Guard during his military service, and he kept his burly physique. He toured with theater troupes and appeared on Broadway, before making his Hollywood debut in 1930...
and later was hired by
Muriel Vanderbilt AdamsMuriel Vanderbilt was an American socialite and a thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder who was a member of the wealthy Vanderbilt family.-Biography:...
for whom he trained
MicheMiche was an Argentinian Thoroughbred racehorse who was imported to the United States in 1948 where he successfully competed at the top levels of racing...
.
1953 Derby Trial and Kentucky Derby
Eddie Hayward moved to the
East Coast of the United StatesThe East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
in late 1952 to take over as head trainer for
Harry Gugenheim's Cain Hoy StableCain Hoy Stable was a Thoroughbred racing stable and horse breeding operation with training facilities in Columbia, South Carolina and Kissimmee, Florida. It was owned by Harry Guggenheim who also raced horses in Europe...
. Besides Dark Star, among the other Cain Hoy horses Hayward would train were Battle Morn and Armageddon. In 1953, he joined two others as the only trainers to ever win the Derby Trial Stakes and the
Kentucky DerbyThe Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...
with the same horse. The feat had been accomplished by Hanly Webb in 1924 with
Black GoldBlack Gold was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 50th running of the Kentucky Derby in 1924....
and by
Ben A. JonesBenjamin Allyn Jones was a thoroughbred horse trainer.Born in Parnell, Missouri, Ben Jones went into the business of breeding and training of thoroughbreds during the first decade of the 20th century, racing his horses on small circuits in the American West and in Mexico...
who did it twice, first with the great
CitationCitation was the eighth American Triple Crown winner, and one of three major North American Thoroughbreds to win at least 16 consecutive races in major stakes race competition...
in 1948 and then with
Hill GailHill Gail was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred and raced by the renowned Calumet Farm of Lexington, Kentucky, the son of Champion sire, Bull Lea, Hill Gail is best known as the winner of the 1952 Kentucky Derby....
in 1952. In 1958,
Jimmy JonesHorace A. "Jimmy" Jones was an American thoroughbred horse trainer.The son of Hall of Fame horse trainer Ben A. Jones, Jimmy Jones was born in Parnell, Missouri...
, son of Ben, became the fourth and last to do it when he won the two races with
Tim TamTim Tam was an American thoroughbred racehorse. Sired by Tom Fool and out of the great racing mare Two Lea , the dark bay colt was owned and bred by Calumet Farm...
.
As at 2011, Hayward's win with Dark Star in the Kentucky Derby remains one of the biggest upsets in the history of the race. The loss by Native Dancer would be the only one of his twenty-two race career that would see the great horse be inducted in the
National Museum of Racing and 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...
. In the second leg of the
U.S. Triple CrownIn the United States, the "Triple Crown" is usually the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a series of three Thoroughbred horse races for three-year-old horses run in May and early June of each year consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.While Daily Racing Form...
, Dark Star suffered a
bowed tendonTendinitis/tendonitis is inflammation of a tendon. Many times, the tendon tissue is torn. A bowed tendon is a horseman's term for a tendon after a horse has sustained an injury that caused the tendon fibers to be torn, and then healed with "bowed" appearance.-Description of a Tendinitis in...
in the
Preakness StakesThe Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...
and finished fifth. The injury ended his racing career and he was retired to
studHorse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...
.
Eddie Hayward resigned from Cain Hoy Stable in December of 1954 and took over as trainer for racing partnership headed by
Dallas CowboysThe Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
owner Clint Murchison. He would add to his clientele with the Circle M Farm of Edward S. Moore and in the 1970s took over training of future Hall of Fame inductee
ForegoForego was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won eight Eclipse Awards including Horse of the Year, Champion Handicap Horse and Champion Sprinter....
for the
Lazy F RanchMartha B. Farish Gerry was an American Thoroughbred racehorse owner named an Exemplar of Racing by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame....
stable when
Sherrill WardSherrill W. Ward was an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Born in Miami, Florida, he was the son of trainer John Sherrill Ward. His brother, John T. Ward, also trained horses and ran Fort Springs Farm in Lexington, Kentucky...
fell seriously ill in 1975.
Living in
Franklin Square, New YorkFranklin Square is a hamlet in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population was 29,320 at the 2010 census...
, Eddie Hayward died in 1983 at age seventy-nine.