Jack M. Lauzon (December 5, 1961 in
Welland, OntarioWelland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada....
)
is a retired
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
ThoroughbredThe 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...
horse racingHorse racing is an equestrian sport that has been practiced over the centuries; the chariot races of Roman times are an early example, as is the contest of the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. It is inextricably associated with gambling...
jockeyIn sport, a jockey is one who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing; however, camel jockey profession is slowly being replaced by robotics.-Horse racing:...
whom
The Blood-HorseThe Blood-Horse is an international weekly news magazine about Thoroughbred horses, horse breeding, and horseracing. It was founded in 1916, the oldest continually published North American Thoroughbred magazine. The magazine is based in Lexington, Kentucky, the Horse Capital of the World. The...
magazine called "one of the most respected riders in Canada."
Lauzon began his professional riding career in 1981 and met with considerable success at Fort Erie Racetrack,
Greenwood RacewayGreenwood Raceway is a defunct horse racing facility in Toronto.Inaugurated in 1874 as Woodbine Race Course at the foot of Woodbine Avenue and Lake Ontario, it was owned and operated by two gentlemen named Pardee and Howell. Within a few years financial problems resulted in the property reverting...
and
Woodbine RacetrackWoodbine Racetrack is a Canadian racetrack for Thoroughbred horse races located at 555 Rexdale Blvd. in the city of Toronto, Ontario. It is the only horseracing track in North America which stages, or is capable of staging, thoroughbred and standardbred horseracing programs on the same day...
and won races in the United States. He is a two-time winner of Canada's most prestigious, the
Queen's PlateThe Queen's Plate is North America's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1¼ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each June at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...
.
Jack M. Lauzon (December 5, 1961 in
Welland, OntarioWelland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada....
)
is a retired
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
ThoroughbredThe 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...
horse racingHorse racing is an equestrian sport that has been practiced over the centuries; the chariot races of Roman times are an early example, as is the contest of the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. It is inextricably associated with gambling...
jockeyIn sport, a jockey is one who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing; however, camel jockey profession is slowly being replaced by robotics.-Horse racing:...
whom
The Blood-HorseThe Blood-Horse is an international weekly news magazine about Thoroughbred horses, horse breeding, and horseracing. It was founded in 1916, the oldest continually published North American Thoroughbred magazine. The magazine is based in Lexington, Kentucky, the Horse Capital of the World. The...
magazine called "one of the most respected riders in Canada."
Lauzon began his professional riding career in 1981 and met with considerable success at Fort Erie Racetrack,
Greenwood RacewayGreenwood Raceway is a defunct horse racing facility in Toronto.Inaugurated in 1874 as Woodbine Race Course at the foot of Woodbine Avenue and Lake Ontario, it was owned and operated by two gentlemen named Pardee and Howell. Within a few years financial problems resulted in the property reverting...
and
Woodbine RacetrackWoodbine Racetrack is a Canadian racetrack for Thoroughbred horse races located at 555 Rexdale Blvd. in the city of Toronto, Ontario. It is the only horseracing track in North America which stages, or is capable of staging, thoroughbred and standardbred horseracing programs on the same day...
and won races in the United States. He is a two-time winner of Canada's most prestigious, the
Queen's PlateThe Queen's Plate is North America's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1¼ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each June at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...
. He won his first Plate in 1988 aboard
Regal IntentionRegal Intention is a Canadian Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. A grandson of Northern Dancer, he was out of the mare, Tiffany Tam and sired by the important Vice Regent who also sired his stablemate and arch rival, Regal Classic....
then the following year missed winning the race again when his horse was beaten by less than a nose. In 1994 he won his second Plate aboard
BasqueianBasqueian is a Canadian Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning two of the 1994 Canadian Triple Crown races.Basqueian was bred and raced by prominent businessman and major stable owner, Frank Stronach. Racing at age three in 1994, at Toronto's Woodbine Racetrack Basqueian finished second by...
plus went on that year to win the third leg of the
Canadian Triple Crown seriesThe Canadian Triple Crown is a series of three Thoroughbred horse races run annually in Canada which is open to three-year-old horses foaled in Canada...
, the
Breeders' StakesThe Breeders' Stakes is a Canadian stakes race for Thoroughbred race horses first run in 1889. Since 1959 it has been the third race in the Canadian Triple Crown for three-year-olds...
.
Accident and recovery
In August of 1996 Jack Lauzon was competing at the
Macau Jockey ClubThe Macau Jockey Club is an organisation providing horse racing and betting entertainment in the former Portuguese colony of Macau, in the People's Republic of China....
near
Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
when he was involved in an a racing accident that most believed would end his career. He was paralysed from the chest down after fracturing three vertebrae and was within a hair of severing his
spinal cordThe spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain. The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system. It is around 45 cm long in men and around 43 cm long in women. The length of the spinal cord is much shorter than...
. After more than two and half years of painful rehabilitation therapy, he returned to racing in April of 1999. In 2005, writer/broadcaster Peter Gross won a
Sovereign Award for Outstanding Newspaper ArticleThe Sovereign Award is given annually since 1975 by the Jockey Club of Canada to the outstanding horses and people in Canadian Thoroughbred racing.The most prestigious award for horses is Sovereign Horse of the Year....
with the story of Lauzon's accident and recovery titled "The Amazing Story of Jack Lauzon" which appeared in
The Game newspaper.
Jack Lauzon retired in 2007 and became a
jockey's agentA sports agent is a person who procures and negotiates employment and endorsement deals for a player. In return, the agent receives a commission that is usually between four and ten percent of the contract, although this figure varies.-Roles:...
. His contribution to the sport of Thoroughbred racing was honoured with the 2008
Avelino Gomez Memorial AwardThe Avelino Gomez Memorial Award is a Canadian thoroughbred horse racing honor given annually to a jockey who is Canadian-born, Canadian-raised, or a regular in the country for more than five years, who has made significant contributions to the sport...
.