Sandy Hawley
Encyclopedia
Desmond Sanford "Sandy" Hawley, CM
(born April 16, 1949 in Oshawa, Ontario
, Canada) is a Hall of Fame jockey
.
Sandy Hawley started out as a plumber then later decided to be a jockey. He started his career as a jockey when he was a 17-year-old boy, hotwalking horses at a Toronto racetrack. Two years later, he became a regular rider at racetracks in Ontario
and then rode at racetracks on the East Coast of the United States. Hawley became the first jockey to ever lead the Canadian standings in a full season as an apprentice. In 1969, a time when there were no Sovereign
or Eclipse Award
s for jockeys, Hawley rode 230 winners, the most that year of any apprentice jockey in North America. He went on to race in the United States where he led all jockeys in victories for the years 1970, 1972, 1973 and 1976. In the 1973 season, he became the first jockey to ever win 500 races in one year, breaking Bill Shoemaker's record. Sandy Hawley has career earnings of over $88.6 million and was one of the most successful jockeys of his generation.
Racing in California
, Hawley was named the winner of Santa Anita Park
's prestigious George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award
. Given to a North American rider who demonstrates the highest of standards of personal and professional conduct both on and off the racetrack, Hawley has had the lifelong reputation of being a gentleman and a man of honor. In 1976 he won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey
in the United States after he broke thoroughbred racing's all-time money-winning record for a single year.
As a boy growing up in Canada, Hawley developed a love for the game of ice hockey
and while riding in California, he got an ice-level job as a penalty timekeeper for the home games of the Los Angeles Kings
hockey team, giving himself a great view of his favorite game.
He won the Lou Marsh Trophy
in 1973 and 1976 as Canada’s top athlete and was decorated with the Order of Canada
, his country’s highest individual civilian honor for outstanding accomplishments by a citizen. In addition to winning a large number of major Stakes races in the United States, four times he won Canada's most prestigious thoroughbred horse race, the Queen's Plate
. Twice, Hawley won seven races in a single day at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack
and at Santa Anita Park had six wins in a single day on two occasions. Hawley and Avelino Gomez
each won the Coronation Futurity Stakes
a record five times. Gomez won the race four years running between 1964 and 1967. Hawley won the race five out of six years between 1971 and 1976, his streak broken by Gomez's fifth win in 1972.
Hawley's best result in the Kentucky Derby
was two third place finishes one of which was with Golden Act
in 1979 aboard whom he finished second in both the Preakness
and Belmont Stakes
.
Overall, Sandy Hawley's career as a jockey spanned 31 years from 1968 to his retirement on July 1, 1998. He had 31,455 mounts, garnering 6,449 wins and won 18 riding titles at Woodbine Racetrack.
Diagnosed with skin cancer
in 1987, doctors only gave him a few months to live but he fought to overcome the disease with experimental drugs, a careful high-fiber diet, and his sheer determination.
Sandy Hawley was voted the 1986 Avelino Gomez Memorial Award
and that same year was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame
. He was inducted into the United States National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
in 1992 and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
in 1998.
He currently is a Public Relations Ambassador for Woodbine Entertainment Group, and resides in Oshawa, Ontario
with his wife Lisa and two sons, Bradley and Russell. He has worked as an analyst for The Score
and CKXT-TV
's horse racing coverage.
and his brother David Alpert. http://www.santaanita.com/news/pr.php?f=at59livinglegendsandyhawleyaddswinn
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
(born April 16, 1949 in Oshawa, Ontario
Oshawa, Ontario
Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario approximately 60 kilometres east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of both the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe. It is now commonly referred to as the most...
, Canada) is a Hall of Fame jockey
Jockey
A 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:...
.
Sandy Hawley started out as a plumber then later decided to be a jockey. He started his career as a jockey when he was a 17-year-old boy, hotwalking horses at a Toronto racetrack. Two years later, he became a regular rider at racetracks in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and then rode at racetracks on the East Coast of the United States. Hawley became the first jockey to ever lead the Canadian standings in a full season as an apprentice. In 1969, a time when there were no Sovereign
Sovereign Award
The 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....
or Eclipse Award
Eclipse Award
The Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...
s for jockeys, Hawley rode 230 winners, the most that year of any apprentice jockey in North America. He went on to race in the United States where he led all jockeys in victories for the years 1970, 1972, 1973 and 1976. In the 1973 season, he became the first jockey to ever win 500 races in one year, breaking Bill Shoemaker's record. Sandy Hawley has career earnings of over $88.6 million and was one of the most successful jockeys of his generation.
Racing in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Hawley was named the winner of Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita Park
Santa Anita Park is a thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent racing events in the United States during the winter and in spring. With its backdrop of the purple San Gabriel Mountains, it is considered by many as the world's most beautiful race...
's prestigious George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award
George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award
The 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 North American rider who demonstrates the highest of standards of personal and professional conduct both on and off the racetrack, Hawley has had the lifelong reputation of being a gentleman and a man of honor. In 1976 he won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey
Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey
The Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey is an American thoroughbred horse racing honor for jockeys first awarded in 1971. Part of the Eclipse Awards program, it is awarded annually....
in the United States after he broke thoroughbred racing's all-time money-winning record for a single year.
As a boy growing up in Canada, Hawley developed a love for the game of ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
and while riding in California, he got an ice-level job as a penalty timekeeper for the home games of the Los Angeles Kings
Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
hockey team, giving himself a great view of his favorite game.
He won the Lou Marsh Trophy
Lou Marsh Trophy
The Lou Marsh Trophy, also known as the Lou Marsh Memorial Trophy and Lou Marsh Award, is a trophy that is awarded annually to Canada's top athlete, professional or amateur. It is awarded by a panel of journalists, with the vote taking place in December. It was first awarded in 1936...
in 1973 and 1976 as Canada’s top athlete and was decorated with the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, his country’s highest individual civilian honor for outstanding accomplishments by a citizen. In addition to winning a large number of major Stakes races in the United States, four times he won Canada's most prestigious thoroughbred horse race, the Queen's Plate
Queen's Plate
The Queen's Plate is Canada'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 summer in June or July at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...
. Twice, Hawley won seven races in a single day at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack
Woodbine Racetrack
Woodbine 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 at Santa Anita Park had six wins in a single day on two occasions. Hawley and Avelino Gomez
Avelino Gomez
Avelino Gomez was a Cuban-born Hall of Fame jockey in American and Canadian thoroughbred horse racing.Born in Havana, Gomez began a career as a jockey at the urging of a family member...
each won the Coronation Futurity Stakes
Coronation Futurity Stakes
The Coronation Futurity Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old horses foaled in Canada. It is run annually in early November at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario at a distance of 1 1/8 miles on dirt...
a record five times. Gomez won the race four years running between 1964 and 1967. Hawley won the race five out of six years between 1971 and 1976, his streak broken by Gomez's fifth win in 1972.
Hawley's best result in the Kentucky Derby
Kentucky Derby
The 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...
was two third place finishes one of which was with Golden Act
Golden Act
Golden Act was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Sired by Gummo, a grandson of Nasrullah who was a son of the extremely important sire, Nearco, he was out of the mare Golden Shore....
in 1979 aboard whom he finished second in both the Preakness
Preakness Stakes
The 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 Belmont Stakes
Belmont Stakes
The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...
.
Overall, Sandy Hawley's career as a jockey spanned 31 years from 1968 to his retirement on July 1, 1998. He had 31,455 mounts, garnering 6,449 wins and won 18 riding titles at Woodbine Racetrack.
Diagnosed with skin cancer
Skin cancer
Skin neoplasms are skin growths with differing causes and varying degrees of malignancy. The three most common malignant skin cancers are basal cell cancer, squamous cell cancer, and melanoma, each of which is named after the type of skin cell from which it arises...
in 1987, doctors only gave him a few months to live but he fought to overcome the disease with experimental drugs, a careful high-fiber diet, and his sheer determination.
Sandy Hawley was voted the 1986 Avelino Gomez Memorial Award
Avelino Gomez Memorial Award
The 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...
and that same year was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame
Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame
The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 at the Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario to honor those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of harness and thoroughbred horse racing in Canada....
. He was inducted into the United States National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The 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 1992 and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame is a hall of fame established in 1955 to "preserve the record of Canadian sports achievements and to promote a greater awareness of Canada's heritage of sport." It is located at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta...
in 1998.
He currently is a Public Relations Ambassador for Woodbine Entertainment Group, and resides in Oshawa, Ontario
Oshawa, Ontario
Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario approximately 60 kilometres east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of both the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe. It is now commonly referred to as the most...
with his wife Lisa and two sons, Bradley and Russell. He has worked as an analyst for The Score
The Score (television network)
The Score Television Network is a Canadian English-language cable television specialty channel providing primarily sports news, highlights, information and analysis programming along with live event sports coverage...
and CKXT-TV
CKXT-TV
CKXT-DT was a broadcast television station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and serving much of southern and eastern Ontario, owned by Quebecor Media through its Groupe TVA unit. At the time of the station's closure on November 1, 2011, the station was serving as an over-the-air simulcast of...
's horse racing coverage.
Living Legends Race
On October 18, 2008 at Santa Anita Park, Sandy Hawley and seven other U.S. Racing Hall of Fame jockeys came out of retirement for the Living Legends Race that officially counted in their career totals and was specially approved for legalized parimutuel wagering. Hawley earned his 6,450th official career victory with a win aboard Tribal Chief, a horse owned by musician/record producer Herb AlpertHerb Alpert
Herbert "Herb" Alpert is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, or TJB. He is also a recording industry executive — he is the "A" of A&M Records...
and his brother David Alpert. http://www.santaanita.com/news/pr.php?f=at59livinglegendsandyhawleyaddswinn
Selected major race wins
- Alabama StakesAlabama StakesThe Alabama Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race open to three-year-old fillies. Inaugurated in 1872, the Grade I race is run over a distance of one and one-quarter miles on the dirt track at Saratoga Race Course. Held in mid August, it currently offers a purse of $500,000...
(1970) - Queen's PlateQueen's PlateThe Queen's Plate is Canada'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 summer in June or July at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...
(1970, 1971, 1975, 1978) - Prince of Wales StakesPrince of Wales StakesThe Prince of Wales Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Fort Erie Race Track in Fort Erie, Ontario. Restricted to three-year-old horses bred in Canada, it is contested on dirt over a distance of a mile and three sixteenths . In 1959, the Prince of Wales Stakes became the...
(1970 & 1975) - Whitney HandicapWhitney HandicapThe Whitney Handicap is an American Grade 1 handicap race for Thoroughbred racehorses three years of age and older run at a distance of 1⅛ miles. In 2007, the Breeders' Cup Ltd...
(1975) - Washington, D.C. International (1975 & 1976)
- Sport Page HandicapSport Page Breeders' Cup HandicapThe Sport Page Handicap was an American thoroughbred horse race run annually at Aqueduct Race Track in Ozone Park, Queens, New York for three-year-olds and up...
(1976) - Canadian International StakesCanadian International StakesThe Canadian International Stakes is a $2 million Grade I Canadian stakes race on Turf for thoroughbred racehorses three years of age and up held annually in October at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario....
(1976 & 1979) - Man O' War StakesMan O' War StakesThe Man o' War Stakes is a Thoroughbred horse race at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Now Raced in July, it is a Grade I event offering a purse of $500,000 and is open to horses three-years-old and up. Run at one and three-eighths mile on the grass, the race sometimes attracts top European horses...
(1977) - San Felipe StakesSan Felipe StakesThe San Felipe Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. The San Felipe is a Grade II event open to three-year-old horses. Normally held in mid-March, it is raced at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on dirt and currently...
(1977, 1979, 1984) - Breeders' StakesBreeders' 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...
(1972, 1976, 1979, 1988) - Hollywood Gold CupHollywood Gold CupThe Hollywood Gold Cup is an American Grade I stakes race for thoroughbred horses inaugurated in 1938 at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. It was run as a handicap race until 1997 when it was switched to weight-for-age conditions...
(1981) - Hollywood FuturityHollywood FuturityThe Hollywood Futurity is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually since 1981 at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. The Grade I race is open to two-year-old horses and run over a distance of 1 1/16 miles...
(1983) - Lane's End Breeders' FuturityLane's End Breeders' FuturityThe Breeders' Futurity Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early October at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky. Currently offering a purse of $500,000, the race is open to two-year-old horses and is run at a distance of one and one-sixteenth miles on the...
(1986) - Spinster Stakes 1986
- Ashland StakesAshland StakesThe Ashland Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early April at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It and the Ashland Oaks, the Kentucky Association racetrack's predecessor race, were named for Ashland, the homestead and breeding farm of statesman...
(1987) - Jamaica HandicapJamaica HandicapThe Jamaica Handicap is American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses run annually on the turf at Belmont Park in Elmont on Long Island, New York...
(1989)