Bobby Ussery, Hall of Fame jockey whose horse was DQ’d in 1968 Kentucky Derby, dies at 88
Bobby Ussery, a Hall of Fame jockey who won the 1967 Kentucky Derby and then crossed the finish line first in the 1968 edition only to be disqualified days later, has died. He was 88.
Ussery died Thursday of congestive heart failure at an assisted living facility in Hollywood, Florida, his son Robert told The Associated Press on Friday, November 17, 2023.
The elder Ussery won his first race at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Nov. 22, 1951, and went on to major wins in the Travers, Whitney and Alabama at Saratoga by the end of the decade.
He retired in 1974 with 3,611 career victories and he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1980.
Ussery won the 1967 Derby aboard 30-1 longshot Proud Clarion. He picked up the mount after his original Derby horse, Reflected Glory, couldn’t make the race because of sore shins.
Ussery and Dancer’s Image crossed the finish line first in the 1968 Derby only to become the first horse ever disqualified days later as the result of a positive drug test. They rallied from last to win by 1 1/2 lengths over Forward Pass even though Ussery lost his whip.
It was the start of a four-year legal odyssey by owner Peter Fuller, who spent $250,000 unsuccessfully fighting the disqualification.
Traces of the anti-inflammatory phenylbutazone, known as bute, were found in Dancer’s Image’s post-race urinalysis. It was legal at some tracks at the time, but not at Churchill Downs. Veterinarian Alex Harthill had given the colt a dose of bute six days before the race, seemingly enough time for it to clear his system.
Dancer’s Image was disqualified by the stewards and placed 14th and last; Forward Pass was declared the winner. The trainer of Dancer’s Image and his assistant each received 30-day suspensions.
Fuller sent the winner’s gold trophy back to Churchill Downs to be engraved, but the track never returned it. Ussery kept the trophy awarded to the winning jockey.
Ussery’s best finish in the Belmont Stakes was in 1959 aboard Bagdad. That same year he won Canada’s most prestigious race, the Queen’s Plate, with New Providence, one of his record 215 winners in 1959.
