Robert Nelson "Bobby" Ussery (born September 3, 1935 in Vian, Oklahoma) is a retired American Thoroughbred

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. His first race as a professional jockey came at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans on November 22, 1951, where he rode Reticule to victory in the Thanksgiving Handicap. By the end of the decade, he had won the Travers, Whitney and Alabama Stakes. Riding Windfields Farm's colt

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, in 1959 he won Canada's most prestigious race, the Queen's Plate. The horse went on to win the Canadian Triple Crown, although

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took the mount for the final two legs. Ussery's best finish in the

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over 1.5 miles (2,400 m). Colts and geldings carry a weight of ; fillies carry . The race, nicknamed Th ...

was in 1959 aboard the colt Bagdad. In 1960, he won the

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aboard that year's Eclipse Award 2-year-old champion, Hail To Reason. That same year, he rode Bally Ache to victory in the Florida Derby and the Flamingo Stakes en route to a second-place finish in the

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and then a win in the Preakness Stakes. In 1967, Ussery won the Kentucky Derby on Proud Clarion and finished first in 1968 aboard Dancer's Image. However, phenylbutazone, a substance banned in Kentucky at that time but later sanctioned after it was proven not to affect a horse's performance, was found in Dancer's Image's post-race urine test. Dancer's Image was disqualified and listed as having finished last. Ussery was so noted for guiding horses to the outside of the track, near the crown, then diving toward the rail and opening them up on the far turn at Aqueduct Race Track that it was soon dubbed "Ussery's Alley", specifically for riding a horse on the far outside. Ussery retired in 1974 with 3,611 race wins. In 1980, he was inducted into the

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 1955, the museum moved to its current location on Union Av ...

. In 2011, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ussery American jockeys United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees People from Sequoyah County, Oklahoma 1935 births Living people