Bush track is a term used in
horse racing to describe unsanctioned, informal horse races run in rural areas of the United States and southern Canada.
Quarter horses
The American Quarter Horse, or Quarter Horse, is an American breed of horse that excels at sprinting short distances. Its name is derived from its ability to outrun other horse breeds in races of a quarter mile or less; some have been clocked at ...
, ridden by amateur
jockeys, are raced on makeshift tracks, often set up in the field where the horses are pastured using barrels or other natural landmarks as the track interior. Race times are never kept and the track length is not uniform.
Some of these tracks are somewhat more formal, with names and a regular following (though seldom more than 1000 would show for a race). Races are often run with only two horses on a track with lanes. The state of
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...
is notable for having produced top jockeys who got their start in this setting.
February 18, 1993 ''Ocala Star-Banner'' article on "Bayou Country" jockeys
/ref>
Jockeys who started in the bush tracks:[{{cite web
, url = http://uofl.info/Kentuckys-Street-Sense
, title = Street Sense the "local boy" wins the Kentucky Derby
, publisher = University of Louisville News and Forums
, location = USA
, accessdate = 2007-05-07
, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071024161557/http://www.uofl.info/Kentuckys-Street-Sense#
, archive-date = 2007-10-24
, url-status = dead
]
*Robby Albarado
Robby J. Albarado (born September 11, 1973, in Lafayette, Louisiana) is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. He began riding at the age of 10 and progressed to riding at bush tracks in his native Louisiana by the age of 12. After turnin ...
* Ronald Ardoin
*Calvin Borel
Calvin H. Borel (born November 7, 1966) is an American jockey in thoroughbred horse racing and rode the victorious mount in the 2007 Kentucky Derby, the 2009 Kentucky Derby and the 2010 Kentucky Derby. His 2009 Derby win with Mine That Bird w ...
*Ray Broussard
Raywood J. Broussard (August 11, 1937 - October 6, 1993) was an American jockey in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing.
"Ray" Broussard was born in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, home to many Acadians and an area that would produce a number ...
*Eddie Delahoussaye
Edward J. Delahoussaye (born September 21, 1951) is a retired American Thoroughbred jockey from New Iberia, Louisiana.
He began his career in 1968 and ten years later became the top American jockey with 384 wins. He has won the Kentucky Derby i ...
*Kent Desormeaux
Kent Jason Desormeaux (born February 27, 1970) is an American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who holds the U.S. record for most races won in a single year with 598 wins in 1989. He has won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stake ...
*Laverne Fator
Laverne Andrew Fator (October 21, 1899 – May 16, 1936) was an American National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame jockey.
Born in Hailey, Idaho, Laverne Fator and his brothers Mark Fator, Mark and Elmer all became jockeys. The ...
* Mark Fator
*Eric Guerin
Oliver Eric Guerin (October 23, 1924 – March 21, 1993) was an American Hall of Fame jockey.
Eric Guerin was born in Maringouin, Louisiana, in Cajun backwater country, twenty-four miles west of Baton Rouge. He was the son of an impoverished Ca ...
*Mark Guidry
Mark Guidry (born August 6, 1959, in Lafayette, Louisiana) is a former American jockey. He ranks 22nd among jockeys in career wins with 5,222 wins as of March 7, 2014, the date of his last ride. He subsequently announced his retirement from ridin ...
*Craig Perret
Craig Perret (born February 2, 1951, in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American thoroughbred horse racing jockey. He began riding horses at age five and by seven was riding quarter horses in match races. At age fifteen he began his career in th ...
*Red Pollard
John M. "Red" Pollard (October 27, 1909 – March 7, 1981) was a Canadian horse racing jockey. A founding member of the Jockeys' Guild in 1940, Pollard rode at racetracks in the United States and is best known for riding Seabiscuit.
Famil ...
*Randy Romero
Randy Paul Romero (December 22, 1957 – August 29, 2019) was a Hall of Fame jockey in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing.
Born into a family involved with horses, his father Lloyd J. Romero was a Louisiana state trooper who trained America ...
*Shane Sellers
Shane Jude Sellers (born September 24, 1966 in Erath, Louisiana) is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. At age eleven, he began working around horses and in 1983 rode his first winner at Evangeline Downs.
Sellers won several nationa ...
* Carroll Shilling
*Joseph Talamo
Joseph "Joe" Talamo (born January 12, 1990 in Marrero, Louisiana) is a Champion jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing.
Born and raised in Marrero on the West Bank of the Mississippi River, within the Greater New Orleans Metropolitan ar ...
*Jack Kaenel
"Cowboy" Jack Leroy Kaenel (born July 27, 1965, in Omaha, Nebraska) is a retired American jockey in Thoroughbred racing who, at age 16, became the youngest rider to ever win the second leg of the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, ...
References
Horse racing terminology