Clyde Turk (November 15, 1907 – April 24, 1995) was an American jockey and trainer of

thoroughbred The 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. Thoroughbreds are ...

racehorses. He began riding horses in the 1920s and in 1929 was riding at the new

Agua Caliente Racetrack Agua means water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms ...

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

. He competed at tracks throughout

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

and at the newly built

Santa Anita Racetrack Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious race ...

Arcadia, California Arcadia is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located about northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It contains a series of adjacent parks consisting of ...

he rode the first-ever winner for trainer

Noble Threewitt Noble Winfield Threewitt (February 24, 1911 – September 17, 2010) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer who conditioned horses for seventy-five years before retiring on his ninety-sixth birthday. The city of Arcadia, California, hom ...

during the opening season in which he would also win important races such as the

San Felipe Stakes The San Felipe Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade II event open to three-year-old horses. Normally held in early -March, it is raced at a distance of one and one ...

and

Santa Margarita Handicap The Santa Margarita Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in early April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California for fillies and mares age four and older, it is contested on dirt over a distance of one and one-eighths mil ...

, the latter a race he would win three more times as a trainer. In 1946, Turk retired from riding and turned to training thoroughbreds as a career.

1967 Kentucky Derby

For owner Louis R. Rowan, Clyde Turk trained Ruken to a win in the 1967

Santa Anita Derby The Santa Anita Derby is an American Grade 1 thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds run each April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is currently run at a distance of miles on the dirt and carries a purse of $400,000. It is one ...

, the most important event for three-year-olds in California. At

Churchill Downs Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex located on Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, famed for hosting the annual Kentucky Derby. It officially opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was ...

they then won the

Stepping Stone Purse The Stepping Stone Purse was an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in the latter part of April at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Open to three-year-old horses, it was, along with the Derby Trial Stakes, one of two final prep r ...

which prompted bettors to make him their third choice for the

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-yea ...

in which he would finish eighth. Clyde Turk retired from racing on March 31, 1970. He was living in

Yuba City, California Yuba City (Maidu: ''Yubu'') is a city in Northern California and the county seat of Sutter County, California, United States. The population was 70,117 at the 2020 census. Yuba City is the principal city of the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistic ...

at the time of his death at age 87 in 1995.SSDI
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turk, Clyde 1907 births 1995 deaths American jockeys American horse trainers People from Yuba City, California