Darrel G. McHargue (born September 26, 1954, in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

) is a retired American

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ...

Thoroughbred horse racing Thoroughbred racing is a sport and Horse industry, industry involving the Horse racing, racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter know ...

. One of five children from a family not connected to horse racing, he was first introduced to riding as a teenage boy when he rode a neighbor's

Quarter Horse 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 or less; some have been clocked at speeds up to . ...

. He was 17 years old when he made his professional debut in 1972 at

Churchill Downs Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States that hosts the annual Kentucky Derby. It opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was prominent in Kentucky for many years. The first ...

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. The following year he was the leading rider at

Laurel Park Racecourse Laurel Park, formerly Laurel Race Course, is an American thoroughbred racetrack located just outside Laurel, Maryland which opened in 1911. The track is miles in circumference. Its name was changed to "Laurel Race Course" for several decades un ...

Laurel, Maryland Laurel is a city in Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore on the banks of the Patuxent River, in northern Prince George's County. Its population was 30,060 at the 2020 census. Founded as a mill town i ...

Triple Crown races

Darrel McHargue competed in eight

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby () is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is run by three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of . Colt (horse), Colts and geldin ...

s between 1974 and 1986. His best finishes were a second with Run Dusty Run in 1977 and a third with actor Jack Klugman's colt Jaklin Klugman in 1980. In 1975, the twenty-year-old McHargue earned the most important win of his career when he rode Master Derby to victory in the

Preakness Stakes The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held annually on Armed Forces Day, the third Saturday in May at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland (except in 2026 when it will move to Laurel Park (race track), Laurel Park dur ...

, the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series. McHargue had two mounts in the

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over the worldwide classic distance of . Colt (horseracing), Colt ...

, finishing third with Master Derby in 1975 and second with McKenzie Bridge in 1976.

1978 Championship

McHargue was the leading jockey at the 1977

Oak Tree Racing Association The Oak Tree Racing Association is an American nonprofit corporation that exists to conduct live thoroughbred horse racing in Southern California. Graded Stakes races at the Oak Tree meet Since Oak Tree Racing moved to Hollywood Park in 2010, so ...

fall meet. The next year would be the best of his career. He rode six winners in one day at

Santa Anita Park 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 ...

on March 5, 1978 and again on October 25, 1979. In 1978, he was the leading money-winning jockey in the United States with a record $6,188,353 and was voted the

Eclipse Award The Eclipse Award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th-century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. An Eclipse Award Trophy is presented to the winner in each division. The trophy is made by a few small selected A ...

as the United States' Outstanding Jockey. In addition, he was voted the 1978

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 ...

presented by Santa Anita Park to the jockey in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack. Beginning in 1980, McHargue rode the great

John Henry John Henry most commonly refers to: *John Henry (folklore) John Henry may also refer to: People Artists and entertainers * John Henry (actor) (1738–1794), Irish and early American actor *Seán Ó hEinirí (1915–1998), known in English as John ...

in eleven of his starts

winning such races as the San Juan Capistrano Handicap, Hollywood Invitational Turf Handicap, San Gabriel Handicap,

San Luis Rey Handicap The San Luis Rey Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Held during the third week of March, the Grade III event is open to horses of either gender, age four and up, willing to race ...

, and

San Marcos Stakes The San Marcos Stakes is an American Grade III Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late January or early February at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. Open to horses aged four and older, it is raced on turf over a distance of one and o ...

European racing

A proven rider on

turf Sod is the upper layer of turf that is harvested for transplanting. Turf consists of a variable thickness of a soil medium that supports a community of turfgrasses. In British and Australian English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', ...

, in 1983 McHargue moved to a base in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, where he rode for various trainers including

Luca Cumani Luca Matteo Cumani (born 7 April 1949, in Milan, Italy) is an Italian thoroughbred horse trainer and breeder. He trained at Bedford House Stables in Newmarket from 1976 to 2019. He has trained a multitude of high-profile horses, including seven ...

and

Dermot Weld Dermot K. Weld (born 29 July 1948), in Kildare, is a former jockey, and one of Ireland's most successful racehorse trainers, setting the record in 2000 for the most winners trained in Ireland with 2,578. He won the Irish Flat Training Champion ...

and for owners such as the American husband and wife team of

Bertram and Diana Firestone Bertram Robert Firestone (August 18, 1931 – July 12, 2021) and Diana Melville Johnson Firestone (January 26, 1932 – February 12, 2023) of Newstead Farm in Upperville, Virginia were major owner/breeders of Thoroughbred equestrian and flat rac ...

and Englishman

Ivan Allan Ivan Allan (16 January 1941 – 4 November 2009) was a champion racehorse trainer and businessman. On 24 May 1983, Allan was shot by gunmen outside his house and was rushed to Toa Payoh Hospital. Three bullets were removed while one remained in ...

. In 1984, he was the stable jockey for Cumani and had ridden Allan's outstanding colt

Commanche Run Commanche Run (1981–2005) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. He was a versatile top-class colt who won a number of Group One races at from one and a quarter to one and three-quarter miles in the 1980s. Background Bred in England, he w ...

in most of his races . Commanche Run had, however, put up a vastly improved performance in the Gordon Stakes under

Lester Piggott Lester Keith Piggott (5 November 1935 – 29 May 2022) was an English professional jockey and horse trainer. With 4,493 career flat racing wins in Britain, including a record nine Epsom Derby victories, he is widely regarded as one of the grea ...

when McHargue was suspended . McHargue was scheduled to ride Commanche Run in the

St. Leger Stakes The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over ...

. However, Piggott replaced McHargue shortly before the race at the instigation of Ivan Allan Commanche Run won the British Classic by a neck in a very close finish under a superb ride from Piggott. McHargue soon returned home to

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

McHargue retired from riding in early April 1988 and began a new career a few weeks later as a racing official. In 1994, he graduated from the Racing Officials Accreditation Program (ROAP). He worked at northern California tracks and in 2005 was appointed a race steward at Hollywood Park Racetrack, Hollywood Park. McHargue is married to Robin McHargue, daughter of the late trainer

Robert Wingfield Sir Robert Wingfield (died 1454), of Letheringham in Suffolk, was an English landowner, administrator and politician.G. E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors. The C ...

References

External links

Darrel McHargue at the official Kentucky Derby website

Profile and photo of Darrel McHargue at Sportscaster Sports Cards

* ttps://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-inside-track-1297210.html November 30, 1997 article in ''The Independent'' on Darrel McHargue, Lester Piggott, and the 1984 St. Leger Stakes {{DEFAULTSORT:McHargue, Darrel 1954 births Living people American Champion jockeys Eclipse Award winners Sportspeople from Oklahoma City