Edward H. "Snapper" Garrison (February 9, 1868 – October 28, 1930) was an American

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 ...

known for hanging back during most of the race and finishing at top speed to achieve a thrilling victory. Garrison rode out of an East Coast base for sixteen years from 1882 through 1897. While there are no official records documenting all of his career races, he once estimated that he had ridden more than 700 winners during his career. Among his most spectacular wins was the 1892

Suburban Handicap The Suburban Stakes (also known Suburban Handicap) is an American Grade II Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to horses age three and older, it is now run at the mile distance on dirt for a $350,000 pu ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

and in 1893 at New Jersey's Guttenberg track on

Tammany Tamanend ("the Affable"; ), historically also known as Taminent, Tammany, Saint Tammany or King Tammany, was the Chief of Chiefs and Chief of the Turtle Clan of the Lenape, Lenni-Lenape nation in the Delaware Valley signing the founding peace t ...

, both impressive finishes. Garrison was so well known for this that a contest where the winner pulls ahead at the last moment to score the victory is known as a ''Garrison finish''. Following the creation of 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 horse racing, Thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and Horse trainer, trainers. In 1955, the museum ...

, Edward Garrison was part of the inaugural group inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1955.

References

* from Project Gutenberg;
Hale, Ron (1997) "A Garrison Finish" About: Horseracing

"Word for the Day: November 17, 2006" ''Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary''
*
Edward Garrison at the United States' National Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrison, Edward H. American jockeys United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from New Haven, Connecticut 1868 births 1930 deaths Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn