Lester Mark Fator (October 29, 1904 – January 16, 1952) was the 1922 American National Champion jockey in
Thoroughbred racing
Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the 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 known as National Hunt racing in ...
.
Three brothers: three jockeys
The Fator brothers grew up in a small
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
town and began their careers riding on
Western United States
The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau.
As American settlement i ...
Laverne Fator
Laverne Andrew Fator (October 21, 1899 – May 16, 1936) was an American Hall of Fame jockey.
Born in Hailey, Idaho, Laverne Fator and his brothers Mark and Elmer all became jockeys. The most successful of the three, Laverne Fator's riding career ...
(1899-1936) was riding for owner/trainer Stuart Polk who would sell the rising young star's contract in July 1919 to Harry F. Sinclair, owner of the renowned
Rancocas Stable
Rancocas Farm was an American thoroughbred horse racing Horse breeding, stud farm and racing stable located on Monmouth Road (County Route 537 (New Jersey), County Road 537) in the Jobstown, New Jersey, Jobstown section of Springfield Township, B ...
. Laverne Fator became one of the great jockeys in the history of Thoroughbred racing who in 1955 would be part of the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inaugural class of inductees. For the astute Polk, it was not the first time he had recognized a potential major talent. In early 1917 he signed the unknown rookie Albert Johnson, a future Hall of Fame inductee. A year later, Polk sold Johnson's contract for a reported $15,000 to California horseman John H. Rosseter.
Brother Elmer Fator (1902-1970) rode with some success while under contract to the same Stuart Polk.
Always known by his middle name, Mark Fator was the youngest of the Fator brothers. Like them, Mark was originally signed to a contract to ride for Stuart Polk.
National Championship year
Mark Fator rode primarily at the small tracks in 1922, the year that would be his most productive in racing. Among his successes, on July 21, 1922, he rode four winners at Maple Heights Park in Cleveland, Ohio, a track which was home to the
Ohio Derby
The Ohio Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in mid-to-late June at Thistledown in North Randall, Ohio.
The Grade III stakes for three-year-olds is run on dirt over a distance of 1 miles.
The race currently offers a pur ...
. Four days later on the same track, he won five races from six starts. In September, Fator was the leading jockey at
Thorncliffe Park Raceway
Thorncliffe Park Raceway was a Toronto-area racetrack that operated from 1917 until 1952. It was located east of Millwood Road, south of Eglinton Avenue East and the CPR's railroad tracks. It was the first home of the Prince of Wales Stakes. The ...
in Ontario, Canada and the following month he was back in Ohio competing at the
Toledo
Toledo most commonly refers to:
* Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain
* Province of Toledo, Spain
* Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States
Toledo may also refer to:
Places Belize
* Toledo District
* Toledo Settlement
Bolivia
* Toledo, Or ...
racetrack where he again had a day in which he rode four winners.† At the end of the year he had won 188 races, the most of any jockey in North America.
Rancocas Stable and later years
While finishing 1922 at the racetrack in
Tijuana, Mexico
Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...
, it was announced on December 31 that Stuart Polk had sold Mark Fator's contract to
Sam Hildreth
Samuel Clay Hildreth (May 16, 1866 – September 24, 1929) was an American Thoroughbred horse race, Thoroughbred horse racing National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame horse trainer, trainer and owner.East Coast to join his brother Laverne as a member of the Rancocas team.
Riding for Rancocas Stable in 1923 and 1924, Mark Fator's most significant wins in 1923 came in Jamaica Racetrack's
Youthful Stakes
The Youthful Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race for two-year-old horses run between 1903 and 1982. It was raced on dirt at three different tracks in the New York City area beginning with the Jamaica and Aqueduct Racetracks, then in 1972 ...
in May and in November, the first division of the
Walden Stakes
The Walden Stakes is a discontinued Thoroughbred horse race run from 1906 through 1948 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Raced on dirt, the event was open to two-year-olds horses of either sex. The race was named in honor of Maryland-b ...
at
Pimlico Race Course
Pimlico Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of O ...
. In 1924, Fator's best results were all in New York where he captured the Olympic Claiming Stakes and Hiawatha Handicap at
Jamaica Race Course
Jamaica Race Course, also called the Jamaica Racetrack, was an American thoroughbred horse racing facility operated by the Metropolitan Jockey Club in Jamaica, Queens, New York City.
History
The track opened on April 27, 1903, a day which featu ...
, the Fordham Claiming Stakes at Empire City and the Castleton Handicap at Aqueduct.
Following his time with the Rancocas Stable, Mark Fator rode for many different owners until 1929.
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
caused a shortage of jockeys who either joined the military or worked in manufacturing plants making equipment for the war effort. Not having ridden for thirteen years, at age 36 Mark Fator and other jockeys such as 42-year-old
Lavelle Ensor
Emory Lavelle "Buddy" Ensor (April 27, 1900 – November 13, 1947) was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey.
Biography
A native of Maryland, Lavelle Ensor got his first professional riding job in 1918 with future Hall of Fame ...
began coming out of retirement in 1942. During his later years, Mark Fator owned and trained horses. He remained involved with the sport, working as a patrol judge at two racetracks in Ohio, the Randall Park in North Randall and Cranwood Park in Warrensville Heights.
In December 1951, Mark Fator was diagnosed with heart disease and passed away on January 16, 1952.
* † Note: mistakenly referred to as "Martin"