Nicholas J. Wall (December 18, 1906 – March 17, 1983) was a Newfoundland Colony born

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 ...

who competed successfully in Canada and was the 1938 National Champion rider in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Born in Lower Gully, Kelligrews,

Conception Bay Conception Bay (CB) is a bay on the southeast coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The population (in 2011) of people living in municipalities (or unincorporated census subdivisions) located along the coast of Conception Bay was 90,490 making it ...

Newfoundland Colony Newfoundland was an English, and later British, colony established in 1610 on the island of Newfoundland. That followed decades of sporadic English settlement on the island, which was at first only seasonal. Newfoundland was made a Crown colony ...

, while still a small boy Nick Wall's family moved to

Glace Bay, Nova Scotia Glace Bay (Scottish Gaelic: ''Glasbaidh'') is a community in the eastern part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada. It forms part of the general area referred to as Industrial Cape Breton. Formerly an incorporated ...

. A

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

town, the diminutive Wall work in the mines as a

pony A pony is a type of small horse, usually measured under a specified height at maturity. Ponies often have thicker coats, manes and tails, compared to larger horses, and proportionally shorter legs, wider barrels, heavier , thicker necks and s ...

rider. He began his professional jockey career in 1926 and in 1928 scored his first major win in the King Edward Gold Cup at Woodbine Park Racetrack in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Riding principally in the

, over the course of his career, Nick Wall had mounts in each of the

American Classic Races In the United States, the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, commonly known as the Triple Crown, is a series of horse races for three-year-old Thoroughbreds, consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. The three r ...

with his best result in the

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 ...

coming in 1936 when he rode Coldstream to a fourth-place finish. In 1938, Wall had his best year when he was the

United States Champion Jockey by earnings There is recognition for the United States Champion Jockey by earnings but no formal award is given to the jockey whose mounts earned the most purse money in American Thoroughbred racing. Most years won #Bill Shoemaker (10) # Laffit Pincay Jr. (7) ...

. That year he won numerous important races at tracks in the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

area but earned national headlines for riding

Stagehand A stagehand is a person who works backstage or behind the scenes in theatres, film, television, or location performance. Their work includes setting up the scenery, lights, sound, props, rigging, and special effects for a production. General ...

to a victory over

Seabiscuit Seabiscuit (May 23, 1933 – May 17, 1947) was a champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States who became the top money-winning racehorse up to the 1940s. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral, by four lengths in a two-hors ...

in the

Santa Anita Handicap The Santa Anita Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in early March at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. It is a Grade I race for horses four years old and up and was once considered the most important race for old ...

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 t ...

. Nick Wall continued to race successfully but a serious injury sustained in a 1945 race diminished his riding skills. At the time of his retirement in 1957 he had made 11,164 starts, earning 1,419 firsts, 1,305 seconds, plus 1,352 third-place finishes. In 1940, Nick appeared in Monogram Pictures Corporation production of '' That Gang of Mine''. He portrayed Jockey Jimmy Sullivan. In 1979, Nick Wall was Inducted in

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canada, it serves as a hall of fame and mu ...

and the Sport Newfoundland and Labrador Hall of Fame. He died in

Bellerose, New York Bellerose is a village in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitut ...

in 1983 at age seventy-six.

Filmography

* '' That Gang of Mine'' (1940) as Jockey Jimmy Sullivan (uncredited)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wall, Nick 1906 births 1983 deaths Canadian jockeys American jockeys American Champion jockeys People from Bellerose, New York People from Conception Bay South Canadian emigrants to the United States Emigrants from the Dominion of Newfoundland to Canada