Robert Constantin "Bobby" Permane (January 21, 1924 – October 24, 2017) was a Thoroughbred horse racing jockey whose successful career included riding future

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

inductee Stymie to thirteen wins. Fittingly, in 1951 Permane won the Stymie Purse at

Bowie Race Track The Bowie Race Track was a horse racing track located just outside the city limits of Bowie, Maryland. The one mile oval racetrack, known as Prince George's Park, was opened October 1, 1914 under the auspices of the Southern Maryland Agricultural ...

in Maryland.

Entertainment career

Robert Permane was born in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

, to parents who were vaudeville performers. At age eight he was competing in equestrian events for ponies. Prior to embarking on his career as a jockey in Thoroughbred racing he had success as a singer, performing on radio and touring the United States and Australia.

Jockey career

In August 1943 Permane made his professional riding debut at Garden State Park Racetrack in

Cherry Hill, New Jersey Cherry Hill is a township within Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a population of 74,553, which reflected an increase of 3,508 (+4.94%) from the 71,045 counted in the 2010 census.

, where on August 31 he earned his first win. The following year he was the leading jockey at

Tropical Park Race Track Tropical Park Race Track was a horse racing facility built on at the current intersection of Bird Road and the Palmetto Expressway in Southwest Dade Miami part of metropolitan Miami, Florida and what is now Olympia Heights. The race track was ...

in Miami, Florida. In April, during the track's 1944 spring meet, Permane rode a record five winners three days in a row. Permane was also second in total wins in New York State in 1944 and third in 1948. He was severely injured in March 1949 in a racing accident at Gulfstream Park which would require eight operations that put him out of racing for fifteen months, not returning until June 3, 1950. Among his other major successes, Robert Permane won the 1944 Jockey Club Gold Cup aboard Bolingbroke, and the 1946 Santa Anita Derby for Maine Chance Farm aboard

Knockdown Knockdown or knock-down may refer to: * Knockdown, a situation in full-contact combat sports where a fighter is down or vulnerable, often preliminary to a knockout * "Knockdown" (Castle), the thirteenth episode of the third season of the TV serie ...

. Then, in the U.S. Triple Crown races, he rode Knockdown to a fifth place finish in the 1946 Kentucky Derby and to fourth in the Preakness Stakes. In 1947 Permane won the Hollywood Gold Cup and

Sunset Handicap The Sunset Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually during the third week of July at Hollywood Park Racetrack in inglewood, California. The Grade III event is open to horses, age three and up, willing to race one and one-half ...

aboard Cover Up and in 1950 rode the filly

Busanda Busanda (1947–1968) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best remembered as the dam of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Buckpasser. Background Busanda was sired by 1937 U.S. Triple Crown champion War Admiral, a son of Man o' War, who w ...

to victory in the Alabama Stakes. When his racing career was over, Robert Permane and his wife made their home in Florida where they built Carlyn Estates Trailer Park in

Palmetto Palmetto (meaning "little palm") may refer to: Palms Several small palms in the Arecaceae (palm tree) family: *in the genus '' Sabal'': **Bermuda palmetto, ''Sabal bermudana'' **Birmingham palmetto, ''Sabal'' 'Birmingham' **Dwarf, or bush palm ...

. He died on October 24, 2017, at age 93.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Permane, Robert 1924 births 2017 deaths American male singers Vaudeville performers American businesspeople American jockeys Musicians from Camden, New Jersey