Johnny Sellers, 72, jockey rode Carry Back to victory in 1961 Kentucky Derby and Preakness
Hoodoo
Jockey Johnny Sellers dies
By Marty McGee
Daily Racing Form
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/news/story?id=5350846
Johnny Sellers, who rode Carry Back to victory in the 1961 Kentucky
Derby and Preakness and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing
Hall of Fame in 2007, died early Friday morning in an Arkansas nursing
home, according to his son Mark. He was 72.
Sellers was just 23 when he guided Carry Back to a three-quarters of a
length triumph in the Derby over his archrival, Crozier. He led all
North American jockeys that year with 328 wins.
Born in Los Angeles and raised in Oklahoma as a self-professed "country
boy," Sellers began his riding career in 1955 and retired in 1977 with
2,787 wins from 18,636 mounts. His other career highlights included a
victory aboard Hail to All in the 1965 Belmont Stakes and being honored
with the George Woolf Memorial Award by his peers in 1969. He also was
featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in August of his career-best
year of 1961.
Even after his retirement, the easy-going, cigar-chomping Sellers
remained a familiar face for years around the racetrack while working as
a bloodstock agent, most notably at Gulfstream Park near his longtime
home in Hallandale Beach, Fla., as well as at Calder and at various
horse-sales venues.
Married and divorced four times, Sellers is survived by his son Mark,
52, a retired jockey living in Florida, and another son, John Michael, 45.
Mark Sellers said a memorial service will be held in honor of his father
next Saturday, July 10, in Tulsa, and that his father would be cremated
and buried next to his parents in Claremore, Okla.
--
Trout Mask Replica
KFJC.org, WFMU.org, WMSE.org, or WUSB.org;
because the pigoenholed programming of music channels
on Sirius Satellite, and its internet radio player, suck
Hoodoo
Hall of Fame jockey John Sellers dead at 72
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/images/john-sellers-carry-back.jpg
JOHN SELLERS ABOARD CARRY BACK
by Pete Denk
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/national-news/2010/July/02/Hall-of-Fame-jockey-John-Sellers-dead-at-73.aspx
Racing Hall of Fame jockey John Sellers died on Friday morning at a
nursing home in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He was 72.
Sellers was the regular rider of 1961 champion three-year-old male Carry
Back, also a Hall of Fame member and famous for his thrilling
come-from-behind wins. Sellers rode Carry Back 25 times, including to
victories in the Flamingo Stakes, Florida Derby, Kentucky Derby (video),
and Preakness Stakes in ’61, the Whitney Stakes in ’62, and in his final
career start when they won the Trenton Handicap together at Garden State
Park on November 2, 1963.
In 1961, Sellers was pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated (To
access the cover and story, click here). Sellers won the Belmont Stakes
on Hail to All in 1965, and he was presented the George Woolf Memorial
Award in ‘69.
Sellers rode from 1955 to ’77 and won 2,797 races and purses totaling
$17,948,436. He rode a number of prominent horses during his career,
including U.S. champions Straight Deal, Typecast, and T.V. Lark, as well
as multiple stakes winners *Daryl’s Joy, Pia Star, and *Petrone.
Following his retirement from riding, Sellers worked as a bloodstock
agent. In 1978 Sellers reported 12 trophies stolen from his home in
Monrovia, California, including his 1961 Derby trophy.
The Derby trophy, which had Carry Back’s name inscribed on it,
resurfaced for sale on eBay in 1999 and was returned to Sellers.
Sellers’ son Mark rode for 20 years.
“My father always taught me to be patient and have a clock in your
head,” Mark Sellers said on Friday.
Sellers spent his youth in Oklahoma, where he learned to ride Quarter
Horses. His career with Thoroughbreds began in 1953 with trainer Harry
Trotsek, a fellow Hall of Famer.
Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.