Eric Guerin

Oliver Eric Guerin (23 October 1924 – 21 March 1993) is an American Hall of Fame jockey. Eric Guerin was born in Maringouin, Louisiana, in Cajun backwater country, twenty-four miles west of Baton Rouge. The son of an impoverished Cajun blacksmith, older cousin Norman Leblanc had become a jockey then a horse trainer and in 1938 the fourteen-year-old Guerin quit school to go to work for his cousin at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans. For two years, the teenager cleaned out horse stalls and began learning to ride by exercising horses. He then signed a contract to work for a Texas businessman's stable, a job that afforded him the opportunity to travel to racetracks around the country. Before long, his contract was sold to another stable owner, a common practise at the time, and Guerin began his career as a thoroughbred horse racing jockey in 1941 at the age of sixteen at Narragansett Park near Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Riding for a top stable proved to be Guerin's big break as a year later he was the United States' leading apprentice jockey. Within a few years, Eric Guerin was a highly regarded jockey on the East Coast racing circuit and in 1944 was involved in a racing rarity when he was part of a triple dead heat for first place in the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack. Known for his cool head and steady hand, Eric Guerin was hired by cosmetics magnate Elizabeth Arden to ride for her Maine Chance Farm. Teamed up with future Hall of Fame trainer Tom Smith, he rode Jet Pilot to victory in the 1947 Kentucky Derby. His reputation soon led to a lucrative contract offer from Alfred G. Vanderbilt II to join his Sagamore Stable. There, working with another future Hall of Fame trainer, Bill Winfrey, Guerin was soon scoring numerous important victories, notably with Champion fillies Bed o'Roses and Next Move. In 1952, thoroughbred racing gained a multitude of new fans when the Kentucky Derby was broadcast on television for the first time. That year, Guerin rode Na