Sports

HOF jockey, ’67 Derby winner Ussery dies at 88

Published

2 years ago

November 17, 2023

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Associated Press

Nov 17, 2023, 03:47 PM ET

Bobby Ussery, a Hall of Fame jockey who won the 1967 Kentucky Derby and then crossed the finish line first in the 1968 edition only to be disqualified days later, has died. He was 88.

Ussery died Thursday of congestive heart failure at an assisted living facility in Hollywood, Florida, his son Robert told The Associated Press on Friday.

The elder Ussery won his first race at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Nov. 22, 1951, and went on to major wins in the Travers, Whitney and Alabama at Saratoga by the end of the decade.

He retired in 1974 with 3,611 career victories and he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1980.

Ussery won the 1967 Derby aboard 30-1 longshot Proud Clarion. He picked up the mount after his original Derby horse, Reflected Glory, couldn’t make the race because of sore shins.

Ussery and Dancer’s Image crossed the finish line first in the 1968 Derby only to become the first horse ever disqualified days later as the result of a positive drug test. They rallied from last to win by 1 1/2 lengths over Forward Pass even though Ussery lost his whip.

It was the start of a four-year legal odyssey by owner Peter Fuller, who spent $250,000 unsuccessfully fighting the disqualification.

Traces of the anti-inflammatory phenylbutazone, known as bute, were found in Dancer’s Image’s post-race urinalysis. It was legal at some tracks at the time, but not at Churchill Downs. Veterinarian Alex Harthill had given the colt a dose of bute six days before the race, seemingly enough time for it to clear his system.

Dancer’s Image was disqualified by the stewards and placed 14th and last; Forward Pass was declared the winner. The trainer of Dancer’s Image and his assistant each received 30-day suspensions.

Fuller sent the winner’s gold trophy back to Churchill Downs to be engraved, but the track never returned it.

Ussery kept the trophy awarded to the winning jockey.

“As far as I’m concerned, I won the Derby in 1968 because they made the race official,” he told The Associated Press in 2019. “What they did with Dancer’s Image was another thing. It had no reflection on me.”

The Derby media guide includes the official chart showing Dancer’s Image as the winner, with a two-sentence explanation about the DQ, but in other sections Forward Pass gets the credit.

Ussery’s best finish in the Belmont Stakes was in 1959 aboard Bagdad. That same year he won Canada’s most prestigious race, the Queen’s Plate, with New Providence, one of his record 215 winners in 1959.

In 1960, he won the Hopeful Stakes on that year’s 2-year-old champion, Hail To Reason. He won the Flamingo, Florida Derby and Preakness on Bally Ache that year after they finished second in the Kentucky Derby.

He was born Robert Nelson Ussery on Sept. 3, 1935, in Vian, Oklahoma.

At Aqueduct in New York, Ussery was known for guiding horses to the outside of the track, near the crown where the dirt was packed hard, then diving toward the rail and opening them up on the far turn. That path was dubbed Ussery’s Alley.

“He was running on the hard surface and all the other horses were running in the sand like at the beach,” his son Robert recalled. “He would be so many lengths in front and he was the only one who could do that successfully.”

In 2011, Ussery was inducted into the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Besides his son, Ussery is survived by four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. His daughter, Debra Paramanis, died in 2010.

Sports

Rodriguez makes history with another 20-20 year

Published

10 hours ago

August 4, 2025

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Rodriguez makes history with another 20-20 year

ESPN News Services

Aug 3, 2025, 07:04 PM ET

SEATTLE — Julio Rodriguez homered to become the first player in major league history with 20 or more home runs and 20 or more stolen bases in each of his first four seasons, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 5-4 on Sunday.

Rodriguez hit a two-run shot in the third inning — his 100th career homer — and the slugging and speedy center fielder also added his 21st stolen base of the season after singling in the fifth inning.

“That’s a very big accomplishment,” Rodríguez told reporters, according to MLB.com. “I know my family’s very happy, and I’m sure they’re thinking of all the things I had to do to be able to get here. To be able to do it with this team and this organization is awesome. I’m just excited to see where things are going to go from here.”

Jorge Polanco added a solo shot in the second, and shortstop J.P. Crawford smacked a two-run blast in the fourth against Rangers starter Jacob deGrom (10-4), who became the fastest pitcher in major league history to reach 1,800 career strikeouts by games and innings Sunday.

The Rangers kept things close by pushing across three runs against Mariners starter Logan Evans (5-4), but tallied only one run against the Mariners bullpen before closer Andrés Muñoz locked down his 25th save of the season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sports

Marlins def. Yankees, earn 1st-ever sweep of N.Y.

Published

14 hours ago

August 4, 2025

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Marlins def. Yankees, earn 1st-ever sweep of N.Y.

ESPN News Services

Aug 3, 2025, 04:55 PM ET

MIAMI — Kyle Stowers hit a three-run homer and the Miami Marlins defeated the New York Yankees 7-3 on Sunday, completing their first-ever sweep of the Yankees in a series of three or more games.

The Marlins (55-55) reached .500 for the first time since April 15, when the team was 8-8. Since June 13, the Marlins are 30-14; that’s tied with the 2003 team for the most wins in a 44-game span in franchise history, according to ESPN Research.

The 2003 Marlins went on to beat the Yankees in the World Series in six games.

Marlins starter Edward Cabrera (5-5) pitched six innings of two-hit ball with seven strikeouts and one walk. His only blemish came against the first batter he faced. Trent Grisham drove Cabrera’s 98.1 mph four-seam fastball to right-center.

Miami rookie Jakob Marsee, who made his major league debut on Friday, was 2-for-4 and finished a single short of the cycle.

Stowers made it 6-1 when he connected on an 0-2 fastball from Brent Headrick, who entered in the fourth with two on after starter Luis Gil (0-1) was lifted 3⅓ innings into his season debut.

Gil, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year, struck out three and surrendered five runs and five hits while issuing four walks in his return from a high-grade lat strain. He threw 77 pitches.

Gil’s shaky debut comes at a rough point in the season for the Yankees, whose inconsistency has prompted a rash of criticism, the latest coming from former Yankees stars Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez on Fox’s pregame show Saturday night.

“They make way too many mistakes,” Jeter said. “Way too many mistakes, and you can’t get away with making that number of mistakes against great teams.”

Added Rodriguez: “Where’s the accountability?”

Boone addressed those criticisms before Sunday’s game, saying it comes with the territory of being the Yankees, but he added after the loss that it’s “gut-check” time for his club.

New York’s weekend series at Miami included the Yankees blowing a six-run lead in a wild 13-12 loss on Friday, before a 2-0 loss on Saturday.

The Yankees had a seven-game lead in the AL East in late May. By July 2, the lead was gone and the Yankees have been looking up at Toronto in the division ever since. The red-hot Boston Red Sox, who were more than 10 games behind the Yankees about two months ago, have overtaken their rival for the second spot in the AL East and AL wild-card lead.

“It’s getting late,” Boone said. “And it’s certainly not too late for us. I am confident that we’re going to get it together. But that’s all it is right now is, you know, it’s empty until we start doing it.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.