Occupation Jockey Died March 5, 1948 Role Jockey | Name Albert Snider Career wins Not found | |
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Born October 22, 1921
United States ( 1921-10-22 ) People also search for Eddie Arcaro, Ivan H. Parke, Fred W. Hooper | ||
Albert Snider (October 22, 1921 – March 5, 1948) was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey.
Al Snider rode at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky and Chicago's Arlington Park in 1940 and 1941. Among his significant wins were the Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes and the Stars and Stripes Handicap. In his best finish in an American Classic, Snider rode owner Fred W. Hooper's colt Hoop Jr. to second place in the 1945 Belmont Stakes.
Signed on to ride for Calumet Farm, Al Snider was made the jockey for future United States' Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Citation. In 1947, he rode the colt in his two-year-old season, notably winning the Belmont Futurity Stakes en route to Citation being voted the U.S. Champion 2-Year-Old Colt. That year Snider also won the Pimlico Special aboard Calumet’s colt, Fervent.
1948 promised to be a great year as Al Snider prepared to ride Citation in the U.S. Triple Crown series. At Hialeah Park Race Track, he rode the colt to victory in the 1948 Seminole and Everglades Handicaps. Then, after winning the Flamingo Stakes, on March 5 Snider used a day off to go fishing in the Florida Keys. While out on the water, a sudden storm came up and Al Snider apparently drowned. A search party found no trace of his body but reportedly found his skiff eight days later on an island 10 miles south of Everglades City.
Calumet Farms head trainer Ben Jones hired Eddie Arcaro to replace Snider on Citation and they won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes, making him only the eighth horse in history to win the U.S. Triple Crown. Winning jockey Arcaro, one of Snider's friends, gave Snider's widow a share of his Kentucky Derby purse money.