Kentucky Derby hero Ira Hanford dies aged 91

IRA HANFORD, who as an 18-year-old apprentice rode Bold Venture to victory in the 1936 Kentucky Derby, died on November 21 in  Ocala, Florida, following a lengthy illness. He was 91.

Hanford was the first apprentice to win the Derby and was the oldest-surviving jockey to win the race. Another claim to fame was that he rode Seabiscuit three times in 1936.

Bold Venture, sent away 20-1 chance, was his lone Derby mount, and he missed the ride in the Preakness Stakes after being suspended for 15 days by the Churchill Downs stewards, a suspension he saidwas never explained to him.

Trained by the great Max Hirsch, Bold Venture won the Preakness as well with George Woolfe aboard. Bold Venture did not run in the  Belmont Stakes.

During an interview with the Associated Press in 2006 he said he thought the suspension might have come as a result of  "knocking a down horse. I heard a few years ago that I was suspended for crossing over somewhere on the backside."

Hanford, who retired from riding in 1953, is  survived by his wie of 67 years, Virginia, and older brother Carl, trainer  of five-time Horse of the Year Kelso.

Virginia Hanford told the AP of her husband winning the Kentucky Derby: "It's something that once you win, it never gets taken away."