Eddie Delahoussaye

Who is Eddie Delahoussaye?

Edward J. Delahoussaye is a retired American Thoroughbred jockey from New Iberia, Louisiana.

He began his career in 1968 and ten years later became the top American jockey with 384 wins. He has won the Kentucky Derby in two consecutive years, riding Gato Del Sol in 1982 and Sunny's Halo in 1983; he had finished second in the 1981 Derby.

In addition to his wins at the Kentucky Derby, he won the 1988 Preakness Stakes and the 1988 and 1992 Belmont Stakes as well as seven Breeders' Cup races.

Eddie Delahoussaye was awarded the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1981. He was inducted into the Fair Grounds Racing Hall of Fame in 1991 and in 1993 into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

He retired from horse racing in January 2003 as a result of injuries to his head and neck suffered in a fall at Del Mar Racetrack. Over his 34 year career, he is the twelfth winningest jockey, with 6,384 races won. In terms of monetary winnings, he is sixth all time, having earned $195,881,170 in his career.

In 2006 Delahoussaye wrote the preface to Santa Anita Morning Rhapsody, by photographer-author Karen S. Davis, a book documenting morning thoroughbred racetrack training. "All of the moments that define the morning at Santa Anita are captured in the stunning photography of this book," he wrote. "Morning at Santa Anita racetrack is like no other time or place on earth."