British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame (1979) Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame (1980)
Significant horses
Happy Issue, Faultless, Fisherman, Sailor, Three Rings
Hedley John Woodhouse (January 23, 1920 - December 29, 1984) was a Canadian jockey who won the New York state riding championship in 1953. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, he began his racing career there in 1937 at the Lansdowne Park racetrack as an apprentice with A.C.T. Stock Farm owned by industrialist Austin C. Taylor. Woodhouse's ability would soon see him racing at tracks along the West Coast of the United States and in 1944 he rode Happy Issue to victory in the Grade I Vanity Handicap and Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California.[1]
Woodhouse rode the colt Fisherman to a 3rd-place finish in the 1949 Kentucky Derby, the best result of his four tries between then and 1957. He rode in the Preakness Stakes on three occasions, his best finish a 5th in 1951. Racing out of New York tracks in the first part of the 1950s, Hedley Woodhouse won the 1953 New York riding championship with 138 victories, and was runner-up on three occasions.
After finishing 7th in the 1954 Kentucky Derby on "Fisherman", a colt owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney and trained by Sylvester Veitch, Woodhouse came within a neck of winning the Belmont Stakes. His 2nd-place finish was his best in the third of the American Triple Crown races.
From being based in New York, Hedley Woodhouse would make his way to the Florida racing circuit where remarkably at age 50 he won the 1970 jockey title at Tropical Park in Miami. He retired the following year having won 2,642 races. He was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in 1979 and the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1980.[2][3]
Married to Elsie Woodhouse (1919–1998), their son Robert was also a successful jockey, capturing a number of important stakes races on the New York circuit. Hedley and Robert Woodhouse are the only father and son to win the Whitney Handicap.
Hedley Woodhouse died in 1984.
^"Hedley Woodhouse;Was Leading Jockey". New York Times. 1984-12-31. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
^"Hedley Woodhouse". British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame. 1979-01-01. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015. Retrieved 2018-12-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^"Hedley Woodhouse". Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. 1980-01-01. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
Hedley John Woodhouse (January 23, 1920 - December 29, 1984) was a Canadian jockey who won the New York state riding championship in 1953. Born in Vancouver...
Evan Williams Emma-Jayne Wilson Rick Wilson Fred Winter Otto Wonderly HedleyWoodhouse George Woolf Harry Wragg Wayne D. Wright Manuel Ycaza Kazuo Yokoyama...
Shoemaker John A. Nerud Ralph Lowe 1-1/4 m 2:04.00 $29,500 1956 Oh Johnny HedleyWoodhouse Norman R. McLeod Helene D. Gilroy 1-1/4 m 2:06.20 $33,200 1955 Thinking...
Boland G. Carey Winfrey Jan Burke 1+1⁄8 miles 1:49.80 1955 First Aid 5 HedleyWoodhouse J. Elliott Burch Brookmeade Stable 1+1⁄8 miles 1:51.60 1954 Social...
in any of the U.S. Triple Crown races. However, under regular rider HedleyWoodhouse he won four major races that year, including the prestigious Pimlico...
Ted Atkinson John M. Gaver Sr. Greentree Stable 3rd 10 Palestinian HedleyWoodhouse Hirsch Jacobs Isidor Bieber 4th 6 Old Rockport Gordon Glisson Phil...
(1939, 1940) 2 - Tea-Maker (1951, 1952) Most wins by a jockey: 3 - HedleyWoodhouse (1952, 1954, 1956) Most wins by a trainer: 3 - Phillip M. Walker (1932...
William G. Williams Winding Way Farm 1:11.00 6 furlongs 1952 Tea-Maker 9 HedleyWoodhouse J. Dallet Byers F. Ambrose Clark 1:11.20 6 furlongs 1951 Piet 6 Jim...
Correlation Bill Shoemaker Noble Threewitt R. S. Lytle 7th 11 Fisherman HedleyWoodhouse Sylvester Veitch Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney 8th 6 James Session Layton...
Triple Crown Champion Assault. The 1952 running saw Canadian jockey HedleyWoodhouse aboard 10-1 Quiet Step upset future Hall of Fame inductee Tom Fool...
Elliott Burch Brookmeade Stable 1 m 1:37.40 $37,537 1960 Irish Jay 3 HedleyWoodhouse James E. Fitzsimmons Wheatley Stable 1 m 1:35.80 $38,292 1959 Quill...
Philip G. Johnson Meadowhill 1:42.60 $23,275 Division 2 1967 Flit-To 4 HedleyWoodhouse Robert L. Wheeler Robert Lehman 1+1⁄16 miles 1:40.40 $23,000 Division...
Boland Norman R. McLeod Mrs. Wallace Gilroy 1:43.60 1957 Mister Jive HedleyWoodhouse George M. Carter J. L. Appelbaum 1:45.60 1956 Career Boy Eric Guerin...
Miss John Ruane Willie Booth Isaac J. Collins 1:13.40 1957 I Offbeat HedleyWoodhouse Edward I. Kelly Sr. Brookfield Farm 1:12.00 1956 Royal Lark Walter...
Leonard H. Hunt Leo Edwards 5 1⁄2 F 1:05.00 $14,950 1955 Getthere Jack HedleyWoodhouse John J. Weipert Jr. Lily-Ann Stable 5 1⁄2 F 1:05.20 $8,450 1954 Right...
1959 Happy Princess 7 HedleyWoodhouse George Lewis Mabel D. Lewis 7 furlongs 1:24.20 $28,600 1958 Happy Princess 6 HedleyWoodhouse George Lewis Mabel D...
$14,950 1952 Tea-Maker 9 HedleyWoodhouse J. Dallet Byers F. Ambrose Clark 6 f 1:10.20 $14,600 1951 More Sun 4 HedleyWoodhouse Preston M. Burch Brookmeade...