The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

USSERY, BOBBY NELSON (1935–2023).

An elite-level professional jockey in thoroughbred racing in the United States, Canada, and England, Bobby Ussery was born in Vian, Oklahoma, on September 3, 1935. His parents were Bonnie Hoxie and George Russell Ussery. As a teenager Bobby Ussery began riding at local tracks in Oklahoma and then branched out to Texas and Nebraska.

At the age of sixteen, on Thanksgiving Day in 1951 at the New Orleans Fairgrounds, he made his first official racing-circuit ride, winning on a horse named Reticule. In the 1950s he primarily made his living on the Florida circuit. Also establishing himself as a successful rider on the New York and New England circuits, in 1955 he was the number 3 jockey in the United States, with 253 wins. In 1960 he took home more earnings money than any stakes-race rider in North America, a feat he would repeat eight more times over his career. In 1960 he rode Bally Ache to wins in the Flamingo stakes, the Florida Derby, and the Preakness. In the 1960s he also rode in the California circuit.

The five-foot-three-inch-tall Ussery’s mounts won many important races. In the 1967 Kentucky Derby he navigated Proud Clarin to victory. In 1968 he repeated it, this time on Dancer’s Image, odds 30-1, but the horse (not the rider) was disqualified because of a medication violation. It was the first time in Derby history that the number 2 horse won because of a disqualification. In 1959 Ussery won the Queen’s Plate (Queen Elizabeth II) at Woodbine (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). Other significant racing wins were the Wood Memorial States (twice), the Whitney Handicap, and the Travers Stakes.

In 1974 he retired, and in 1980 he was inducted in to the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame. At that time he held a record for victories, having totaled 3,611 first-place finishes in 20,593 races (which is 17.5 percent). He was one of the first ten jockeys credited with riding three thousand or more winners and nine times was in the top 10 in personal earnings. In 2011 the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame inducted him.

After retirement Ussery was a jockey agent and a horse agent. At the time of his passing he was ranked number 116 in the all-time leading-money jockeys, his horses finishing in first place 3,611 times, in second place 3,941 times, and in third place 2,427 times. Bobby Ussery died in Florida on November 16, 2023, and was buried in Hollywood, Florida.

Dianna Everett