Sandy Hawley Recalls Inaugural Breeders' Cup

Jockey Sandy Hawley broke into the toughest jockey colony on the continent when he made his way to Southern California in the early 1970s. The personable Torontonian figured he would stay around awhile and see if he could catch on.

The Canadian legend wound up riding at Hollywood Park, Santa Anita Park, and Del Mar for more than a decade. He won an Eclipse Award as the nation's top rider in 1976 and also earned his profession's top honor, the George Woolfe Memorial Jockey Award.

A member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame since 1986, he was elected into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1992. With nearly 6,500 wins, Hawley also is a member of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada.

Oh, yes, and he also rode in the inaugural Breeders' Cup at Hollywood Park in 1984. He had three mounts in the seven Breeders' Cup races, failing to hit the board while astride Tonzarun in the Mile (G1T, sixth behind Royal Heroine), Comedy Act in the Distaff (G1, fourth behind Princess Rooney), and Treizieme in the Turf (G1T, 11th behind Lashkari).

"It was exciting being a part of it," Hawley said. "You never knew how big it was going to get, but it's been tremendous for horse racing. It just kept getting bigger and bigger. Now they have two days … which is fantastic for a rider, especially if you are doing well and can pick up some good mounts."

The first Breeders' Cup offered an unprecedented $10 million in purses. At the time, there were only two seven-figure races in the U.S.—the Arlington Million (G1T), first run in 1981, and the Hollywood Futurity (G1). The first Classic purse was $3 million, and the Turf was $2 million. Today's Longines Breeders' Cup Classic is worth $6 million and the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf is worth $4 million, on a two-day event that has $28 million on the line.

"Marje Everett was running Hollywood Park at the time. She really helped make it a big deal," he said. "There were a lot of movie stars coming out to the races. It was absolutely amazing to be a part of it."

In all, Hawley had 10 Breeders' Cup mounts without a winner—he was third aboard Dance Smartly in the 1990 Juvenile Fillies (G1)—and admits the World Championships came around after the peak of his career, but he hasn't forgotten the early days.

"It was really exciting," he said. "I remember when I first went there, business was a little slow, and slowly but surely it started picking up. I started riding horses for Bobby Frankel and also John Russell was training for Fred W. Hooper, and I started riding horses for him. After that, trainers like Gary Jones and Mike Mitchell and a lot of the other top trainers started asking my agent for my services, and business really picked up.

"I remember going into the jock's room and meeting Bill Shoemaker. Meeting him was like meeting a movie star. I had heard of him before I knew anything about horse racing when I was 7 or 8 years old. Being in California and riding with Shoemaker was fantastic. Of course, the great Laffit Pincay Jr., Chris McCarron, and Eddie Delahoussaye were in the jock's room. Howard Grant was still riding then, too. It was amazing to be there fighting for mounts against them and the likes of Fernando Toro."

There was also the sun, sand, and the glitz and glamour of the Southern California lifestyle. A lot of Hollywood types were racing fans.

"I ended up becoming friends with Vince Van Patten and his dad, Dick Van Patten," Hawley said. "Mr. Van Patten was a huge horse racing fan. He invited me to his house to play tennis, and I went there and, lo and behold, Vince Van Patten's partner was Farrah Fawcett.

"We ended up becoming friends because we played tennis more often. I was just an average player, and Farrah was an average player. There was another gentleman named Darrell Goldman who was almost as good as Vince, and we would play doubles against Farrah and Vince.

"One day, Farrah said, 'I'm going to the beach tomorrow and Vince can't go. Are you going to the beach tomorrow?' I thought to myself, 'Jeez, I'm married and have horses to ride tomorrow morning,' and I said, 'Yeah, I'm going to the beach tomorrow.'

"She was a wonderful person. We had photos with her when she came to the jock's room at Hollywood Park with Pincay and Shoemaker. It was pretty cool to befriend her."

Hawley shared another fun Hollywood story.

"I was invited one time to play golf at the Riviera Country Club, and I got to play with Dean Martin," he said. "It was a tremendous thrill, and he actually asked me out the following Monday. I said yes, but unfortunately I couldn't go because it was a holiday Monday and we were racing that day, so I had to ride at Santa Anita. The gentleman who had invited me came to the races a week later and said, 'Sandy, where were you? We were on the tee and you guys never even showed up.' We didn't have cellphones back then. I said, 'Lou, I didn't have your number to get ahold of you, but I thought as a horseman, you'd realize that I had to ride that day.' He said, 'Well, Dean Martin was talking about you.' I said, 'You have to be kidding. What did he say?' He said, 'Are those midgets going to show up or what?'"

Hawley, who works part time at Woodbine in public and media relations, will show up at this year's Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita Park. Look for him and his wife, Kaoru Tsuchiya Hawley, around at Clocker's Corner this week.