Death of Jockey Pete Moreno Reported
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Pete Moreno, leading rider at Del Mar in 1960 and winner of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award the following year, died last Aug. 23 at the age of 87 as the result of a variety of ailments, Del Mar's publicity office reported Nov. 15.
Moreno was the older brother of jockey Henry Moreno, who won the 1953 Kentucky Derby aboard Dark Star, and was one of the top riders on the Southern California circuit for many years. He topped the standings at Del Mar in 1960 when he won 48 races, and was the "go-to" rider for Farrell Jones, who led the trainer standings that summer.
Henry Moreno died in 2007 at the age of 77.
A resident of Hemet, Calif. at the time of his death, Pete Moreno had been battling kidney disease for a couple of years, according to his wife, Jan.
During a successful 16-year career, Moreno rode 1,650 winners with lifetime earnings of $6.8 million.
He competed in Del Mar's inaugural "Rocking Chair Derby" in l973 alongside John Longden, Ken Church, Bill Harmatz, Ralph Neves, George Taniguchi, Angel Valenzuela, and the recently deceased Dean Hall, who won the exhibition race.