by Jeff Lowe

Ira “Babe” Hanford, the oldest living jockey who won the Kentucky Derby, died on Saturday in Ocala at age 91.

As an 18-year-old apprentice in 1936, Hanford guided Bold Venture to a head victory in one of the roughest editions in Derby history. He and two other jockeys received 15-day suspensions, which prevented him from riding Bold Venture in the Preakness Stakes. George “The Iceman” Woolf replaced Hanford and piloted Bold Venture to another win in what turned out to be the colt’s final start.

Hanford, the first apprentice to win the Derby, also rode Seabiscuit three times in 1936, their best finish being a second, and piloted Goldeneye (Jerome Handicap) and Emileo (Bay Shore Handicap) to major victories.

Later in his career, Hanford rode star racemares *Miss Grillo, whom he partnered to a victory in the 1946 Exterminator Handicap, and La Corredora (’53 Comely Handicap). He also won the 1939 Flamingo Stakes on Technician.

In 1953, Hanford moved to the training ranks, joining his brother, Carl, who trained five-time Horse of the Year Kelso in the 1960s.

Babe Hanford oversaw numerous stakes winners during his 30-year training career, including 1960 Palm Beach Handicap winner Pointer, ’66 Jersey Derby winner Creme de la Creme, ‘67 Manhattan Handicap winner Munden Point, and ’72 Leonard Richards Stakes winner Floor Show.

A native of Fairbury, Nebraska, Hanford retired from training in 1984 and settled in Aiken, South Carolina, before shifting to Ocala. He and his wife, Virginia, were married for 67 years. They returned to Churchill Downs in 2006 for the 70th anniversary of his Derby triumph, and he shared his very vivid memories.

“It was a pretty rough start,” Hanford told THOROUGHBRED TIMES in 2005. “The horse to the right of me, Bien Joli, bore into us, we bumped Granville, who went to his knees and he lost his rider. Then everybody was just trying to straighten their horses up and go to running.”

Bold Venture, a 20.50-to-1 longshot making just his second start of the year, reached the lead heading into the stretch and held off the favorite, Brevity.

“[R]ight at the wire, my horse dug down one more time and we won by a head!,” Hanford said. “That’s when it hit me that I’d just won the Kentucky Derby!”

Bold Venture was the first of Racing Hall of Fame trainer Max Hirsch’s three Kentucky Derby winners. Hanford always credited Hirsch’s daughter, Mary, as supporting him for the mount on Bold Venture, just a year into his riding career.  

“She was my guiding light,” he said. “She believed in me from the first day we met. Without her and her father, I wouldn’t have had a career.”

In lieu of flowers, the Hanford family is requesting that donations be made to the Kentucky Derby Museum.

Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer