Conn N. McCreary

Conn N. McCreary


Riding Career:
1939 - 1960
Birth Date:
6/17/21
Death Date:
6/29/79
Hall of Fame:
1975
Career Mounts:
8881
Career Wins:
1,263 (14.2%)



Significant Mounts
Armed, Blue Man, Count Turf, Devil Diver, Pensive, Princequillo, Searching, Stymie, Twilight Tear



Major Race Wins
Blue Grass Stakes (1941, 1949)
Clark Handicap (1941, 1949)
Alabama Stakes (1941, 1943)
Ladies Handicap (1941, 1943, 1951)
Breeders' Futurity Stakes (1941)
Hopeful Stakes (1942)
Sanford Stakes (1942, 1945, 1954)
Cowdin Stakes (1942, 1951)
Spinaway Stakes (1942)
Schuylerville Stakes (1942)
Fall Highweight Handicap (1942, 1956)
Tremont Stakes (1943, 1945)
Jockey Club Gold Cup (1943, 1958)
Saratoga Special Stakes (1943)
Queens County Handicap (1943, 1945)
Pimlico Futurity (1943)
Test Stakes (1943, 1949)
Peter Pan Stakes (1943)
Kentucky Derby (1944, 1951)
Preakness Stakes (1944, 1952)
Acorn Stakes (1944, 1956)
Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (1944)
Coaching Club American Oaks (1944)
Hanshin Cup Handicap (1944)
Travers Stakes (1945)
San Juan Capistrano Handicap (1945)
Adirondack Stakes (1945)
Monmouth Handicap (1946)
Diana Handicap (1946, 1947, 1954, 1956)
Massachusetts Handicap (1947)
Aqueduct Handicap (1947)
Metropolitan Handicap (1948)
Ashland Stakes (1949)
Ben Ali Handicap (1949, 1953)
Vosburgh Stakes (1951, 1954)
Molly Pitcher Handicap (1951)
Dwyer Stakes (1952)
Widener Handicap (1952)
Matron Stakes (1952)
Vagrancy Handicap (1952, 1955)
Arlington Handicap (1953)
Lawrence Realization Stakes (1953)
Arlington Matron Stakes (1954)
Sport Page Handicap (1954, 1956)
Washington Park Futurity (1954)
Discovery Handicap (1955)
Withers Stakes (1957)
Arlington Classic (1957)
Brooklyn Handicap (1959)



Awards / Honors
United States' Racing Hall of Fame (1974)

Conn N. McCreary was a United States Hall of Fame jockey and trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing who won four American Classic Races.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Conn McCreary began his professional career in 1937 and got his first win the next year at Chicago's Arlington Park. In 1941 he earned the first of his many important wins when he rode Our Boots to victory in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland Race Course over the heavily-favored Whirlaway. In the ensuing Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, McCreary and Our Boots finished eighth and third respectively to winner Whirlaway who went on to win the U.S. Triple Crown with a victory in the Belmont Stakes. Three years later aboard the Calumet Farm colt, Pensive, McCreary himself came within a few feet of winning the U.S. Triple Crown. After victories in the Derby and Preakness, he finished second by a half a length to William Ziegler, Jr.'s colt, Bounding Home. In 1951, McCreary won his second Kentucky Derby with 14:1 outsider, Count Turf then the following year won his second Preakness Stakes with Blue Man.

A fan favorite for the drama of his come-from-behind tactics, Conn McCreary won numerous Graded stakes races at tracks across the United States including prestige events such as the Arlington Classic, Blue Grass Stakes, Jockey Club Gold Cup and Travers Stakes. Among the top quaklity horses he rode were four Hall of Fame inductees, Devil Diver, Armed, Twilight Tear, and Stymie.

Retired from riding in 1960, Conn McCreary took up training for a time. He then worked as a publicity agent for a racetrack before becoming the manager of Golden Hawk Farm in Ocala, Florida where he was employed at the time of his death in 1979.

Conn McCreary was inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1974.

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