Wayne D. Wright, Rode Shut Out to Derby Win, Dead

• Email
• Print
• Tweet

Retired jockey Wayne D. Wright, who rode Greentree Stable's Shut Out to victory in the 1942 Kentucky Derby and also won the Preakness and Belmont Stakes other years with other mounts, died March 11 in a medical care center in Yerington, Nev., according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. He was 86.

Wright picked up the mount on Shut Out after Eddie Arcaro opted to ride the other half of the Greentree entry, Devil Diver. Wright guided Shut Out to a 2 1/4-length win over the previous year's 2-year-old champion, Alsab, with Devil Diver running sixth.

Wright rode his first classic winner when he was 17, guiding Peace Chance to a six-length win over High Quest in the 1934 Belmont Stakes. Wright was the nation's leading rider by earnings that year and again two years later. The following decade, Wright won the 1945 Preakness Stakes on Polynesian.

A native of Rexburg, Idaho, Wright served in the Coast Guard during World War II and resumed riding after the conflict. He retired in 1950 and tried training. In the mid-1950s, he moved to the Yerington area to raise saddle horses and grow alfalfa.

Wright's survivors include his wife, Nadia; sons Kenneth and Dan; and a daughter, Dorothy.

A memorial service is scheduled March 14 at Smith Valley Methodist Church, 44 Rivers Road at 10:30 a.m. Donations may be made to the donor's favorite charity.

• Email
• Print
• Tweet