He rode 1983 Kentucky Derby champion Sunny's Halo to four stakes wins at Woodbine during the colt's Canadian champion 2-year-old season. He won the 1993 Prince of Wales at Fort Erie aboard Canadian Triple Crown winner and Canadian Horse of the Year Peteski.Penna also had the distinction of winning the first race over Woodbine's E.P. Taylor turf course aboard Canadian Horse of the Year Alywow in 1994.Among the other Canadian champions Penna was regularly aboard were 1990 Canadian champion juvenile male and '92 champion older male and grass horse Rainbows for Life, '89 2-year-old filly Wavering Girl, '87 Canadian champion juvenile male Regal Classic, and '86 Canadian Horse of the Year and champion juvenile filly Ruling Angel.
Former jockey David Penna, who won 1,772 races during a 19-year career that began in 1978, died on Tuesday in Victoria, British Columbia, at the age of 46.A major hip and pelvis injury sustained in a fall on Labor Day, Sept. 2, 1996, forced Penna to retire from the saddle. He ended his career with 12,527 mounts and career purses earnings of $39,531,061.A native of Auburn, N.Y. who was born Jan. 11, 1958, Penna won 177 stakes races, including 31 graded events. He arrived in Ontario to ride at Woodbine, where he enjoyed much of his success, in 1981. His final grade I triumph came in 1995 aboard Schossberg in the Philip H. Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park.