Thoroughbred › Jockeys

Hugo Dittfach is Canada's leading active all-time jockey.

While working in a restaurant, Hugo was told by a patron that he was the right size to ride horses at the track. Hugo didn't know a thing about Thoroughbred racing, but that didn't stop him from heading to the track to learn.

He has made race-riding a profession strictly through hard work.

Dittfach, who started riding in 1956, was Canada' leading rider in 1961 with 195 winners. He repeated as this country's top rider in 1965, when he booted home 177 winners.

Dittfach's proudest moment came in 1961 when he won The Queen's Plate, North America's oldest continuously run stakes race, aboard Blue Light. The 1961 Queen's Plate provided one of the historic race's closest finish with Dittfach and John Longden, one of the world's leading all-time racing winning jockeys, aboard Just Don't Shove, battling shoulder-to-shoulder through the stretch.

Dittfach has been the leading rider at Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Regina in Western Canada. Hugo was second leading rider in Canada in 1958 and 1959.

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