Thoroughbred › Jockeys

When Don Seymour retired following the 1994 season, the 34 year-old took with him an unparalleled set of records that will be difficult to duplicate.

He's the only jockey to win four Sovereign Awards. He's also the only man to ride two Triple Crown winners - With Approval in 1989 and Izvestia in 1990, both for Kinghaven Farms. A year after he retired with a career total of 2,138 victories he was selected winner of the prestigious Avelino Gomez Memorial Award.

Born in Hamilton, Ont., Seymour grew up near Woodbine in Etobicoke, but started his career in Western Canada. He was Alberta's leading rider from 1981 to 1986. He received his first Sovereign Award in 1985. Seymour rode in the east in 1986 but returned to the western circuit in 1987. His 105 wins that year earned him his second Sovereign Award.

Seymour's affiliation with Kinghaven Farms and trainer Roger Attfield in 1989 secured him the call aboard With Approval, Canada's first Triple Crown champion in 26 years. Earnings of a record $4.85 million and 15 stakes winners gained him a third Sovereign Award that year. In 1990 Seymour was just as successful, guiding Izvestia to the Triple Crown and a huge win in the Molson Export Million and a record fourth Sovereign Award.

He has ridden in racing's glamour event, The Breeders Cup. He finished second aboard Canada's Horse of the Year in 1988, Play The King, in the Breeders Cup Sprint. In his final season at Woodbine his mounts earned almost $2 million, all from only 229 mounts. He won 10 stakes races, including the Mazarine Stakes aboard Sovereign Award winning two-year-old filly Term Limits, and the Marine and Elgin aboard Cheery Knight.

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