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Twenty Years Ago Today Chief Turf Events of Dec. 23, 1904 , Racing at New Orleans, San Francisco and Los Angeles. i j Jockey Eugene Ilildebrand, in point of num-j ber of winners ridden in any one year, now holds the record over all race riders of the! decade just dying and probably over those of all time. Statistics were not so closely kept up to 1895, but it is not generally known that any other jockey ever rode as many as 293 winners in a year. Tuesday last Ilildebrand equalled Charley Reiffs record of 292, made in 1896, but it took his twelfth mount since that date to put him on the coveted pinnacle. The horse on which he achieved this distinct ion was Waswift, the five-year-old chestnut son of Wawekus and Nell Swift, in the string of J. C. Yeager, Hildebrands contract employer. It happened in the third race at Ascot Park today and at the choice odds of 8 to 1. The youthful rider piloted the old horse to a length victory over Felipe Lugo. Hildebrand had two other mounts during the afternoon, but could not land them inside the money. So it is that from a peanut peddler at the San Francisco Chutes late in the nineties this lad, born at Gilroy, Cal., in 1886, is at the age of eighteen the most noted rider of the period and the owner of more dollars than thousands upon thousands of men earn in a lifetime. When Hildebrand left California to try conclusions with the crack riders around New York he had ninety-nine winners to his credit. Eastern trainers were slow to recognize his merits and he got only mounts on moderate horses. After a while it dawned upon some trainers that Hildebrand was an extraordinary rider. His quickness at the post secured for him many mounts and very soon "Hildy" became the fad. When Hildebrand returned to California he had 264 wins to his credit. He rode two winners at Oakland and has since ridden twenty-seven winners at Los Angeles, bringing his total to 293. Hildebrand piloted Artful to victory in the rich Futurity and won the Great Trial with Flyback. He won five consecutive races on Coy Maid and rode Irish Lad the day he beat Ort AVells a nose at Shcepshead Bay.
