Jesse Davidson, a national champion horse racer who was sent to federal prison for race-fixing and fought for reinstatement, died at his Ellicott City home Saturday of complications from hernia surgery. He was 69.
Mr. Davidson, a local folk hero once described as a "hard-scrabble rider with near-demonic dedication to working his trade," was the country's leading rider in 1965, racking up more than 300 wins by taking as many mounts as he could get. But his career was tarnished years later, when he became one of four jockeys implicated in a race-fixing scandal at the old Bowie Race Course in the mid-1970s, leading to a 4 1/2 -month stint in federal prison.
Mr. Davidson maintained his innocence. After a 10-year hiatus, he was relicensed in Maryland through a court order and resumed riding, taking part in the 1986 Kentucky Derby.
According to a profile in Sports Illustrated, Mr. Davidson was a 16-year-old with a fifth-grade education in Manchester, Ky., when he answered a want ad for a stable cleaner and became an apprentice in Mechanicsburg, Ohio.
"He put himself through a wracking daily routine in which he rides all the mounts he can get at two tracks - Maryland in the afternoons, the Charles Town Race Courses or Shenandoah Downs ... nights under the floodlights," the profile said.
That combination of day and night riding made him the winningest jockey in America in 1965, with most of his victories coming at smaller tracks that paid out smaller purses. No one won more races that year - 319 - but nobody participated in more races, either, with Mr. Davidson taking on a total of 1,582 mounts. "He was the perennial leading rider, absolutely the person to beat," recalled Phil Grove, a steward for the Maryland Jockey Club who rode alongside Mr. Davidson. "I learned a lot of things off of him."
In 1969, Mr. Davidson rode Shuvee to victory in the 1968 Frizette Stakes and the 1969 Triple Tiara - the Acorn, the Mother Goose and the Coaching Club American Oaks.
"When I got to be a jock there were four things I always wanted: to get me a Cadillac, to be leadin' rider in th' country, to make the Hall of Fame and to ride in the Kentucky Derby," Mr. Davidson was quoted as telling Sports Illustrated. "I already got two of 'em, and right now I got over 1,700 winners and all I need's 2,000 and I could make the Hall of Fame. Ain't but 30, 40 guys won that many in history. I can keep ridin' another 10 years, so I'm a cinch for it. If I get lucky, maybe I can git to the Derby. Maybe not."
