Hall of Fame trainer LeRoy Jolley dies at 80
When he first started riding horses for Hall of Fame trainer LeRoy Jolley, jockey Jose Santos didn't speak very good English.
"But he was always really nice to me," Santos, a Hall of Famer himself, said Wednesday afternoon from his home in Florida. "I really got emotional last summer at Saratoga when he told me he didn't have much time left."
Jolley, who trained a pair of Kentucky Derby winners as well as two Travers champions, passed away Monday at Albany Medical Center, Jolley, 80, died of lung cancer.
Elected into the racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs in 1987, Jolley won the Kentucky Derby in 1975 with Foolish Pleasure and in 1980 with Genuine Risk, then only the second filly to ever win the Run for the Roses.