Tom Costello
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009) |
| Tom Costello | ||
| Occupation: | Jockey | |
| Birthplace: | New York State, United States  |
|
| Birth date: | 1866 | |
| Career wins: | Not found | |
| Major Racing Wins & Honours & Awards | ||
| Major Racing Wins | ||
| Ladies Handicap (1879, 1881) Flash Stakes (1881) Spinaway Stakes (1881) Long Branch Handicap (1882, 1883) American Classic Race wins: |
||
| Significant Horses | ||
| Saunterer, Vanguard | ||
Tom Costello (born 1866 – unknown) was an American jockey in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing who won three American Classic Races.
As a young boy, Costello lived at the New York House of Refuge, a place for juveniles convicted of crimes or adjudicated as vagrants. [1] He was one of a number of small boys given a place to live and work at the 800 acre Long Island Thoroughbred racehorse farm of George L. Lorillard. There, Costello was given an education in a classroom built at the stables by Lorillard who encouraged studies and gave prizes to leading students.
Along with the other boys, Tom Costello helped maintain the stables and learned to ride horses. After a five-year apprenticeship, they were given a chance to became a professional jockey. Costello was highly successful and became wealthy from riding. According to an 1881 newspaper report, by age fifteen he was worth $30,000.
Tom Costello rode Lorillard's Saunterer to a win in the 1881 Preakness and Belmont Stakes and in 1882 captured his second Preakness Stakes on Lorillard's colt, Vanguard. In 1881 Tom Costello also rode Memento to victory in the inaugural running of the Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga Race Course and at Monmouth Park Racetrack in New Jersey he won back-to-back editions of the Long Branch Handicap aboard Monitor.
