Former jockey Kenneth Bourque dies at 67

Longtime jockey Kenneth “Chopper” Bourque passed away Tuesday in Taylorsville, Ky.

The cause of death was cancer, according to Bourque’s son, Kenneth Bourque Jr. The elder Bourque was 67.

Bourque was born and raised in the jockey hotbed of Erath, La. He rode bush track races as a youth and had his first sanctioned win in 1969 at Evangeline Downs. Bourque moved to the East Coast to make the most of his apprentice allowance before settling in as a journeyman at various Midwest tracks, eventually coming to ride nearly exclusively in Louisiana.

Bourque was leading rider at the defunct Jefferson Downs in Kenner, La., and at Fair Grounds in the mid-1980s. Bourque retired in 1999 and in recent years served as assistant clerk of scales at Churchill and Keeneland.

Bourque’s younger brother is Curt Bourque, who won more than 3,000 races as a jockey. Chopper Bourque – so nicknamed as a child owing to the configuration of his front teeth – retired with 2,467 wins and $20.4 million purse earnings, according to Jockey Club statistics.

Service arrangements are pending.