Former jockey, racing official George Taniguchi dies at 94

George Taniguchi, who won more than 1,500 races in the 1950s and 1960s and later worked as a racing official at California tracks, died earlier this month after a brief illness, according to his niece, Donna Johnson.

Taniguchi was 94 and was at his home in Palm Springs, Calif., at the time of his death.

Taniguchi rode from 1954 to 1968 and was a jockeys’ room contemporary of such notable riders as Eddie Arcaro, John Longden, Ralph Neves, Bill Shoemaker, and Jack Westrope, to name a few.

Taniguchi was the leading apprentice rider at Hollywood Park in 1954 and rode at tracks throughout the nation. He recorded his richest win aboard Pappa’s All in the $218,940 Arlington Futurity on July 30, 1960, at Arlington Park, a week after the colt won the Hollywood Championship at Hollywood Park. That year, Taniguchi ranked 14th in the nation, with earnings of $835,307.

Taniguchi won 213 races at Hollywood Park in his career, including six stakes.

At Del Mar, Taniguchi won 11 stakes, notably the Del Mar Derby on Mr. Eiffel and Del Mar Handicap on Twentyone Guns, both in 1959.

Among other high-profile horses, Taniguchi rode Round Table to a win in the 1957 El Dorado Handicap at Hollywood Park, the year the 3-year-old was champion grass horse. Taniguchi won the 1958 San Felipe Stakes on Carrier X.

Taniguchi retired in 1968 and began working in racing offices at California tracks the same year. He retired from that position in 1990 and spent his retirement volunteering at a horse-riding facility for handicapped children in the desert and at a local hospital, Johnson said. Taniguchi continued to follow racing and was an avid painter, often of horses.

Born in El Centro, Calif., not far from the Mexico border, Taniguchi was raised in the agriculture community in that part of the state. The family moved to the Los Angeles area after World War II. Taniguchi pursed acting as a young man and attended Hollywood Park in an effort to meet a producer and seek a better part in the 1950 MGM film “Go for Broke.”

Taniguchi took notice of the jockeys and decided to pursue racing. He later began riding at a farm in Bakersfield, which led to a move to the Hollywood Park backstretch in 1952 and a successful career.