Former jockey, track publicity worker Ken Church dies at 90

DEL MAR, Calif. – There’s a little less laughter in the world. Ken Church, the former jockey who used his knowledge of racing and his engaging personality to work in media relations in Southern California for three decades, died Monday in Reno, Nev., where he had retired more than 20 years ago.

Church was 90. According to a press release sent out by Del Mar – where Church had his longest tenure in media relations – Church suffered from pneumonia last week at the retirement home at which he lived and died in a local hospital. The cause of death was listed as him contracting COVID-19.

Church was an accomplished rider in his day. A native of Windsor, Ontario, he won his first race just across the border in Detroit in 1947. He won riding titles at Arlington, Churchill Downs, Keeneland, Garden State Park, and Washington Park, and also rode in Florida and Louisiana, before heading to Southern California. He rode such local stakes stalwarts as Coursing, who won the 1965 Del Mar Futurity; Mr. Consistency, on whom he won the 1964 Santa Anita Handicap, and the outstanding sprinter Viking Spirit, whom Church in 1965 rode to wins in the Carter at Aqueduct and the Bing Crosby at Del Mar.

He won such other major races as the Arlington-Washington Lassie, Breeders’ Futurity, Californian, Del Mar Handicap, Flamingo, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Margarita, Spinster, and Washington Park Handicap.

Before moving to California in the 1960s, Church received special commendation from the state of Illinois in 1950 for his heroic actions in a race at Arlington. Fellow rider Wendell Eads was aboard a horse who stumbled badly at the start, but Eads was not fully dislodged, his foot caught in a stirrup, leaving him dangling precariously. Church, on a rival horse, reached over and was able to hoist Eads back into the saddle.

Church retired from riding in 1967, having won more than 2,000 races. He then worked in publicity at Hollywood Park, Santa Anita, and Del Mar, handling radio and television duties. He and his family eventually relocated to Olivenhain, just north of Del Mar. His late wife, Nancy, worked for years in the Turf Club at Del Mar.

Church participated in the 1970s in the Rocking Chair Derby, an annual event at Del Mar featuring retired riders. He won the race in 1974.

But he did not ever feel as though he had retired too soon. Church would take great delight on rainy afternoons, watching his former peers compete in those conditions while he was literally high and dry.

“You’ll earn your money today,” he’d say, laughing.

In 1997, Church was inducted into the Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame.

Church is survived by two daughters, a son, and nine grandchildren. Per his wishes, there will be no service.