Raymond Woolfe Jr., former jockey and journalist, dies at 82
Raymond G. Woolfe Jr., a former jockey, photographer, and writer whose interests went well beyond racing, died on May 10 at the age of 82 in Charlottesville, Va., according to published reports.
Woolfe, who was born in New York, set a record in 1951 when he became the youngest jockey to win a stakes race at a New York track when he won the Saratoga Steeplechase aboard Hampton Roads, who was trained by his father, Raymond Woolfe Sr. He was 16 at the time.
His riding career was brief, and after attending the University of Virginia, he joined the U.S. Marines. Following his stint in the services, Woolfe graduated from the South Carolina School of Journalism. He became a photojournalist after graduating.
Woolfe returned to racing to work at the Daily Racing Form in the 1970s. In 1973, he wrote a biography of Triple Crown winner Secretariat. In 1981, he wrote on book on steeplechasing.
In 2016, he wrote a book on the last battles ever fought by American mounted troops, “The Doomed Horse Soldiers of Bataan – The Incredible Stand of the 26th Cavalry.” The unit fought on horses until early 1942 while stationed in the Phillipines.
Woolfe is survived by two daughters and a sister. His ashes were scattered next to a pond on the farm where he lived in Troy, Va., according to his family.