On April 13, 1915, William Saunders was born in Bozeman, Montana. When Willie was eight, his family moved to Calgary, Alberta. There, young Willie got his first taste of the racetrack, working as a hot walker and then an exercise rider until he was sent back to Montana to finish high school. But the lure of the track made finishing school seem mundane: Willie registered his first victory as a jockey on April 14, 1932, the day after his 17th birthday. By 1935, Saunders’ hard work and potential had captured the attention of legendary trainer “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons, who put the young man under contract and then tapped him to ride Omaha.

Omaha’s tendency to lash out when in company meant that he needed to run outside of horses; as the big colt’s regular exercise rider, Saunders understood what the son of Gallant Fox needed, learning how to avoid those situations. It was the young man’s fondness for and understanding of Omaha that earned him the ride on the Belair star for the 1935 Triple Crown races. At the tender age of 20, Saunders would guide Omaha through the three classic races, dazzling performances that made the son of Gallant Fox the third horse to win the three. He would remain the youngest jockey to win the Triple Crown until 1978, when an 18-year-old Steve Cauthen would ride Affirmed to his Triple Crown.

Later that same year, Saunders would be involved in the alleged murder of a woman that he and exercise rider Walter Schaeffer met at a Louisville night club, Howard’s. The club required that men have companions while they were in the club so the bouncer asked one of the club’s regulars to accompany the men. That woman, Agnes Mackinson, asked another woman, Evelyn Sliwinski, to join them. The four allegedly partied well into the night at more than one club and then climbed into Saunders’ car very drunk and took off. The story of what happened that evening has two versions, Saunders’ and Schaeffer’s vs. Mackinson’s. At some point, they stopped on the side of the road, let Sliwinski out, and then took off without her. The next morning, the young woman was found dead on the side of the road. How she died became the focus of a trial that put Saunders on the front page of newspapers. The defense pinned the blame for Sliwinski’s death on the person who found her body; without more evidence, prosecuters were unable to win convictions for either Schaeffer or Saunders. With the charges dropped, the jockey went back to his life, marrying in 1936 and continuing to ride stakes winners.

Battles with his weight and then World War II interrupted Saunders’ riding career. By the time he came back from his service in the South Pacific, Saunders was back to his racing weight and picked up where he left off. He found his pre-war success difficult to duplicate and retired from riding in 1950. He became a trainer and then worked as a racing official at a variety of racetracks in Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey. Willie Saunders died a few weeks after being diagnosed with brain and lung cancer in 1986. He was 71.

Learn more about Willie Saunders and his time with Omaha in Foxes of Belair. I can’t wait to share more about the story of this Hall of Fame jockey and his immortal mount!