Tom Wagoner, 75, Starter at Kentucky Derby
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Retired Kentucky Derby starter Tom Wagoner, who sprang open the gates at racing’s premier event for nearly a quarter century, died October 25 in Longview, Tex. He was 75.
Known as “Quick Draw” to many jockeys, Wagoner was the Derby starter from the 100th Derby in 1974 until 1997. As racing fans worldwide held their breath, he would watch horses enter the gate, make sure they all were looking down the track and then hit the button that sent the thoroughbreds hurtling into their run for the roses.
“If the heads are straight, usually the butts will follow,” Wagoner once explained.
Before becoming Derby starter in 1974, Wagoner had been first a trainer and then an assistant starter, which involves getting inside the gate with the horses, a sometimes dangerous task.
“It’s a job that people might sit and look at and think there’s nothing to it,” Wagoner said. But “you don’t manhandle horses. You got to outsmart them.”
Wagoner, a native of Paris, Ky., attended the University of Kentucky and served in the Marine Corps early in the Korean War.
