Helen and Tommy Luther
Outstanding Jockey, Race Horse Trainer and Owner, Founder of the Jockey Guild and Disabled Jockey Fund
Thomas Jefferson Luther came to Saratoga Racecourse in 1928 to ride in the Hopeful Stakes. “I didn’t win the race,” Tommy was fond of quipping. “But I won a bride when I met a pretty hometown girl.” Two months later Luther returned to marry Helen Patten, a graduate of Saratoga Springs High School.
An event in 1927 had had a profound effect on Tommy Luther’s life and career when his 16-year-old stablemate, Earl “Sandy” Graham, was killed riding a horse. The injured jockey was left on an equipment table for the rest of the day while Luther scrambled to collect enough money for cab fare to get the boy to a hospital, where he died. The neglect Tommy witnessed by the horse owners and track officials that day inspired him to do something about the deplorable conditions jockeys experienced. He is credited with starting the Disabled Jockeys in 1939 by collecting nickels, dimes and quarters from fellow riders to form an organization to assist injured jockeys.
After 26 years as an international jockey, Tommy continued in the racing industry as a successful owner and trainer of thoroughbred horses. The couple established the Blue and Gold Stables and continued their work with horses for another 26 years before retiring in Saratoga Springs in 1979.
Tommy retired from the racetrack after more than half a century as a jockey, trainer and owner, but maintained a continued presence in the racing community until his death in 2001. Constantly asked for information about the early days of horse racing, Tommy and Helen became well known to fellow Saratogians as “Ambassadors of the Racing Industry.” Helen had amassed a vast collection of racing memorabilia and antiques and, with her husband at her side, was happy to share them with curious visitors.