Fator, Laverne
Horse racing
b. 1902, Hailey, ID
d. May 16, 1937
A cowboy as a young teen-ager, Fator became a professional jockey at Cuban tracks in 1918. He later rode for Rancocas Stable, the top breeding farm in the country during the early 1920s.
In just thirteen years as a jockey, Fator rode 1,121 winners and earned prizes of $2,408,720. His biggest victories came in consecutive Belmont Futurities, aboard Pompey in 1925 and Scapa Flow in 1926, when he had 143 winners, earning $361,336.
Fator became a trainer in 1931. Blood poisoning caused by an infected appendix sent him into a delirium and he died in a fall from his hospital window while awaiting an operation.