John McTaggart was an American Champion jockey

Jockey

A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

 in the sport of Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 horse racing

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

. He began his riding career in 1913 and rode for a quarter century until retiring in 1937. In 1914 he led all jockeys in the United States with 157 wins and in 1916 finished first in money earned

United States Champion Jockey by earnings

There is recognition for the United States Champion Jockey by earnings but no formal award is given to the jockey whose mounts earned the most purse money in American Thoroughbred racing. The American Racing Manual shows that since 1910 the following jockeys headed the annual earnings list the most...

 and second in total wins to Frank Robinson

Frank Robinson (jockey)

Frank Robinson was an American Champion Thoroughbred horse racing jockey.A native of Cleveland, Ohio, riding in the pre U.S...

.

McTaggart rode in the Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

 twice with his best result a second in the 1917 edition aboard Andrew Miller's

Andrew Miller (publisher)

Andrew Miller was an American magazine publisher and Thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder who was a founding partner and Secretary/Treasurer of Life magazine....

 colt, Ticket. He competed in the Preakness Stakes

Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...

 four times with his best finish a third in both 1912 and 1918. McTaggart was the regular jockey for Richard Wilson, Jr.'s

Richard Thornton Wilson, Jr.

Richard Thornton Wilson, Jr. was an American banker and businessman who was a prominent figure in Thoroughbred horse racing in the early decades of the 20th Century....

 outstanding colt Campfire

Campfire (horse)

Campfire was an American Thoroughbred Champion racehorse. Bred and raced by the co-owner and president of Saratoga Race Course, Richard T...

. During his two-year-old season in 1916, McTaggart guided Campfire to wins in nearly all of the top races for juveniles, culminating with the Belmont Futurity Stakes and earning American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt honors. Among his other successes, McTaggart rode in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 where he notably was a three-time winner of that country's premier race for two-year-olds, the Coronation Futurity Stakes

Coronation Futurity Stakes

The Coronation Futurity Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old horses foaled in Canada. It is run annually in early November at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario at a distance of 1 1/8 miles on dirt...

 at Old Woodbine Racetrack.

Afflicted with tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

, John McTaggart died at age fifty in 1946 at a sanitarium

Sanatorium

A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...

 in Pikesville, Maryland

Pikesville, Maryland

Pikesville is a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. Pikesville is just northwest of the Baltimore city limits. It is the northwestern suburb closest to Baltimore.The population was 29,123 at the 2000 census...

. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB071FFB3E5B177B93CBA8178FD85F428485F9 His brother Tommy, also a former top jockey, had died a few months earlier in February 1946 in a paddock

Paddock

A Paddock is an enclosure for horses. It may also refer to: People*Algernon Paddock , American politician*Charlie Paddock , American athlete and actor*Del Paddock , American baseball player...

 accident while working at Hialeah Park Race Track

Hialeah Park Race Track

The Hialeah Park Race Track is a historic site in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S...

 in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00A15F63D5B127A93C1A91789D85F428485F9