Otto Wonderly was a Canadian

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...

 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...

 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:...

 from Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 who competed in his native Canada and in the United States where he was killed in a racing accident.

Before embarking on a riding career, Otto Wonderly worked as a newsboy for the Grand Trunk Railway

Grand Trunk Railway

The Grand Trunk Railway was a railway system which operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, as well as the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The railway was operated from headquarters in Montreal, Quebec; however, corporate...

. He was riding at a track in Windsor, Ontario

Windsor, Ontario

Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...

 when some prominent Canadian horsemen recognized his natural talent and arranged for him to go to the United States. There, he was placed under contract by James Ben Ali Haggin

James Ben Ali Haggin

James Ben Ali Haggin was an Turkish Americanattorney, rancher, investor and a major owner/breeder in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing...

, one of America's preeminent horsemen and owner of the renowned Elmendorf Farm

Elmendorf Farm

Elmendorf Farm is a Kentucky Thoroughbred horse farm in Fayette County, Kentucky, and has been involved with horse racing since the early 19th century...

 in Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

. Haggin paid Wonderly $15,000 for second call on his services for eight months. He would later ride for a Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 based stable and as well would ride in the United States and Canada for leading Canadian owner, Joseph E. Seagram

Joseph E. Seagram

Joseph Emm Seagram was a British Canadian distillery founder, politician, philanthropist, and major owner of thoroughbred racehorses....

.

A highlight of Wonderly's career came on June 14, 1902 at the Sheepshead Bay Race Track

Sheepshead Bay Race Track

Sheepshead Bay Race Track was an American Thoroughbred horse racing facility built on the site of the Coney Island Jockey Club at Sheepshead Bay, New York...

 in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

  when he won the most prestigious race in the United States for horses of all ages. For owners Fred C. McLewee and Diamond Jim Brady, Wonderly captured the famous Suburban Handicap

Suburban Handicap

The Suburban Handicap is an American Grade II Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to horses age three and older, it is run at the classic one-and-one-quarter mile distance on dirt for a $400,000 purse....

 aboard Gold Heels

Gold Heels

Gold Heels was an American Thoroughbred Champion racehorse who, in a two-year period, set one new stakers record and four track records, including a world record.-Background:...

 in race record time on an off track in front of more than 50,000 spectators.

Riding freelance in 1905, Otto Wonderly died in hospital on April 2 as a result of head injuries sustained in a racing accident at Montgomery Park Racetrack in Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

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