Raywood J. Broussard was an American 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...

.

"Ray" Broussard was born in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana

Vermilion Parish, Louisiana

Vermilion Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Abbeville. As of the 2010 census, the population was 57,999....

, home to a large number of persons of Acadian

Acadian

The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...

 ancestry and an area that would produce a number of other Cajun

Cajun

Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...

 jockeys including Eddie Delahoussaye

Eddie Delahoussaye

Edward J. Delahoussaye is a retired American Thoroughbred jockey from New Iberia, Louisiana.He began his career in 1968 and ten years later became the top American jockey with 384 wins...

, Randy Romero

Randy Romero

Randy Paul Romero is a Hall of Fame jockey in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing, Born into a family involved with horses, his father Lloyd J...

, Shane Sellers

Shane Sellers

Shane Jude Sellers is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. At age eleven, he began working around horses and in 1983 rode his first winner at Evangeline Downs....

, and Ray Sibille

Ray Sibille

Raymond Frederick Sibille is a retired American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. In a career that spanned thirty-five years, Sibille rode his first winner on June 29, 1969 at Evangeline Downs in Carencro, Louisiana...

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Like all jockeys from the Bayou country, Broussard began riding at unregulated local Bush track

Bush track

Bush track is a term used in horse racing to describe unsanctioned, informal horse races run in rural areas of the United States and southern Canada. Quarter horses, ridden by amateur jockeys, are raced on makeshift tracks, often set up in the field where the horses are pastured using barrels or...

s. His skills led to a career as a professional jockey, becoming a leading rider at Fair Grounds Race Course

Fair Grounds Race Course

Fair Grounds Race Course, often known as New Orleans Fair Grounds, is a thoroughbred racetrack and racino in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is operated by Churchill Downs Louisiana Horseracing Company, LLC....

 in New Orleans who would induct him in their Hall of Fame. Broussard won important stakes races at a number of American racetracks 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...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, 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...

 as well as in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, 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...

.

In the late 1950s, Ray Broussard was the principal rider for the noted Louisiana stable owners Joe and Dorothy Brown, most notably aboard their colt Tenacious

Tenacious (horse)

Tenacious was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was one of the most popular ever to compete in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1966, Fair Grounds Race Course inaugurated the Tenacious Handicap in his honor and on his death in 1967, a memorial plaque was installed in the track's infield and...

 with whom he won back-to-back editions of the Louisiana

Louisiana Handicap

The Louisiana Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually during the third week of January at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana...

 and New Orleans Handicap

New Orleans Handicap

The New Orleans Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Open to horses four years old and up, the race is run at a distance of one and one-eighth miles on the dirt...

s in 1958 and 1959. Broussard also competed in all three of the U.S. Triple Crown

United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing

In the United States, the "Triple Crown" is usually the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, a series of three Thoroughbred horse races for three-year-old horses run in May and early June of each year consisting of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes.While Daily Racing Form...

 races. His best results came in 1970 when, after winning the Flamingo Stakes

Flamingo Stakes

The Flamingo Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held annually in March at the Hialeah Park Race Track in Hialeah, Florida. Run over a distance of nine furlongs, the inaugural race took place in 1926 at the Tampa, Florida racetrack...

  and Florida Derby

Florida Derby

The Florida Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida on the Saturday closest to the end of March or the first of April. Added to the racing schedule in 1952, the Grade 1 race is run at 1⅛ miles on the dirt...

  aboard the colt, My Dad George, he finished second in both 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...

 and 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...

.

Following his retirement from racing, Broussard made his home in Abbeville, Louisiana

Abbeville, Louisiana

Abbeville is a town in and the parish seat of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, United States, 150 miles west of New Orleans. The population was 12,257 at the 2010 census...

. In 1983 he was inducted in the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame. After a long illness, he died in 1993 in Bossier City, Louisiana

Bossier City, Louisiana

Bossier City is a city in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States.As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of 61,315. Bossier City is closely tied to its larger sister city Shreveport, located on the western bank of the Red River. The Shreveport-Bossier City metropolitan area is the...

 at age fifty-six. His four wins in the New Orleans Handicap

New Orleans Handicap

The New Orleans Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Louisiana. Open to horses four years old and up, the race is run at a distance of one and one-eighth miles on the dirt...

is a record that through 2009 has not be equaled.