Herbie Hinojosa†
Inducted 2014
Hometown: Brownsville
Best Known for: Horse Racing
Aug. 11, 1936-Dec. 15, 2019
Hinojosa rode from obscurity and hard times into the bright lights, becoming a famous jockey whose story was finally chronicled in 2013 in the San Antonio Express-News.
He was born in 1936 to a migrant family of eight in El Ranchito, a colonia near Brownsville, and started racing horses at the age of 8. Hinojosa raced in northern Mexico as a youth before moving to New Mexico and working his way onto the pro circuit. He rode his first winner in a pari-mutuel event in 1954. Over the next 40 years, Hinojosa became a competitor against greats such as Willie Shoemaker and Eddie Alcaro.
Hinojosa was sixth in total wins in 1961 and 1962 and finished among the top 20 money winners five times as a pro. He piloted Neopolitan Way to a second place in the 1974 Preakness, behind winner Little Current and one spot ahead of that year’s Kentucky Derby winner Cannonade. He also rode two fifth-place horses at the Belmont Stakes during his career and finished fourth in a 1978 race behind Affirmed the last Triple Crown winner in 1978.
He rode horses in races 25,160 times. He won 3,334 times, came in second 3,349 times and third 3,246 times. Hinojosa, who moved back to Brownsville in 2001, compiled total earnings from his career as a jockey of $17,962,176.