Burley Parke

Biography

One of 12 children in his family — including five boys who went into the racing industry — Idaho native Burley Parke was a successful jockey before making the transition to train thoroughbreds. 

Born in 1905, Parke started riding in Nevada for A. E. Smith and Hall of Fame trainer Preston Burch. He won 85 races as a jockey in 1921, ranking 12^th nationally, and hung up his tack in 1923, when his younger brother, Hall of Famer Ivan Parke, led the nation’s riders. He obtained his trainer’s license in 1927

In the 1940s, Burley Parke seemed to win all the 2-year-old futurities, nine of them to be exact: At Belmont, Arlington, Washington, and Keeneland in 1942 with Occupation; at Belmont and Arlington in 1943 with champion Occupy; at Washington in 1944 with Jezrahel; and at Arlington and Washington in 1945 with Free For All.

Parke's crowning training achievement, however, was in the development of Charles S. Howard’s imported Noor into a Hall of Famer and champion as a 5-year-old in 1950, when Parke saddled him to beat Hall of Famer Citation in four consecutive distance stakes, two in world-record time. Parke then retired to his farm, but he was drawn back to racing 10 years later by Lou Wolfson, for whom he trained champion handicapper Roman Brother, voted Horse of the Year in 1965, and the colt Parke considered the fastest he ever saw, undefeated Raise a Native, champion 2-year-old of 1963.

Parke ranked among the top five trainers in North America in earnings seven times in his career.

Achievements

Won the Arlington Futurity Stakes — 1942, 1943, 1944
Won the Washington Park Futurity Stakes — 1942, 1943, 1944
Won the Discovery Handicap — 1946, 1964, 1965