On June 4, 1923, a jockey named Frank Hayes won his first race at Belmont Park on Long Island. Though Frank was alive as he and his horse, Sweet Kiss, bolted away from the starting gate, he was dead by the time he and the horse crossed the finish line.
The conditions of the win were
unprecedented, but race officials allowed the win to stand, making this the
only time in sports history when a competition was won by a dead man.
Observers speculated Frank
Hayes suffered heart failure about the time his horse took the lead. Frank was only 22 years old at the time of
his death. His efforts at weight loss
and the excitement of his taking the lead were cited as contributing reasons for
the heart attack.
— Mitchell Hegman
Source: John Farrier, https://www.neatorama.com,
Wikipedia
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