Johnny Sellers
Johnny Sellers, 69, was born in Los Angeles and was raised in Oklahoma. He rode from 1955 through 1977. The peak of his career was the decade of the 1960s when he finished in the top ten nationally in purse money won five times in a span of six years. He led the nation in victories, 328, and was second in purses in 1961, the year he rode Hall of Fame Carry Back to victories in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.
Sellers won many of the major stakes in the United States, including the Belmont, Alabama, Travers, Blue Grass, Kentucky Oaks, Florida Derby, Garden State, United Nations Handicap, San Juan Capistrano, San Luis Obispo, San Felipe, Sunset, Hollywood Derby, Carter, Del Mar Invitational and the Whitney. Sellers was moved by the news of his election to the Hall of Fame.
“I have tears in my eyes right now,” he said. “That’s for real.”
Sellers recalled being nominated in the Contemporary Jockey category in 1987. “That was the year Walter Blum won, and he deservedly should have,” Sellers said. “That was as close as I got. It was very neat, just even to be nominated, but this is incredible.” Sellers is a bloodstock agent and lives in Hallandale, Fla.
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