Job Dean Jessop
Job Dean Jessop was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey.
Born in Utah, Jessop was eighteen when on August 9, 1944, as an apprentice jockey he won six races in one program at Ellis Park Racecourse in Henderson, Kentucky. The following year, he won more races than any other jockey in the United States, finishing the year with 290 victories, 103 more than his closest rival. In 1946, he was the leading jockey in America, finishing ahead of future Hall of Fame inductees Ted Atkinson and Eddie Arcaro.
Of Jessop's four mounts in the Kentucky Derby, his best result was two third-place finishes. In 1946, he was third on Hampden behind eventual Triple Crown winner, Assault. Guiding the great mare Gallorette, he won the Queens County Handicap against male horses in 1947. In 1950, he won the Ashland Stakes and the following year rode Ruhe to victory in the Blue Grass Stakes, then finished third with the colt in that year's Derby. Among his other victories, Jessop rode in Vancouver, British Columbia, winning the 1961 B.C. Oaks with the filly Be Famous. He was also the regular rider of Triplicate.
Jessop retired from in 1970 and settled in Texas where for a short time he was involved with training horses. He had three sons: Richard, Jeffery, and Job Jr. He had six grandchildren: Dustin, Jeremy, Jarred, Mallory, Dillon, and Taylor. He died in 2001 in Boerne, in Kendall County, Texas.
