Ken Hendricks was going through his usual pre-race post-parade trot on the track for the seventh race at Assiniboia Downs on June 6, 1976, when the warning came.
An ominous black storm front, resembling a tornado, was heading straight for the racetrack, and everyone started scrambling for cover.
Hendricks galloped down the maintenance chute into Barn F, where he ran into Bob Franklyn, an old-timer who was a fixture in the Winnipeg thoroughbred scene.
Franklyn, unaware of the impending twister, wondered why Hendricks — known to everyone as Hank — was dressed in his racing silks, looking for shelter while wind and rain tore through the adjacent grandstand.
Hendricks, sitting in the saddle, smiled and told him: “This son of a gun blew the turn, and this is where I ended up.”
Hendricks died suddenly at the age of 75 on February 15 in Prince George, where he had lived for the past 15 years.
Prince George was always home to Hendricks, the winningest jockey in Assiniboia Downs history, dating back to the track’s opening in 1958.
Over his 40-year career, he made 1,666 trips to the winner’s circle at the Downs, earning countless friends who remembered him for his great sense of humour and the respect he showed everyone. He understood horses and had the talent to make them run that extra inch it took to finish at the head of the photo-finish line.
“It takes a lot to win that many races. You’ve got to be fit, and you’ve got to have the desire to keep riding. He was just as good when he was older as he was when he was younger,” said Winnipeg horse trainer Carl Anderson, one of Hendricks’ closest friends.
“He was smart, and he was a fierce competitor coming down the stretch. He had a lot of tricks up his sleeve and could find that extra gear when it really counted. He knew when to use a horse at just the right time to get the most out of them. In a big stakes race, he was hard to beat.”
Hendricks’ wins record is unlikely to be surpassed. The only two jockeys currently in the top 20 are hundreds of wins behind him. Known as the go-to money rider in Winnipeg, Hendricks won seven Gold Cups, the premier stakes race at Assiniboia Downs, from 1971 to 2004. He also claimed two Manitoba Derbys, riding Manitoba-bred Merry’s Jay in 1976 and Langara Island in 1995. In 1981, he rode Black is Beautiful to victory in the Klondike Open in Edmonton.
Hendricks was the first jockey at Assiniboia Downs to win 100 races in one year (1976), and he rode 11 horses that either set or equalled track records. On July 12, 1975, he won five races on a single card.
Born in Prince George on June 22, 1949, to Jock and Queenie Hendricks, Hank developed his love for horses on a farm near the BC-Alberta border. Through family connections, he met prominent Alberta horseman Don Gilkyson, who recognized his potential as a rider. After training with Gilkyson in La Glace, Alta., northwest of Grande Prairie, Hendricks had his first taste of racing in the fall of 1968 in Lethbridge. He followed Gilkyson to Winnipeg in June 1969 and achieved instant success, winning his first two races on Gilkyson’s horse Chilcotin Blaze, just days shy of his 20th birthday.
Despite years of dominance on the Prairie racing circuit, it wasn’t the path to riches. Hendricks had opportunities to move to Toronto, where the big money was at Woodbine, but he had no interest in big-city life, especially with a young family to care for.
“He was a very talented rider, and he could have done even better, but he had a chip on his shoulder and didn’t kiss anyone’s ass,” said Clint Dahl, Hendricks’s Prince George stepson. “He told people how it was instead of being diplomatic about it. He’d say, ‘Your horse is a piece of crap.’ He didn’t care; he wanted to ride good horses for good people. He didn’t try to ride as many horses as possible. He just tried to enjoy what he was doing.”
Hendricks entered Dahl’s life when Dahl was five. Together with his sister Darcee, their mother Charleen, and Ken’s daughter Krystal, they formed a new family in the horse barns — the lifeblood of the thoroughbred circuits. They moved regularly between meets, and Dahl says he never spent more than three years in one place before they packed up and relocated to another city. He wanted to be a jockey just like his dad, but he grew too big.
“The backstretch is a big family. Everybody knows everybody and a little too much of everyone’s business,” Dahl said. “In the mornings, you’d be at the track at 5:30 to exercise the horses. Afterward, the riders would go to the kitchen, smoke, and drink coffee. Then they’d head home for a nap before returning at 4 p.m. for the evening races. After the races, we’d go out to the parking lot and have beers.”
Standing at five-foot-five, Hendricks was on the tall end of the jockey spectrum. Though he struggled to maintain his weight at 112 pounds, his body type was well-suited to his chosen profession, and he proved extremely durable. In a sport as dangerous as thoroughbred racing, he was involved in many spills, was thrown off a few times, and broke his collarbone once. But he was fortunate to never sustain any other serious injuries.
“He knew how to land and bounce,” said Dahl.
After making his mark in Winnipeg, Hendricks went on to win regularly at meets in Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, and Vancouver.
Stubborn and set in his ways, he was selective about his friends. But if he liked someone, he made it clear.
“He rode for a lot of the smaller stables that weren’t doing well, and he’d try to help them out. He was a good-hearted guy that way,” said Anderson. “He also rode for some of the biggest stables, but he liked winning races for people who really needed the money. He was very good that way.”
Horse trainer and exercise rider Wes Adams quickly became friends with Hendricks, who was older and showed him the ropes around Assiniboia Downs. Once their families were established, they went on holidays together and became close.
“Ken had a world of friends but not that many really close ones. He was just that kind of person,” said Adams. “He was honest, straightforward, and called it like he saw it. He made that work for everybody. I don’t think Ken had an enemy in his life. His family — his kids and grandkids — that’s what he lived for after he stopped riding.”
Adams is confident that Hendricks’ record at Assiniboia Downs will never be surpassed.
“He was the king of Assiniboia Downs. He rode there for 34 different meets,” said Adams.
“He was a fantastic horseman and a genuinely good guy. He had everything: athleticism, intelligence, and an innate understanding of horses. He was just one of those guys who was meant to be a jockey.”
Hendricks rode for five decades before retiring, but his skills remained in high demand. He was hired by Stronach Stables, owned by Ontario auto-parts billionaire Frank Stronach, and spent four or five winters in Florida exercising some of the top-quality horses Stronach owned and bred, including 2000 Preakness Stakes winner Red Bullet.
“I worked with him in Florida, and he got to ride some world-class horses,” said Adams. “He got to ride on the turf at Tampa Bay Downs, which was a big deal for him. It was something he’d never done before, as the only turf track in Canada is in Toronto, and he never rode there.”
Hendricks returned to Prince George in 1992, the year before Clint graduated high school, and they spent some time in Terrace. Hank found work with Greyhound and as a sheriff before settling back in Prince George, where he lived at Spruceland Seniors Home. An avid fisherman with a witty sense of humour and an infectious laugh, Hendricks spent some of his retirement driving a cab, just because he liked being around people.
Survived by his brother Kitt in Quesnel and sisters Treena and Elaine in Prince George, Hank’s dying wish was to return to Assiniboia Downs. This summer, the family will travel to Winnipeg with his ashes for one final ride. Anderson is sponsoring a memorial race in Hendricks’ honour, which will take place later this year.
