Walter Blum, the Hall of Fame jockey who posted a prodigious number of wins before retiring from the saddle and serving for decades as a steward in Florida, died early Thursday in Hallandale Beach, Fla., of complications of lung disease, according to family members. Blum was 89. Blum, who was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1987, led the United States in wins in both 1963 and 1964. He rode primarily in New York and New Jersey, though he traveled out-of-state for high-profile rides. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Blum began working at racetracks at a young age as a hotwalker. Despite suffering an eye injury when he was 2 years old – he fell off a toy horse – Blum started his riding career in 1953 at the age of 19 and quickly established himself as a leading young rider. Although he had only one victory in a Triple Crown race – the 1971 Belmont Stakes on Pass Catcher, which denied Canonero II the Triple Crown – he won nearly every major stakes race on the New York circuit, including the Whitney, Frizette, Prioress, Brooklyn, Metropolitan, Test, Beldame, Coaching Club American Oaks, and the Mother Goose. He also won the Santa Anita Derby and the Florida Derby. Among his most prestigious wins was a photo-finish victory aboard Gun Bow in the 1964 Woodward Stakes, when his mount narrowly edged out Hall of Famer Kelso, a five-time Horse of the Year. He also defeated Hall of Famer Buckpasser when riding Priceless Gem in the 1965 Futurity Stakes. When he retired, Blum had ridden 4,382 winners in 28,673 starts. At the time, only the Hall of Famers Bill Shoemaker, Johnny Longden, Eddie Arcaro, and Steve Brooks had more winners. Blum was named the George Woolf Memorial Award winner in 1964, voted by his peers and considered one of the highest honors for a rider in the United States. He was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1986. Blum also served as president of The Jockeys’ Guild from 1969-74. Following his retirement in 1975, Blum set out to become a racing official. He got his first job as a steward at Atlantic City Race Course, and in 1978 took a job as the state steward in Florida. He served for decades in the position until his retirement at the end of 2004. “I loved being a jockey but you can’t do that forever,” Blum told NYRA’s press office in 2021, on the 50th anniversary of Pass Catcher’s Belmont Stakes win. “I enjoyed being an official as much as riding. The people riding under me, I knew their problems and I knew them [as people]. They respected me for what I knew and how I acted. That’s why I became a steward.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.