Jockey Dies on Friday, Returns to Work on Saturday

On May 8, 1936, jockey Ralph Neves was thrown from his horse in an ugly chain-reaction spill during a race at Bay Meadows. His horse, Fannikins, landed on top of Neves and escaped injury. Neves was not so lucky.

The stunned patrons could only look on in helpless horror as their greatest fears were soon confirmed by the track announcer:

“We regret to inform you that jockey Ralph Neves is dead. Please stand in silent prayer.”

On May 9, 1936, Ralph Neves rode 5 races at Bay Meadows to cement the track’s riding title, earning a $500 bonus and a gold watch given by Bing Crosby.

Come again?

Yes, Ralph Neves literally awoke from the dead and not 24 hours later, was back in the saddle.

Ralph Neves, the “Portuguese Pepper Pot” (Photo courtesy of Jason Tougaw/californica.net)

This really happened.

Let’s go back to May 8, when Neves’s lifeless body was hauled off the track, placed in the back of a truck and transported to a nearby hospital, then the morgue. With the tag on his toe and sheet covering his body, doctors injected Neves with a last-ditch shot of adrenaline. Sure enough, Neves sat right up, as he later recounted to the San Francisco Chronicle.

“I got up running,” Neves said. “I knew I was doing wrong, but I couldn’t help myself. I ran out of the mortuary with just the one boot and everybody chasing me. There was a pool hall just down the road. I ran around it a couple of times, then out the door and down to the train station where I hailed a cab.”

Neves instructed the cabbie to take him to Bay Meadows. He jumped out of the cab upon arrival and ran into and around the jock’s room a time or two. Then he went out the door and proceeded to run down the racetrack.

This of course scared the hell out of everyone at the racetrack, as a juiced up dead guy frantically looking for his equipment to return to work often does. Track officials wouldn’t allow it of course, but after sleeping it off, he was back the next day as if nothing at all was amiss.

Neves would ride for 26 more years and was elected into the National Racing Hall of Fame. He passed away—like, away away—in 1995 at the age of 78.