George M. Odom

George Martin Odom (July 8, 1882 – July 29, 1964) was an American National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame jockey and trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing. He is only one of two people to ever have won the Belmont Stakes as both a jockey and a trainer.

Odom was a native of Columbus, Georgia, and his brother was academic William M. Odom. At age fourteen, he galloped horses for future Hall of Fame trainer, William P. Burch. He began riding professionally at age fifteen and in 1899 at age sixteen, won his first race. He quickly made such an impression that an April 10, 1899, article in the Chicago Daily Tribune referred to him as another Tod Sloan. In June 1899, the eighty-seven-pound Odom, who was an early advocate of the short-stirrup riding manner used today, signed a contract to ride for W. C. Whitney for a salary of $10,000 a year with additional compensation on a sliding scale for winning and finishing in the money.^{[citation needed]}

He rode at tracks in New York, New Orleans and the Benning Race Track in Washington, D.C. Among his major wins as a jockey, Odom rode Banastar to victory in the 1901 Metropolitan and Toboggan Handicaps.^[1] The best known of his mounts was future Hall of Fame inductee, Broomstick.^[2]

After just eight years as a jockey, George Odom retired from riding in 1905 with a 17.2 winning percentage. Widely respected, he had earned a reputation as an honest jockey in an era when race fixing was not uncommon. Odom then made his home in Atlanta, Georgia, and immediately turned to training horses.^[3]