Fernando Toro

Fernando Toro (born January 31, 1941, in Santiago, Chile) is a retired US Hall of Fame Thoroughbred horse racing jockey about whom Santa Anita Park called one of Southern California's most successful jockeys in the 1970s and '80s.

On November 19, 1956, Fernando Toro won the first race of his riding career at the Club Hípico de Santiago in Santiago, Chile. He was the leading rider in Chile when he decided to emigrate to the United States in 1966 where he would retire from riding in 1990 having won 3,555 North American races. In 1975, Fernando Toro was voted the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. The award has been given annually since 1950 to a thoroughbred horse racing jockey in North America who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct both on and off the racetrack.

Widely respected for his expertise in turf races, among his many successes Fernando Toro rode the filly Royal Heroine to victory in the 1984 inaugural running of the Breeders' Cup Mile.

In 2023, Toro was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame as a selection by the Historic Review Committee. Since he was unable to make the journey from California to Saratoga Springs for the induction ceremony, Toro will receive his Hall of Fame jacket and plaque at Del Mar on August 19, 2023.