| BIOGRAPHY |
Denise Boudrot grew up in Burlington, Massachusetts conveniently located between Suffolk Downs and Rockingham Park. She would ride her first race July 25, 1972 at Rockingham Park aboard O B's Viking, a son of New England great Steel Viking. Things didn't go to well that day or for the next twenty three rides, but that was about to change.
On November 19, 1972 she had Misty Colfak five in front heading into the stretch, she managed to hang on by a nose and earn her first victory, one of over 750 she would have in her career. Over the next thirteen years she would be one of the leading riders in New England, venturing out of the area occasionally. Like other jockeys of her day, most of her mounts were at Suffolk Downs, probably had something to do with Rockingham Park not being around for a few years. She was a multiple stakes winner in New England but her biggest ride would come in her last year.
Her final year of racing was 1985, that year she guided Convict, to a fourth place finish in the Grade 2 Mass Cap, her second graded stakes race. That year she also accepted her one and only mount on the fair circuit at Marshfield. She would win that race with a horse named Trapeze Artist. Six days later her career would end, Denise would go out a winner, bringing Eddie Williams back to the winners circle, in the seventh race that day.
Boudrot married personable horse owner and publisher Roland Hopkins in 1986. After winning her last race she retired and returned to the show circuit. With the help of performer and trainer Carole Fletcher they trained Boudrot’s former show quarter horse to be a trick horse renamed “Cleve Kadidittlehopper.” Their act called the “The Reluctant Racehorse,” was seen at fairs, racetracks, and other venues along the East Coast.
The Longshot Lady died at her Grafton Vermont farm, on May 19, 2010 after a long battle with brain cancer. A memorial service was held in her garden. As a bag pipe played her ashes were spread beneath an apple tree. Yellow butterflies floated lazily past. Jockey friends Abby Fuller and Suzy Kelly led one of her horses over the horizon with the stirrups reversed. Boudrot was 57.
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| Suffolk Downs November 19, 1972 First Win | ||
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| Suffolk Downs one hundred wins | ||
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| Rockingham Park July 27, 1979 |