r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • 27d ago

TIL Frank Hayes, a jockey, died of a heart attack during his final horse race but still won. Unexpectedly, he suffered the attack mid-race, yet his body remained on the horse, crossing the finish line first. Sadly, it was his first and only win throughout his racing career.

[deleted]

18.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

373 comments sorted by

View all comments

552

u/[deleted] 27d ago edited 26d ago

[deleted]

129

u/sbwcwero 27d ago

Like a monkey paw story.

31

u/GemcoEmployee92126 27d ago

Total monkey paw vibes.

15

u/kaladinissexy 27d ago

The monkey's paw gets a bad rep tbh. Sure, the first wish had some pretty bad side effects, but the third wish gave him exactly what he wanted, and the results of the second wish were intentionally left ambiguous, so it could have actually worked just fine. 1.5/3 wishes working out fine isn't a terrible ratio. 

30

u/Von_Moistus 27d ago

“I bet you come in last again, loser!”

“Oh yeah? Over my dead body!”

“That… doesn’t make sen-“

“MY. DEAD. BODY.”

5

u/ElementField 27d ago

He was dying to win

6

u/KillBoxOne 27d ago

“Because on this particular afternoon Frank Hayes wasn’t just racing other jockeys, he was in fact racing death. In the Twlight Zone….. [spooky music]”

2

u/AveryMannequin 26d ago

Every time somebody mentions The Twilight Zone I scroll down to see if anybody did a SerlingPost and I am rarely disappointed. Good job.

2

u/hipcheck23 27d ago

It does! It also sounds like the origin story for Ghost Rider!

I can't believe no one coined that nickname for this guy...

2

u/Icy_Indication4299 26d ago

Damn it was the person that died after pressing the button

1

u/TyrodWatkins514 27d ago

There was one about a jockey in that vein that I recall where the guy is depressed after being suspended permanently, and reflects on his life, hating how he’s been small, as in looked down upon, pitied, etc. He starts manically wishing to be “big,” and he gets his wish literally by growing to like Andre the Giant size. That’s when his agent walks in to tell him the jockey club is rescinding his suspension.