Robert Lee Baird (November 17, 1920 - December 16, 2005) was an American jockey and trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing and a decorated soldier who served with General Patton’s Third Army in World War II with which he landed on Utah Beach on D Day.
His career began in 1937 but would be interrupted for three and a half years of wartime military service during which he was awarded four Purple Hearts.
[4] For the final three years in racing, Baird worked as a trainer and then as an agent for his son, jockey Edward Thomas Baird who was often recorded as E. T.
[5] Baird rode in the Kentucky Derby five times, the last coming in 1978 which made the then fifty-seven-year-old the oldest jockey ever to compete in the first leg of the U. S. Triple Crown series.
[6] In 1975 Baird was inducted into the Fair Grounds Racing Hall of Fame.