Jockeys Guild News and Articles

He stands sixth on the list of all-time jockeys by wins, about 800 behind all-time leader Alvin "Bubba" Brossette.  Carter has been named AQHA champion jockey seven times, including the past five consecutive years.  He and his wife, Shaena, are based out of Oklahoma City.

 

After achieving the milestone, The American Quarter Horse Racing Journal asked the champion to reflect on his career to date.

 

AQHRJ:  Tell me about your family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On June 27, the Board approved for 45-day public notice a proposed rule to require the use of safety reins in racing and training in California.  Safety reins contain an internal back-up cord connected to the bit, so that if the traditional outer reins break, the jockey or driver can still maintain control of the horse.  Safety reins are strongly endorsed by the Jockeys' Guild, which helped draft legislation that became Section 19504 of the Horse Racing Law requiring the Board to require the use of safety reins if the Board determines they would provide jockeys and exercise riders greater protection from accidents and injuries than conventional reins.

 

Testimony by representatives of the Jockeys' Guild at that June 27 Board meeting focused on how traditional reins sometimes break from continuous wear and from manufacturing defects, placing jockeys at great risk, particularly when this occurs during a race.  They demonstrated how safety reins contain an internal cord that is either looped or clipped to the bit, so if the outer reins break, the inner cord that is independently attached to the bit helps the jockey keep control.

 

The California Thoroughbred Trainers asked the Board to delay mandating safety reins until national standards are developed through laboratory testing.  The CTT was especially concerned about determining the breaking strength of the inner cord, which they consider a safety issue for horses.

 

The Board elected to place the proposed rule out for public notice, and asked the various parties to submit additional information addressing the breaking strength of safety reins.

 

Written comments should be sent by e-mail to ColleenG@chrb.ca.gov or addressed to Colleen Germek, Regulation Analyst, California Horse Racing Board, 1010 Hurley Way, Suite 300; Sacramento, CA 95825.  The time for the start of the September 18 meeting at Fairplex Park will be posted on the CHRB website (www.chrb.ca.gov) at least 10 days beforehand.  An audio link to the meeting will be available on the CHRB website.   CHRB News Release

Gomez scored in the Travers Stakes Presented by Shadwell Farm (GI) on Saturday at Saratoga, riding Colonel John to a nose decision in the 1-1/4-mile race.

 

On Sunday, he recorded another narrow victory, guiding Go Between to a neck win in the Pacific Classic (GI) at Del Mar.

 

His two other stakes triumphs for the week also came at Del Mar -- the Del Mar Mile Handicap (GII) aboard Whatsthescript (Ire) and the Harry F. Brubaker Handicap (G2) on Hyperbaric.

 

The 36-year-old rider is fourth in the jockey standings at Del Mar through August 26.  He finished second in the standings at Santa Anita Park's winter-spring meeting.  Thoroughbred Times TODAY

Jockeys' Guild National Manager Terry Meyocks points to a March agreement between the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and the Guild to increase mount fees on losing rides as a spark for similar agreements in other states.

 

"It was important for New York to reach this agreement," Meyocks said.  "Everyone kind of looks to New York and I can't say enough about the New York (Thoroughbred) Horsemen's Association and their work to get this done."

 

California regulators mandated the mount fee increase in that state, but increases in other jurisdictions came about only after jockeys, horsemen and reulators worked together on an agreement.

 

Besides New York Racing Association tracks, agreements recently have been reached at Arlington Park, Calder Race Course, Fairmount Park, Finger Lakes, Hawthorne Race Course, Hoosier Park, Indiana Downs, Philadelphia Park and Penn National Race Course.

 

A mount-fee agreement also is in place at Presque Isle Downs, pending an agreement on increased payments to losing horses.

 

Jockeys receive a percentage of purse money for top finishes and a flat fee for unplaced finishes.  The Guild has pursued a tiered plan of increases based on purses on each circuit.

 

Pennsylvania Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association President Joe Santanna said added purse money from gaming helped facilitate agreements in the Keystone state.  Santanna, who also serves as the National HBPA president, said riders have worked well with horsemen.

 

Meyocks said talks continue in Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Ohio. 

Lebron topped the list of leading North American jockeys by wins with 13 and tied with Derek Bell with three stakes winners each for the week ended August 19.

 

Among Lebron's three stakes victories was a 4-1/2-length win in the Grade III Gardenia Handicap aboard Mark Stanley's four-year-old Swift Temper.

 

The 24-year-old native of the United States Virgin Islands began riding in the U.S. in 2005, but his love of horses began on his father's farm in St. Croix.  At 14, Lebron galloped horses at a track in St. Croix and rode in one race there.  A friend put him in touch with an agent in Ohio, and thus began his career in the U.S., riding primarily in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.

 

Through August 19, Lebron was the leading jockey at Ellis Park with 55 wins, 28 more than his closest competitor.  He was the leading jockey at this season's Turfway Park winter-spring meeting and notched 60 wins at the Indiana Downs spring-summer meeting, three fewer than leading jockey Orlando Mojica.  Thorougbred Times TODAY

"We are absolutely delighted" says Andi Marcus, President and CEO of Mistura, Inc.  "Ms Sutherland is a wonderful role model for women and brings her incredible sense of style and natural beauty in keeping with our branding.  Her modeling experience and global appeal drew us to her" notes Marcus, "and the uniqueness of her profession aligned well with our demographic.  We look forward to a very successful partnership."

 

Sutherland began her career in 2000, winning her first race on October 9 of that year.  Recently, Chantal had a Canada Day to remember when she rode four winners, including Exclusive Flight in what was Sutherland's first stakes victory at Woodbine since 2003, and she enjoyed a memorable August 9 with five victories.

 

Sutherland is  two-time Soverign Award winner, as Canada's top apprentice in 2001 and 2002.

 

Sutherland was voted one of People Magazine's "100 most beautiful" in 2006, was featured in Sports Illustrated and worked with famed celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz for a 4-page spread in American VOGUE.  Woodbine Communications/Mistura Beauty

The Pennsylvania HBPA plans to increase mount fees for losing riders to $75.  The horsemen's group also announced its plans to increase mount fees to $75 at Presque Isle Downs if it can reach an agreement on increasing start fees to $200 for owners of unplaced horses.

 

"Now that we have integrated purses from gaming into the overall purse structure, we have come to the point where this increase can be accommodated by increasing the losing purse to owners to $200 per horse or the existing percentage, whichever is greater," said Pennsylvania HBPA President Joe Santanna.  "It is a win-win situation and we are fortunate to be in the position to take this action."

 

The HBPA worked with two jockey representatives:  the jockeys at Penn National and the Jockeys' Guild which handled Presque Isle Downs negotiations.  The increases will begin on August 20 at Penn National while the HBPA said it would continue talks with Presque Isle Downs.

 

"We hope that the HBPA and Presque Isle Downs can quickly work out their disagreement so that the new agreement is implemented," said Jockeys Guild National Manager Terry Meyocks.  Frank Angst/Thoroughbred Times

Buckley, 40, was taken to Saratoga Hospital and then flown to Albany Medical Center Hospital, where a CT scan revealed that he had blood on the brain and doctors placed him in a medically induced coma.

 

The accident occurred sometime between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. EDT on Monday.

 

"I went down and visited with his family (in Fort Walton Beach, Florida) - his mother, sister and aunt," trainer Steve Asmussen said Tuesday.

 

Asmussen said he did not personally witness the accident or know details of exactly what happened.

 

"I've heard all kinds of versions," he said.

 

Asmussen hired Buckley in April 2007 and said he had known him since 1987, when they first met at Birmingham Race Course.

 

"Last winter, he called me from Tampa and said he was going to quit riding," Asmussen said.  "He's worked for me ever since.  I can say without hesitation, he's a great guy.  I never met anybody who didn't like him.

 

"He had some pretty good wins during his career.  I'm not sure if he won any titles, but I think he was close a couple of times."

 

The New York Racing Association released no additional information on the accident.  Spokesman John Lee said he was unsure of the last time there was a serious accident in Saratoga.

 

A published report in the Albany Times-Union said the last fatality was on September 19, 1996, when assistant trainer Elizabeth Russello was killed when jogging a horse over the training track.

 

Buckley spent most of his riding career at upstate New York's Finger Lakes Race Track where he was involved in an accident on July 20, 2005.  He was also hurt at Hoosier Park in 1990.

 

Buckley had 947 career wins from 7,306 mounts and earned $9,213,807.

 

Funeral arrangements were pending on Tuesday afternoon.  Thoroughbred Times

Many contend that the weight limits are too low, forcing jockeys into unhealthy practices.  That debate has raged for years.  But the fact is, jockeys must control their weight if they want to ride.

 

Migliore, 43, currently riding at Saratoga Race Course, figured out how to control his.  It wasn't easy (he's 5-foot-7-inches, tall for a jockey), and it happened after a decade if extreme measures, but he did it.

 

Q:  When you first started riding in 1980, what were your issues with weight?

 

A:  I knew about 2-1/2 weeks beforehand that I was going to ride my first race, and I knew the horse would be assigned 107 pounds, meaning I would have to weigh 104.  (The other 3 pounds would be equipment.)  It was right here at Saratoga.

 

There used to be a Woolworth's in the middle of town, and I got on the scale there, and I weighed 123 pounds, dressed.  I'd been running around all summer at the Dairy Queen, with my friends, acting like, you know, a normal person.

 

So I hardly ate anything.  I drank grapefruit juice and ran every day in plastic suits.  But I got down to do my weight.  I lost 19 pounds in 2-1/2 weeks.

 

Q:  What happened next?

 

A:  Then I wouldn't have another mount for a week or so, and I'd wind up putting weight back on.  I'd be 110 or 112, and I'd have to get back down to 104.  I was a yo-yo.

 

Q:  How'd you lose the weight?

 

A:  I ran the gamut.  I did everything known to man to lose weight.

 

Frankly, when you start riding and first walk into a jockeys' room, you're shown all the wrong ways.  It's gotten better through the years.  In general, jockeys are a lot healthier nowadays.  We've gotten a lot more savvy about maintaining our weight and healthy lifestyles.

 

But on your introduction to the room, a guy takes you and shows you where the heaving bowl is: This is stall designed for where you're supposed to throw up after you eat lunch.  This is the steam room that leads to the sauna (called the hot box), which ranges, I believe, from 140 degrees to 160 degrees.  And if you need to, the masseur will wrap you in a plastic sheet and put a heat lamp on you.  You can go into the whirlpool at 105 degrees if you've got to lose a pound in about a half an hour.

 

This guy will give you Lasix.  That guy will give laxatives.  It's absurd.  You walk in there, and the only thing on your mind is riding.  You're not thinking about your health.  You're not thinking long-term.  You're just thinking, I need to make this weight to ride this race on this day.

 

Q:  How long did it take, say, to lose three pounds in the hot box?

 

A:  It depended on how hydrated you were to begin with.  It could take an hour and a half, or it could take two and a half hours.

 

You'd sit in there.  You'd take a break and then go back in.  You'd rub yourself with salt to help draw more water out of your body.  You might skip rope.

 

Q:  Would you put on weight simply by eating normally?

 

A:  Absolutely.  When you're already 20 pounds below your natural body weight, anything you put in your system your body fights to hold on to.  You stop processing foods the way a normal person would.  Your body's already (deprived), and what you're doing now is taking water weight out of your body and dehydrating yourself to make reasonable weight.

 

Q:  Did it take it's toll?

 

A:  I was always real fortunate, because physically I could get up for my job, and I could always ride very strong.  But mentally, I'd break down, and I had a hard time dealing with people.

 

When you're hungry and thirsty, you're not rational.  I would say things to people about their horses after a race that I didn't even mean -- awful things, critical things -- just because I felt so bad, so hungry and so thirsty, and honestly, physically in pain.

 

Q:  What did you do to break the cycle?

 

A:  After 11 years of that, I just reached a point where I was either going to wind up quitting early -- but I love to ride horses; I mean, that was the easy part of the job -- or I was going to figure out a better way to do this.

 

I had to ease myself out of all those bad practices.  It was difficult and took me about a year or so. But they were changes that had to be made.  I didn't go on any formal diet.  I basically found the foods that worked for me, that my metabolism broke down better, that I didn't seem to blow up and get heavy on.

 

And I eat only one meal a day.

 

I'm fortunate, because the things I like to eat are the things I can stay light with -- fish, salads, greens.  And now I'm incorporating more fruit in my diet.  I was always leery of fruit because of natural sugars.

 

Q:  Are there foods you crave?

 

A:  I have a great sweet tooth.  If I could eat chocolate all the time, I would.  But obviously, that wouldn't be conducive to my job. I do love pasta, but I don't allow myself to have it very often.

 

It takes a lot of self-discipline. But I feel very good.  I weigh every day 113, 114 without having to flip (induce vomiting), without having to go into the box.

 

Q:  That's great for you, but this isn't something you recommend for the average person, is it?

 

A:  Definitely not.  What I'm doing is obviously extreme for me to be able to make weight to make a living.  That being said, what I eat could be an example for people.  I eat really healthy.  I just don't get to do it two or three times a day.

That, the agent said, is what they came to upstate New York to accomplish.  Their goal for the season (a different one is set by Bass at each meet) has been nearly completed.  The meet is only halfway over.  It feels good to overachieve.

 

Leparoux, 25, always has been comfortable at the Spa.  It is where he scored his first win (in 2005) and the August 18 anniversary of that occasion is rapidly approaching.  The French jockey parlayed his initial score into an ambitious career that took him to tracks across the country.  He earned an Eclipse Award as the nation's leading apprentice in 2006, led all jockeys in wins, and took home riding titles at every major track in Kentucky.  In 2006, he also set a record for races won by an apprentice at Saratoga (28).

 

That year, Leparoux was riding first call for Patrick Biancone, whose support helped him get his phenomenal start.  But this season the jockey is on his own, keeping his career alive while Biancone serves a one-year suspension away from the track for possession of cobra venom, an illegal nerve-blocking agent.

 

Leparoux originally worked horses all morning, every morning for Biancone at Saratoga.  Now it's usual to see him traveling from barn-to-barn on the backside, breezing a horse for a trainers like Nick Zito before hopping on one for someone like David Carroll.

 

"I miss Patrick's horses," Leparoux said, "but he's not here and we have to keep going and do the best we can."

 

The break from Biancone's stable, while a clean one, was not easy.  Leparoux struggled to find his niche over the winter, making less-than-profitable stops in California, Florida and Louisiana.  But a return to the Kentucky riding colony this spring silenced his doubters, as trainers who had been waiting for the chance finally got to use him.  This summer, that business is spreading across the country -- providing wins like an August 2 West Virginia Derby score on Ready Set or a July 5 American Oaks score on Pure Clan.

 

"Patrick obviously was good for us to get started, but from a rider's standpoint, Julien has adjusted fine, Bass said.  "He's a great young rider who handles himself very professionally. I never have to worry about going behind him and putting out fires."

 

Trainers here have picked up on that professionalism, especially the old pros themselves -- like D. Wayne Lukas, who takes Leparoux whenever he's available to ride a race.  Lukas said he's seen infinite growth in the jockey since he broke away from Biancone's stable.  He believes the split was a fortuitous one, at least where Leparoux is concerned.

 

"Riding first call limits your growth pattern as a rider," Lukas said.  "You want to be able to adjust to various horses, and when you're riding mostly for one trainer, you're limited to the types of horses you're able to ride.  The fact that Patrick is not training right now is probably a good thing for this phase of Julien's career."

 

And there's nowhere better than Saratoga to take that next career step.

 

"It's the best place to be in the summer," Leparoux said simply.  "It's always good to come back."  Clare Novak/Albany Times-Union

Desormeaux has enjoyed great success in 2008, guiding dual classic winner Big Brown to four Grade I victories.  He currently ranks second among all North American jockeys by earnings for the year behind Garrett Gomez.

 

A native of Maurice, Louisiana, Desormeaux's father ran a racetrack in nearby Abbeville, where the jockey honed his skills at a young age riding in match races.

 

Since his days in Louisiana, Desormeaux has gone on to win riding titles at Santa Anita Park, Del Mar, Pimlico Race Course, and Tokyo Racecourse in Japan.  Desormeaux is one of only three jockeys to win Eclipse awards as both outstanding apprentice and journeyman, joining Chris McCarron and Steve Cauthen.

 

In 1995, Desormeaux became the youngest jockey to win 3,000 races, accomplishing the feat at age 25.  To date, he has ridden more than 5,100 winners in his Racing Hall of Fame career.  Thoroughbred Times TODAY

The Illinois HBPA made a commitment at the start of the meet to keep purses at the $5,000 level or above.

 

Jeff Johnston, regional manager for the Jockeys' Guild, said, "The jockeys at Fairmount Park were courteous and understanding of the horsemen's concerns about the health of the industry at Fairmount Park.  The fees are still outdated but we want to work with the horsemen to better the industry in southern Illinois.

 

Jockey fees at other Illinois tracks, Hawthorne and Arlington, recently instituted a scale that establishes the minimum fee at $80 and has increses in place for 4th and 5th place finishes.  Recent increases in mount fees were also put into effect at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, Saratoga, Finger Lakes, Calder, Indiana Downs and Hoosier Park with increases in California in place last fall.  Discussions continue with many other racing jurisdictions.  Jockeys at Philadelphia Park also received an increase in fees.

 

"I want to thank the HBPA Board for their recognition that jockeys were due an increase and chief steward Jeff Bowen for his help in reaching this agreement at a difficult time for racing in southern Illinois," said Terry Meyocks, national manager of the Jockeys' Guild.  "We all need to work together to solve the problems which face our sport across the country and the jockeys are committed to doing their part."

 

"The Guild is working towards setting up a model three-tiered mount fee scale based on purses and other factors.  One of the tier levels is comprised of tracks that have the most serious issues facing them.  The jockeys recognize that Fairmount Park and its horsemen are dealing with major issues right now.  The Fairmount Park jockeys are greateful for this increase and look forward to working with the industry in southern Illinois to improve racing in that area."

Jockeys are short, stick-thin athletes on powerful thoroughbred horses -- from a distance, the equine equivalent of a hood ornament on a Ford Bronco.

 

But the compact, muscular jockeys are the drivers and tacticians who make split-second decisions in and around traffic while travelling at top speeds in a race to finish and glory.

 

"Nobody has a greater respect for riders than me.  They're probably the most underrated athlete on the face of the earth," says David Frizzell, racing secretary at Presque Isle Downs & Casino.

 

A behind-the-scenes look at these athletes in Presque Isle Downs' first full racing season reveals some of the obstacles that these athletes face as they try to stay within weight limits, recover from career-threatening injuries and work split shifts of exercising horses in the morning and running them at night.

 

What drives them to this dangerous profession?

 

"I like the rush of being out there, and the money's great," said 5-foot-1-inch Rex Stokes III, a Louisiana native who on this day weighs 106 pounds -- after eating an Arby's Rueben sandwich and jalapeno peppers in the jockeys' room at the Downs.

 

Stokes, 25, whose 66 first-place finishes through Friday leads the jockeys this season

at Presque Isle Downs, says annual earnings have averaged $300,000 over the last couple of years.  He and his wife are staying in a campground this summer.

 

But there's a great swing in what jockeys earn in the United States -- from $10,000 a year to $1 million and more, says Dale Beckner, 35, the third-leading jockey this season at Presque Isle Downs, who prefers to keep his earnings private.

 

"It depends on what level (of track) you're riding at, how many races you ride and how many you win," Beckner says.

 

Beckner sometimes rides in all eight evening races at Presque Isle Downs.  More typically, trainers and owners hire him to ride on four to seven horses per evening.

 

 

Stokes and Beckner count themselves among the lucky ones.

 

Unlike some other riders, they don't have to do anything to stay light enough to ride based on weight limits set by racing officials.

 

"I eat healthy.  I'm very fortunate," says the 5-foot-3-inch, 105-pound Beckner, who's single.  "I can eat whatever I want."  Beckner's favorite food is steak.

 

Jockey Ryan Fogelsonger, 27, whose weight fluctuates between 108 and 112 pounds jokingly raises his middle finger to Beckner as he stands in front of his locker.

 

Fogelsonger, tied for the fifth-leading jockey at Presque Isle Downs, isn't like Stokes and Beckner.

 

Fogelsonger, who's also single, eats one meal a day and sweats off about 3 pounds by running two miles on the track on hot afternoons.  And he loads up the clothing -- skintight Under Armour pants and long-sleeve shirt, long socks, a windbreaker sweatsuit, turtleneck, and hooded sweatshirt.

 

"I'd much rather run than sit in a box (sauna) for two hours.  At least I'm getting some exercise and not twidling my thumbs," says Fogelsonger, who lives in Baltimore but is staying in Erie this summer.  The 5-foot-3-inch "Fogie," as he's known in the jockeys' room, runs with iPod on random play, listening to everything from rockers Green Day and Fall Out Boy to rapper 50 cent.

 

Other jockeys prefer to sweat off the weight in the saunas.  Rob Radak, Stokes' valet, said jockeys find another way to get rid of fluid while in the hot box -- the suck on Jolly Rancher hard candy and spit out the saliva.

 

"It speeds up the process," says Radak, whose duties for Stokes include saddling horses, cleaning his boots after a race and washing his riding clothes.

 

 

Heriberto Rivera, Jr., a former jockey based in Tampa, Fla., who's now the regional representative for the Jockeys' Guild, says he thinks many jockeys across the nation regurgitate their food to shed pounds.  "I tried.  I wasn't very good at it," he says.

 

Jockeys and racing representatives interviewed by the Erie-Times-News say they don't know or don't think any jockeys at Presque Isle Downs induce vomiting, also known as "flipping" and "heaving."

 

Fogelsonger said he doens't see it at Presque Isle Downs.  "I don't know how much it goes on anymore" in the business, he says.

 

Stokes, however, isn't as sure.  "I don't really see it happening or anything.  It's something you'd probably have to do if you had a problem with your weight," he says.

 

Rivera, 48, says he reduced weight by taking Lasix, a water pill that causes the kidneys to get rid of unneeded water and salt from the body into the urine.  Then he would hit the sauna and hardly eat.

 

Rivera, who rode horses for 23 years before retiring in 1999, says he knows in retrospect that those practices weren't healthy. 

 

The more extreme weight-reduction methods can lead to medical problems, including heart and dental issues and even death.

 

"When you're in your 40s you can pay for what you did in your 20s and 30s.  That's the message we're trying to get across," said Rivera, whose region includes Presque Isle Downs.

 

Rivera suggests that jockeys go on a steady diet and use the saunas in moderation, along with keeping up their intake of fluid and potassium.

 

"They're hurting and literally killing themselves with the weight," he says.  The practice is nothing new -- jockeys have pushed themselves for more than 100 years.

 

Tracks in California, Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey and New York have raised minimum weights about 3 or 4 pounds to 115 or 116 pounds, the Associated Press reports.  The official weight of a rider includes the jockey, boots, riding silks, saddle and other equipment, but not the whip, bridle and safety helmet.

 

Rivera says he's asked Presque Isle Downs to raise the minimum weights -- an issue the guild is pushing nationwide.

 

Frizzell, the racing secretary, says the weights are set for this year.  "We're within a pound or two of what everybody else is doing (in the Northeast)," he says.

 

But Frizzell said he is 90 percent sure the track will raise weights 1 pound for all types of horses for 2009 racing season.  Frizzell says there's a fine line between riders making weight and owners wanting their horses to carry lighter loads.

 

And raising the weight bar could lead heavier adults -- relatively speaking -- to think they could drop enough weight to compete as jockeys, says Jon Moss, associate executive director of the Pennsylvania Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.  "Who's going to stop striving to attain that?" he asks.

 

Another argument against raising jockey weight too much is that it puts more stress on the horse, increasing the chance of injury to both the animal and rider, he says.

 

 

Injuries are part of the game for jockeys -- though no jockeys have been injured this year at Presque Isle Downs and only one was hurt in the 25-day opening meet in September 2007.

 

The cushion of the artificial Tapeta track is a big reason, jockeys and racing officials say.  Jockeys are often hurt when horses suffer catastrophic injuries while racing on harder dirt surfaces.

 

Through Thursday, only two horses had to be euthanized at the track since the season opened May 9.  The two deaths at Presque Isle Downs -- out of 3,357 horses that ran-- represent a "breakdown rate" of 0.60 per 1,000 horses, well below the national average of 2 per 1,000 horses, Moss says.

 

"In this game, it's going to happen...Unfortunately, you're going to get hurt," says Beckner, outside Barn D after taking filly Run Judy Run on a morning maintenance workout.

 

Beckner's injuries include a broken back, broken collar bone, torn rotator cuffs and a broken ankle that sidelined him for 10 months.

 

 

Despite the competition among jockeys for mounts and money, they look out for each other and communicate on the track in dangerous situation, Stokes says.

 

"We're the only athletes that get followed by an ambulance when we're competing," Fogelsonger says, referring to the track ambulance that trails the horses.

 

Adds Beckner:  "It's a fine line between a competitive edge and hurting each other."

 

Jockeys, one of the few competitors who share a locker room, are also a close fraternity and socialize on days off.  They visit Presque Ise State Park, water ski on Lake Erie and go out to dinner on Sunday nights.

 

More than 100 jockeys have raced this year at Presque Isle Downs.  But the jockeys who work every day number about 20, Beckner says.

 

And they are, for the most part, a religious group that prays before races.

 

Beckner wears a cross necklace and necklace of St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers.

 

In the jockeys' room, shortly before post time, Stokes takes off his shirt and reveals a tattooed back with images of Jesus Christ, Mary and the inscription: "Only God can judge me."

 

Stokes says he believes.

 

"You've got to believe in God, especially in this business.  You need somebody to take care of you," he says.  John Guerriero/The Erie Times-News

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Life didn't get much better for Velazquez when he stayed on his mounts.  He staggered to a sixth-place finish with 22 victories, quite a slip for a three-time Spa riding champion who holds the track record with a staggering 65 wins in 2004.

 

"Last year was a throw out year," Velazquez said.  "You had to learn from it and move on to a different thing."

 

Armed with a new strategy, Velazquez is back in his familiar place atop the standings, tied with Cornelio Velasquez with 19 wins at the midway point.  Velazquez has only three fewer victories than all last summer, although he has gone winless the past two days.

 

Velazquez said he'd become too reliant on trainer Todd Pletcher and paid for it when Pletcher also had an off-meet (by his standards) with 13 winners in 2007.

 

"If it goes bad for the stable, it goes bad for me, and it reflects on both of us," Velazquez said.  "And maybe more on me because I was concentrating more on one stable than any other."

 

Velazquez, 36, remains Pletcher's first-call rider, and the duo have combined for nine victories so far.

 

ButVelazquez also has been aboard winners for Nick Zito, Bobby Frankel, Shug McGaughey, Bob Baffert and Eoin Harty.  He guided Commentator to victory in the Whitney and Baffert's Indian Blessing to first in the Test.

 

"This year, I've tried to spred it out a little more and not put all my eggs in one basket," he said.

 

Pletcher said he had no problem with Velazquez branching out.

 

"He's basically done what he should be doing all along," Pletcher said.  "Before, he could rely on me for all his wins.  Now he's trying to pick up some other business, too."

 

Pletcher said it's not hard to explain Velazquez's improvement from last year.

 

"The horses, man," he said.  "The horses make the difference for him, me, everybody else.  That's the bottom line."

 

Velazquez has been riding so well, he had mixed feelings about leaving the Spa last Saturday to ride at Arlington Park on the Arlington Million card.

 

His horses finished off the board in the Secretariat and the Beverly D.  The horse Velazquez was supposed to ride in the Arlington Million, Sudan, was scratched because of a tendon injury.

 

Velasquez was well-aware that missing one day of business could cost him the Saratoga title.

 

"As soon as you start moving out one or two days, you lose that business and a possible winner or two," he said.  "Every winner counts.  But we chose to do that and we'll see what happens.  By the end of the meet, if we end up on top, that's great, and if we don't, at least we tried our best."

 

Velazquez last won the title in 2004 and then surrendered to Edgar Prado the next two years.

 

Cornelio Velasquez took the crown last year with 44 winners and is making a strong bid to repeat.

 

But Velazquez, a native of Puerto Rico, is making it look like old times.

 

"Definitely, if you want to win one of the titles in New York, it would Saratoga," Velazquez said.  "It's special for everybody.  This is one of the places we'll always try to do the best we can."  Mark Singelais/Albany, NY Times Union

 

 

Jockey Javier Castellano who rode 19.90-to1 longshot Precise Lady had his right rein break a few jumps out of the starting gate of the seven-furlong race.  While Precise Lady continued to run with the rest of the field, Castellano had no control over his mount.

 

"It happened really quick," Castellano said.  "My horse (kept) striaght but at the same time, he (ran) off.  It was very scary.  It never happened to me before."

 

Still holding the left rein, Castellano reached down a couple of times to try and reach the dangling right rein, without success.  Prado, who was racing next to Castellano aboard 8-to5 favorite Ice Cool Kitty, put his whip in his right hand, reached over beneath the neck of Precise Lady, and flipped the rein to Castellano.

 

"He was trying to reach it, but he couldn't," Prado said.  "A broke rein happens more often than somebody helping.  I think it was more important to see nobody got hurt than winning a race.  A human being is more important."

 

Castellano praised Prado's actions.

 

"I give him a lot of credit," Castellano said.  "He (didn't) worry about anything.  That says alot.  It's amazing."

 

Ice Cook Kitty finished third.  Precise Lady finished last in the field of seven.  Thoroughbred Times TODAY

Olah passed away in March at the age of 79 and is greatly missed by everyone who had the pleasure of meeting the 4-foot-8-inch tall, 90-pound lifetime racetracker.

 

Olah began his racing career as a jockey in 1945 at the now-defunct Jamaica Racetrack, and rode until 1967, winning nearly 200 races. He got out of the saddle and into the silks room upon retiring, and remained there for the rest of his life.

 

"Little Louis" was both well respected as a colors man and well liked as a person.  "Louis was a great little guy; I knew him for 40 years or more," said Assistant Clerk of Scales Eddie Brown.  "He rode races, and did the colors for over 40 years and did them well.  He had colors put away that nobody could find."

 

As the colors man, or the person in charge of making sure that the right owners' silks- or "colors" - go to the right jockey on the right horse in the right race, Olah was always available to explain what it took to organize some 4,000 silks at Saratoga Race Course, Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack.

 

"He was the best colors man in the country by far," said veteran valet Harry Rice.  "Colors that didn't run for 10 or 15 years, people would tell him and he would remember the colors ad know exactly where they were.  If he put them over to the side, he knew exactly where the bundle was."

 

No matter what, Olah would always maintain his affable disposition.

 

"(He was) happy, always laughing, smiling, singing 'La-la-la,'" Rice said.  "When he'd go down the hall, everybody would know it was him.  He just enjoyed his job so much."

 

Because of his size, or lack of it, Olah was an easy target for good-natured teasing.  He never got angry.

 

"Nothing bothered him - we always picked on him and the reason we picked on him was because we loved him," Brown said.  "He took a lot of abuse every day, but he did his work right up to when he passed away he was 'Little Louie' all the time."

 

Added Rice, "I used to tease him up here that he used to have a side job standing on lawns, where he would wear your colors and park cars.  He was a little fella, so he was like a human jockey statue."

 

Jean-Luc Samyn, at 51 the oldes active jockey among the regular New York colony, also fondly remembers Olah.

 

"Whenever he would hand us a bill for getting our pants cleaned, we would ask for some i.d., a social security number," Samyn said.  "He would never give it to us, though, he would just turn around and walk away.  It was a funny little game we would all play.  All kidding aside, he was an incredible man, having to deal with all those colors.  He was a good man."

 

Olah's replacement, Walter Arce, owes all his expertise to his lost friend.

 

"Well, waht can I say?  He was the best guy," said Arce.  "He taught me everything I do now."

 

Tim Kelly, NYRA Clerk of Scales, summed up Louis Olah in a few poignant words: "He was a giant in a small body."  NYRA Communications Office

The Titans, composed of soon-to-be sixth graders, were led by Austin Grandstaff and Preston Troutt, both of whom scored 15 points.

 

The game, hosted by the New York Race Track Chaplaincy, was played for the benefit of the Permanently Disabled Jockeys' Fund.

 

The jockeys will try their luck in another sport Monday, August 11 when they face a team from the New York State Police in an annual charity softball game to benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys' Fund and Clifton Park-based Catie Hoch Foundation, which helps children while they are in treatment for cancer.

 

The game will take place at the East Side Recreation Field in Saratoga Springs, NY, and gates will open at 5:30 p.m.  Horse owner Bill Parcels, executive vice president of football operations for the National Football League's Miami Dolphins, will throw out the honorary first pitch at 6:30 p.m and the game will begin at 7 p.m.  NYRA Communications Department

The Test was Velazquez's second time riding Indian Blessing.  In his first trip aboard the Indian Charlie filly, Velazquez guided her to a dominant victory in the Prioress Stakes (GI) on July 5 at Belmont Park.

 

Velazquez kicked off his string of stakes victories with a clear win aboard Talking Treasure in the Fleet Indian Stakes on July 31.  The next day, he posted a half-length victory in the Majestic Light Stakes on Luck Money (Ire), and the day after his win in the Test, Velazquez nabbed a narrow triumph aboard Red Giant in the Fourstardave Handicap (GII), his second graded stakes win of the weekend.  Thoroughbred Times TODAY

"It's a dream that's come true all my career," said Prado, who was inducted on August 4 and then crossed Union Avenue to ride at his favorite track, Saratoga Race Course, where he has been leading rider three times (2002, 2005 and 2006).  "I wanted to be the best that I could."

 

The son of an assistant trainer, with one brother who is  a jockey and another jockey-turned-trainer, the 41-year-old Prado clearly has horse racing in his blood.

 

Raised in a one-room house in Lima with 10 brothers and sisters, he went on to graduate from Peru's prestigious jockey school, rode his first winner in 1983, and quickly established himself as his native country's leading rider.  He followed the same trajectory when he moved his tack to the United States, with successful stops in Florida and Maryland before arriving in New York in 1999 to ride for John Kimmel.  That year, Prado was the second-leading rider at Saratoga, took his first title in 2000 at the Belmont Fall Championship Meet, and never looked back.

 

"I wanted to prove that I could compete at a higher level," Prado said.  "New York is the toughest circuit in the country, the toughest level, but I wanted to prove I could do it."

 

Although he collected dozens of Grade I victories, including the 2002 Belmont Stakes aboard longshot Sarava and the 2004 Belmont when he derailed Smarty Jones' Triple Crown bid with Birdstone, a major turning point in his career came when he was introduced to an undefeated Dynaformer colt named Barbaro, who Prado calls a "friend, teammate, and hero."  Winner of the 2006 Kentucky Derby, Barbaro inspired a nation with his bravery as he fought to survive after breaking down in the Preakness.

 

This year, Prado, along with John Eisenberg, wrote the book "My Guy Barbaro: A Jockey's Journey Through Love, Triumph and heartbreak with America's Favorite Horse."

 

Michael Matz, Barbaro's trainer, says Prado's hard work and dedication are what led to his Hall of Fame induction.

 

"He's an excellent rider and a gentlemen to deal with, what more could you ask for?" says Matz of the jockey he chose to ride his most successful horses, including 2006 Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Round Pond.

 

Prado says that counts most is not where "you end up, but how hard you tried to get there."  Whether in a Breeders' Cup championship or an allowance race, Prado is determined to ride each to the best of his ability.

 

"It isn't how many times you fall," Prado insists, "but how many times you get back up."

 

Prado's goal-oriented approach to riding has resulted in more than 6,000 wins, including three Triple Crown wins and three Breeders' Cup victories, and now, induction into the Hall of Fame.

 

"To have been nominated with (Randy) Romero and (Alex) Solis is an honor," explains Prado.  "To be in this elite of a group of people in the Hall of Fame, that really is something that I could only imagine but never think I could reach it.  Now that I'm there, I'm just very happy."

 

And greateful - for the wonderful horses he has ridden, the generous people who have helped his career, and most all his family - his wife Lilliana, sons Edgar, Jr. and Luis, and daughter Patricia - whom Prado calls "my greatest accomplishment."

 

"My family has been everything to me," Prado said.  "My wife is my base, my anchor.  I was always working, but she was there for me.  I couldn't have moved forward without them."  NYRA Communications Department

 

Flying palm stalked the pace from second, seized command in midstretch, and accelerated clear to secure the milestone victory for Santos.

 

Santos, who has ridden professionally in North America since 1984, also has amassed 1,121 runner-up finishes and 1,244 third-place finishes from 10,973 mounts that have earned $8,109,332.  His most lucrative victory to date was a win in 2003 aboard Clever Moon in the $120,000 Michigan Sire Stakes.  Thoroughbred Times