Riders Up! Event News

Riders Up! hits all the right notes

Posted by Alicia Wincze on April 18, 2009

Even if we have Triple Crown winners for the next 10 years, I’m pretty sure I witnessed the highlight of my turf writing career last night.

I watched Pay Day participate in an ensemble version of the 90s classic “I’m Too Sexy” as Jon Court twirled a bra over his head. Yeah, you read that right.

Last night, Keeneland hosted Riders Up!, a charity karaoke competition to benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys’ Fund, and let me say whomever came up with the concept was genius.

Hosted by Laura Bell Bundy of “Legally Blonde” fame, Riders Up! featured such top current jockeys as John Velazquez, Robby Albarado, Jon Court, Jamie Theriot, Kent Desormeaux, and Edgar Prado along with such retirees as Chris McCarron, Angel Cordero Jr., Earlie Fires, Patti Cooksey and Pat Day doing their best American Idol impersonations.

Playing the roles of Simon, Randy, Paula, and Kara were Keeneland’s director of sales Geoffrey Russell, Eddie Montgomery of Montgomery Gentry and his wife Tracy, radio host DeAnn Stephens and TVG host Todd Schrupp.

Racing gets a lot of criticism for its ability - or lack thereof - to come together but this evening was a shining example of what can happen with everyone gets behind a worthy cause. While we were all braced for some less than stellar vocal stylings, former rider Herbie Rivera Jr. was the surprise of the night as he led Velazquez and Albarado in a version of “My Girl” to start the evening and ended up taking home top honors from the judges for his duet with Albarado of “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before.” Sure Herbie won more than 3,200 races is his career, but the man can flat out sing!

True to her gutsy nature, Patti Cooksey was the only one brave enough to pick up an instrument as she busted out the guitar for her version of “Eye of the Tiger”. Prado and Desormeaux were part of a group who had everyone grooving to “New York, New York” and Corey Lanerie did country fans proud with his version of “Sweet Home Alabama”.

There was no question who brought the house down, however. That would be the one and only Charlie Woods.

It wasn’t enough that Charlie donned a dress and heels to serenade Earlie Fires and Jon Court with “The Happiest Girl in the World” earlier in the night but he was the centerpiece of the evening’s closing effort - the aforementioned group performance of “I’m Too Sexy”. With his painted on, leopard-print pants and a wig that defies description, Charlie and Co. did their little turns on the catwalk as the packed Keeneland Entertainment Center crowd literally howled with approval. For the record, I did not see how the underwear got on stage but to his credit, Jon Court ran with it and channeled his best Vince Neil.

Not surprisingly, that effort earned the Peoples’ Choice award for the night (how could you not vote for that?!) and all in all, more than $50,000 was raised for the Fund as a result of several riders being outstanding sports. I would be remiss if I did not mention that Mark Hoffman - co-owner of Grade I Ashland Stakes winner Hooh Why - himself made a $10,000 donation during the evening. That’s how you put graded stakes earnings to good use.

If there are not already plans to make this an annual event, there should be. But I think everyone who was fortunate enough to witness Friday’s event will agree there will be no topping this inaugural outing.

To see photos from the event, check out: www.keenelandhorsephotos.com

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