Photo By: Jeremy Lyverse
		Pat Day (above) is the rider of three Kentucky Derby (GI) contenders - Buddha, Request For Parole and Ethan Man. The Hall of Fame jockey will have a tough decision to make in the coming days as to which horse he will ride on May 4.

It's Time For A Derby Jockey's Rite Of Spring - "Musical Saddles"
April 15, 2002
By, William F. Reed

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (April 15, 2002) - Every time somebody writes an article about today's 50 best athletes, or the 100 top athletes of all time, proper respect and homage is paid to the legends of almost every sport except Thoroughbred racing.

It's not that horses should be compared to humans, but that their partners, the jockeys, are the most overlooked (no height joke intended) and under appreciated performers in the sports world. The fools who never cover racing have no clue about what it takes to be a top jockey.

In the 128th Kentucky Derby (GI) on May 4, for example, the jockeys will display more strength, eye-hand coordination, intelligent decision-making, and fearlessness in two minutes, give or take a couple of seconds, than some NFL and NBA players will show in two games. Or, in the worst cases, two months.

By the standards of most other pro sports, even the best jockeys are grossly underpaid. Jerry Bailey, for example, is to his sport what Shaquille O'Neal and Sammy Sosa are to theirs. Yet if Bailey, considered the best active American jockey, has an incredible year, he might earn $2 million or so, which now is the AVERAGE for major-league baseball players.

Beyond that, jockeys don't get nearly as many outside earning opportunities as athletes in other sports. Bill Shoemaker once did a rather good American Express commercial with Wilt Chamberlain. But in the 40 years or so since that advertisement was popular, jockeys have appeared in national ad campaigns about as often as George Bush appears in a tank top.

Yet the jockeys go about their business, mostly without doing a lot of public posturing and complaining. They're among the most accessible athletes in the sports world, they appreciate any publicity they get, and they're never caught trying to strangle their trainers, getting into barroom brawls, or threatening to go on strike if the owners don't pay them more money.

When you earn your living by piloting 1,000-pound, or more, animals at around 40 miles an hour, the dangers are so obvious that it's no wonder an ambulance follows the field around the track. Unfairly, jockeys are required to pay their own insurance premiums, which have grown in proportion to the danger involved.

While this doesn't have much effect on Bailey and the other top Riders - Pat Day, Chris McCarron, Gary Stevens, Jorge Chavez, etc. - it can force riders at the lower-level tracks to begin thinking about career opportunities in other fields because so much of their paltry incomes must be set aside for insurance premiums.

The Derby history book tells us that the best ride, not necessarily the best horse, usually wins the race. That's why the trainers of the leading contenders compete every spring for the services of the best jockeys. The top jocks ride as many contenders as they can, then pick the one they think has the best chance of handling the Derby's unique challenges.

Earlier this spring, Tony D'Amico, a 47-year-old jock who has never ridden in the Derby, was replaced by Edgar Prado on Harlan's Holiday, Bailey on Repent, and Eddie Delahoussaye on Perfect Drift. His family and friends claimed foul and accused the trainers of lacking loyalty, an understandable emotional reaction, but it was only hard, cold business at work. Before the Derby and other important races, dumping a journeyman for a top jockey is a no-brainer.

Of course, even the most talented riders are prone to make mistakes or bad decisions in the Derby pressure cooker. They often don't pick the best horse to ride. And even if they do pick the right horse, they sometimes do something in the race that causes their mount to lose. In 1957, for example, Shoemaker misjudged the finish line aboard Gallant Man, giving Iron Leige the edge he needed to win.

Johnny Nerud, trainer of Gallant Man, was so upset that he swore he'd never bring another horse to the Derby. And he hasn't.

Even at the peak of their careers, the jockeys can fool themselves into picking the wrong horse. That's why even the greats finish last every now and then. The last-place list includes Bailey (Talk Is Money last year), Corey Nakatani (Deeds Not Words in 1997), Laffit Pincay, Jr. (Groovy in 1986 and Tossofthecoin in '93), Bill Hartack (Warbucks in 1973), and George "The Iceman" Woolf (Billionaire in 1937 and Pictor in '40).

Although most Derby fans haven't noticed, John Velasquez, who may ride Saarland in this year's Derby, has been making a strong bid to become a last-place immortal. In his first five Derby rides, Velasquez has brought up the rear three times (Built for Pleasure in 1996, Basic Trainee in '98, and the filly Three Ring in '99).

With only a couple of semi-important Derby prep races remaining, most of the jockey-horse partnerships seem to be in place. It looks something like this, with the rider's winning Derby mounts in parenthesis:

Edgar Prado: He'll seek his first Derby victory on Harlan's Holiday, whom he rode perfectly in both his Florida Derby (GI) and Blue Grass Stakes (GI) victories. "I wouldn't trade him for any other horse so far," said Prado, whose best Derby finish in two starts was Thunder Blitz's fourth last year.

Eddie Delahoussaye: (Gato Del Sol in 1982, Sunny's Halo in '83): After riding Ocean Sound to a third-place finish in the Blue Grass, Eddie D. said, "I'm not sure he wants to go more than a mile and an eighth." That means Delahoussaye will ride Perfect Drift, the gelding he prodded to victory in the Lane's End Spiral Stakes (GII), in the Derby. "I'm going to win the Derby, I'm telling you," said Delahoussaye. "Harlan's Holiday is the horse to beat, but I love my little horse."

Chris McCarron: (Alysheba in '87, Go for Gin in '94): He'll stick with Came Home, despite his slow time in winning the Santa Anita Derby (GI) and a pedigree that doesn't suggest he'll handle the Derby's mile and a quarter distance. Came Home has won six of seven career starts, with McCarron aboard in every race.

Mick Kinane: The Irish jockey will go after his first Derby victory with Johannesburg (should he go postward), last year's unbeaten juvenile champion. This year Johannesburg was a close second to a filly in what apparently will be his only Derby prep race. Kinane, who has never ridden in the Derby, also will be bidding to become the first foreign-based rider to win the Derby since Gustavo Avila did it with Canonero II in 1971.

Jerry Bailey: (Sea Hero in 1993, Grindstone in '96) - When Siphonic was sidelined with an injury, Bailey got the mount on Repent, who also dropped off the Derby Trail because of an injury suffered while finishing second to War Emblem in the Illinois Derby (GII). After riding Blue Burner to a disappointing fifth-place finish in the Wood, Bailey may opt to ride Essence Of Dubai, who's already won at a mile and a quarter in Dubai, in Louisville.

Pat Day (Lil E. Tee in 1992) -- When Day decided to bypass the Toyota Blue Grass (GI) to fly to New York and ride Buddha in the Wood, that should have set off alarm bells among bettors everywhere. He nursed the lightly-raced colt (four career starts) to a neck victory over the game Medaglia d'Oro. His decision will force the connections of Request for Parole and possibly Mr. Mellon to seek other riders in the Derby.

Gary Stevens: (Winning Colors in 1988, Thunder Gulch in '95, Silver Charm in '97): After riding Sunday Break to an impressive third in the Wood, Stevens told trainer Neil Drysdale that he would love to ride him in the Derby, provided the colt has enough earnings in graded stakes races ($82,500) to get him in the field should more than 20 enter.

Laffit Pincay, Jr.: (Swale in 1984) : He rode Medaglia d'Oro so well in the Wood that there's no reason trainer Bobby Frankel won't give the fifty-something Hall-of-Famer the call in Louisville, despite Pincay's 1-for-20 record in the Derby. After the colt lost the Wood to Buddha by only a head, Pincay said, "I thought we would get it...He's right there (for the Derby)."

Victor Espinoza: Trainer Bob Baffert has named him to ride War Emblem, the Illinois Derby winner that was purchased by the Thoroughbred Corp. so it could be represented in the Kentucky Derby. Espinoza made his Derby debut last year with a third-place finish on Congaree.

Donnie Meche: He rode Fifty Stars to a ninth-place finish in his first Derby appearance last year, but should have a much better chance aboard Private Emblem, whom he rode to a 4 1/2-length win in the Arkansas Derby (GII).

The Derby still is a possibility for Straight Gin, Ethan Man, Castle Gandolfo, Mr. Mellon, Blue Burner, Cappuchino and Easyfromthegitgo.

But Azillion (Ire), a distant last in the Blue Grass, apparently isn't coming, and Booklet, runner-up by wide margins to Harlan's Holiday in the Florida Derby and Blue Grass, may skip the Derby, according to trainer John T. Ward, Jr.

If Ward sticks to his guns, that would mean that Jorge "Chop Chop" Chavez, who won last year's Derby for Ward aboard Monarchos, would join the list of top jocks who still don't have a Derby mount.

Others with at least one boot in that same boat are Kent Desormeaux (Real Quiet in 1998, Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000), Alex Solis, Craig Perret (Unbridled in '90), Richard Migliore, Robby Albarado, Mark Guidry, Corey Nakatani, Mike Smith, David Flores, Jose Santos, Robbie Davis, Russell Baze, and Patrick Valenzuela (Sunday Silence in '89).

The cell phones of various jockey agents will be humming this week because nobody wants to be left out of the Big Dance. Who knows? Maybe we haven't seen the winning Derby team yet. As recently as 1999, the late Chris Antley won the Derby the first time he rode Charismatic.

He took the mount only because he had no other option.

Native Kentuckian William F. "Billy" Reed has been a sports writer in various capacities for 42 years and has missed covering the Kentucky Derby a mere two times since 1966. He has been a high-profile sports writer in Kentucky for the Commonwealth's two largest daily newspapers, the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader and was a national columnist for Sports Illustrated, covering among other sports, Thoroughbred horse racing and college basketball. Reed currently pens a column for the Louisville Sports Report, contrbiutes features to the Keeneland program and will be, among varied other assignments, filing Kentucky Derby installments on www.kentuckyderby.com.

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