Keeneland Honors Hall of Fame Jockeys

Mike Battaglia introduced a group of more than a dozen Hall of Fame jockeys for a question and answer session at Keeneland in the early afternoon April 22, a day designated as Hall of Fame Jockey Day by the track. 

The Hall of Famers were honored in a winner's circle ceremony, and also signed a poster designed by Peb, with all proceeds benefiting the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.

As would be expected with a gathering of such a distinguished group, wins in Triple Crown races were well represented.

Battaglia asked several of the retired jockeys in the group about their Kentucky Derby (gr. I) wins.

Pat Day, who holds the top position at Keeneland in number of wins, stakes victories, and riding titles, spoke about his first Derby win.

"Well it was my tenth try...on a horse called Lil E. Tee, trained by my good friend Lynn Whiting and owned by Cal Partee. Lil E Tee ran lights out, and I gave a lot of consideration to how I could put into words what that meant (to win the Derby) and I haven't come up with words yet. ... It's indescribable."

Day rode for more than three decades and stillholds the second place in on the all-time earnings list among North American jockeys.

Chris McCarron spoke of what winning the Derby means to a jockey, with his victories in the classic coming aboard Alysheba in 1987 and Go for Gin in 1994. Those victories came in a career that spanned nearly three decades and continued to pay dividends to the racing industry when he founded the North American Racing Academy to teach aspiring jockeys.

"As far the Derby goes, it's exhilarating, it's exciting, and it really stamps you. It gets your name all across the world. If someone recognized my tack bag on a flight, the question was, 'Have you ever ridden the Derby?' and the next question was, 'Have you ever won it?'

"Whenever you said no, the conversation virtually stopped and if you said yes the conversation went on for the rest of the flight. It's pretty important."

Bill Boland, who won the 1950 Kentucky Derby on Middleground, had the distinction among the Derby-winning jockeys present of being the youngest to win. At age 16, he was the second apprentice to win the race.

He rode for 20 years, and also won the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) aboard Ari's Mona in 1950, one of only seven riders to achieve that double.

Don Brumfeld was another jockey to achieve the Oaks-Derby double in the same year, when he won the 1966 Oaks on Native Street and the Derby on Kauai King. He has 16 Keeneland riding titles, and said, "I loved riding here at Keeneland. This is my home, and I have a lot of fond memories here."

Earlie Fires won five riding titles at Keeneland, and remains Arlington's all-time leading rider with 2,886 victories there. Battaglia said, "He had a fantastic career and retired in 2008, but looks like he could go out and ride today."

Fires replied, "No, I had enough of that but it was a lot of fun."

His career spanned over four decades, with riding titles won in all of them, so while he wouldn't ride anymore it clearly was his forte.

Sandy Hawley made a mark on racing just a few years into his career when he became the first North American rider to win 500 races in one year. The Canada native was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. as well as the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, and he said that to be a jockey with the other assembled greats at Keeneland was quite an honor.

Eddie Maple won the Belmont (gr. I) twice and a total of 4,398 races during his career, but was also well-known for riding Secretariat during the Triple Crown champion's final race, contested on the turf in Canada.

Battaglia asked him about that race, and Maple said, "It meant a lot to my career at that time. He's been known as one of the best horses of all time."

According to Battalgia, Secretariat's regular rider Ron Turcotte told him that Secretariat was better on turf than dirt.

Since Maple never rode him on dirt to compare, he said, "Ron had a very good opinion and if he said that's the way it is, that's the way it is."

Jose Santos, who won the 2003 Derby on Funny Cide, joked about the incident where it was reported he had a device of some sort in his hand during the victory, later proved to be only the silks of the rider behind him. He held his empty hand up and said, "Nothing in my hand," to laughter from the assembled crowd around the paddock.

Other retired jockeys on hand included Laffit Pincay, Jr., John Rotz, Randy Romero, Manny Ycaza, and Jacinto Vasquez.

Gary Stevens, who returned to riding in 2013 and was scheduled on the day's card, joined the other Hall of Fame jockeys. Since his return, he added another Preakness (gr. I) win with Oxbow  , bringing his total classic wins to 9.

He spoke about what inspired his return to racing.

"I rode in an old timers race, a legends race (in October 2008), and that day I got the itch a little bit to come back.I still love it and I can do it."

That love of the sport and drive to excel is what all of these Hall of Famers have in common, and what Keeneland honored.