He arrived late. His luggage was lost. He rode in borrowed boots. He got sick. He had to leave early. But it was worth it. “100 percent,” said Frankie Dettori of his weekend trip to ride for the first time at Saratoga Race Course. “It was always my ambition to get here,” he said Monday,…
The International Conference for the Health, Safety, and Welfare of Jockeys held at Monmouth Park last September lived up to its name, and featured presentations about racing in England, Ireland, France, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan, Germany, Uruguay, and the United States. The program highlighted one of the major differences between the U.S. and many international…
Few images at a racetrack still a crowd like the sight of a jockey down on the track, and few elicit heartier cheers than seeing him get up on his own. Seemingly indestructible, these athletes are often called the bravest in sports, perched atop a speeding animal that outweighs them by a factor of ten.…
He’s among the quieter riders out there, seldom seeking the spotlight, but as 2013 comes to a close, jockey Javier Castellano may well be on the verge of winning his first Eclipse Award. On December 13, the Venezuela native broke the single season earnings record set in 2012 by Ramon Dominguez, forced to retire earlier…
Earlier this year, on a cold January morning on the backstretch at Laurel, exercise rider Chelsey Keiser asked agent Kevin Witte the best time to try to start a career as a jockey. She’d been told, she said, to start in January, to leave herself as much time as possible to get wins, in the…
The International Conference on the Health, Safety, and Welfare of Jockeys lived up to its name at Monmouth Park on September 13 and 14, with representatives from South America, England, Ireland, Australia, France, and Germany. And a few people from the United States — but only a few — showed up, too. “I don’t understand…
On the second and final day of the 2013 International Conference on the Health, Safety and Welfare of Jockeys Sept. 14 at Monmouth Park, representatives from a half dozen racing jurisdictions discussed prohibited substances and testing procedure, nutritional, physical, and mental health during racing careers and in retirement, and the frequency of rider injury on…
Representatives of jockeys’ organizations from around the world gathered at Monmouth Park Sept. 13 for the first session of a two-day meeting of the International Conference on Health, Safety, and Welfare of Jockeys. Medical professionals and jockey advocates discussed matters including insurance for jockeys riding overseas, research into concussions and spinal cord injuries, and setting minimum…
On Saturday, May 27, in his 14th year as a jockey, Joseph Rocco Jr. got his first Grade I win when Tiz Miz Sue won the Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont Park. Exactly two months later, at Saratoga Race Course, he got his second. Riding longshot Lighthouse Bay in last Saturday’s Prioress, Rocco rode the…
On Saturday, January 19, Ramon Dominguez won his third consecutive Outstanding Jockey Eclipse Award. He didn’t know it at the time, but the day before, he had ridden in his last race. While his friends and colleagues John Velazquez and Javier Castellano accepted the award on his behalf, Dominguez was in a New York hospital…
Brooklyn Backstretch 