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Hall Of Fame Jockey John Rotz Dies At 86

A class act both in and out of the saddle, Hall of Fame jockey John Rotz died peacefully at the age of 86 at his farm in Warrensburg, Illinois, on July 12. Rotz, who won 2,907 races and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983, was North America's leading stakes-winning rider in 1969 and 1970, when he rode Hall of Famers Gallant Bloom and Ta Wee, as well as champion Silent Screen.

Born Dec. 16, 1934, in Niantic, Illinois, Rotz went to work at Fairmount Park following his graduation from high school in 1952. He started out as a groom, hot walker, and exercise rider before making his debut as a jockey in 1953.

Known as “Gentleman John,” Rotz began his career riding in fairs in the Midwest before becoming the leading rider in New York in 1961 and 1962. He won the Preakness Stakes by a nose aboard Greek Money in 1962 and the Belmont Stakes on High Echelon in 1970.

Polite, articulate, dependable rather than flashy, his opinion was valued by trainers both before and after a race. Rotz had a gentle touch with temperamental horses and was known for his success with fillies. He won the Acorn and Mother Goose on Deceit and won notable races aboard top fillies such as What a Treat, Rose Bower, Obeah, Castle Forbes, Indian Maid, Rash Statement, and Chou Croute.

Rotz won the Metropolitan with both Hall of Famer Carry Back and In Reality, the Wood Memorial on Globemaster and No Robbery, and the Champagne on Roman Brother, Silent Screen, and Stop the Music. He also rode Hall of Famer Dr. Fager, as well as Verbatim, The Axe II, and Mongo.

Rotz, who was honored with the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1973, retired from riding that year at the age of 39. His 2,907 wins ranked 15th at the time. He later served as The Jockey Club steward in New York.

The post Hall Of Fame Jockey John Rotz Dies At 86 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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A Quick Check-In With Angel Cordero Jr.

In less than five weeks, the King of Saratoga will head north to return to his kingdom in Upstate New York. But for now, Hall of Famer Angel Cordero, Jr. is busy at Belmont Park as the jockey agent for up-and-coming young rider Manny Franco.

These days, it's not easy to make it to the top of the jockey ranks in New York, according to Cordero.

“Fortunately, we have something happening here that didn't happen for a long time anywhere,” he said. “We have the top nine or 10 riders and they're all riding together. We haven't seen competition that hard since Santa Anita when they had [Bill] Shoemaker, Laffit [Pincay, Jr.], [Eddie] Delahoussaye and [Chris] McCarron all together. Now it's tough. You've got 10 top riders here that no matter where they go, they could be leading rider.”

Cordero has enjoyed watching, and in many cases mentoring, many of the jockeys who are at the top of today's standings.

“They have all come a long way to reach the top,” he said. “I remember when Johnny [Velazquez] was a little kid and came here to the United States and worked his way to becoming the champion he is now. I remember the Ortiz brothers when they first got to this country. They used to come to the house and watch film and ride the Equicizer. I remember when Manny Franco came in and he was a kid. Now I'm very fortunate to be working with him.”

Sometimes, he says, seeing these talented athletes in action makes him a bit melancholy as he reminisces on his career that included 14 riding titles at Saratoga and three wins in the GI Kentucky Derby.

“I wish I was riding now because that's what makes an athlete a little better. When you compete with somebody that is good, then you know you're really in for a fight. The friendships with the jockeys is outside [of the racetrack.] When the gate opens, nobody is friends. When you don't win a race, ten minutes later- maybe not right after, but ten minutes later- everything is back to normal.”

One of Cordero's favorite racing memories involving a fellow Hall of Fame jockey is when he traveled to California to ride for D. Wayne Lukas and was coupled in an entry with Laffit Pincay Jr. After the races that evening, Pincay offered to drive Cordero back to the airport.

“We got out of the car at the airport and we hugged each other and he said, 'Good luck, Campeon,'” Cordero recalled.

The then-newcomer was riding high as he made he way through the airport after being referred to as a champion by the well-respected rider.

“That hit me really hard,” Cordero said. “I was sitting in first class thinking that I was the president of the United States.”

When he landed back on the East Coat and his wife was there to greet him, Cordero insisted that he now be referred to as 'Campeon.'

“Laffit called me Campeon and I like it,” he told her. “And if Laffit called me Campeon, you should call me Campeon.”

“Okay, Campeon,” she said. “Get in the car and let's go.”

When Cordero returned to California a few weeks later, he heard a child along the paddock ask Pincay for an autograph.

“I'll give it to you later, Campeon,” Pincay responded.

“When I came home, my wife asked how I did,” Cordero said. “I told her I won, but I'm sad because I'm not a Campeon anymore. Laffit calls everybody a Campeon. I thought it was a privilege for me, but it wasn't.”

While he's been retired from riding for well over two decades, Cordero has retained his role as an important ambassador in racing and one of the sport's biggest cheerleaders.

“Right now what we need is to stay together and rebuild our game,” he said. “This is the best sport and there are a lot of people involved in it from grooms to hot walkers and assistant trainers. We need to get together and try to make our sport the best. We are all going to have problems and that's a part of life, but I think as a group we can always get together and do the right thing for the sport.”

Angel Cordero Jr., along with Chris McCarron, Richard Migliorie, Laffit Pincay Jr. and Jorge Velazquez, will be featured at the 2021 Champions Talk fundraiser for the New York Race Track Chaplaincy in the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion in Saratoga Springs on July 19.

For more information on tickets, visit www.rtcany.org.

The post A Quick Check-In With Angel Cordero Jr. appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Catching Up With Chris McCarron

Chris McCarron won his first of two Belmont Stakes in 1986 with Danzig Connection (Danzig) at odds of 8-1, unexpectedly defeating that year's Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up Ferdinand (Nijinsky II) and giving trainer Woody Stephens the last of five consecutive victories in the Test of the Champion.

The next year, he found himself on the other side of the fence aboard Alysheba (Alydar). Alysheba and McCarron had won the first two legs of the Triple Crown and were on track to complete the series when, coming around the second turn at Belmont, they ran into the heels of Gone West (Mr. Prospector), losing all momentum and settling for fourth behind Kentucky Derby and Preakness runner-up Bet Twice (Sportin' Life).

But of course, Alysheba would return to his winning ways soon enough and earn the year's title for Champion 3-Year-Old Colt, running second by a nose in an iconic dual with fellow Derby winner Ferdinand in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Alysheba and McCarron returned the next year to win six Grade Is. 'America's Horse' capped off his career in the 1988 Breeders' Cup Classic, the victory earning him Horse of the Year honors and the title of the world's richest horse.

“He was phenomenal,” McCarron said, crediting the fellow Hall of Famer as the best horse he ever rode. “He was a fantastic ride and brought a lot of joy to my life and my family's life. We traveled a lot with him and he was very special.”

McCarron retired as a jockey after 28 years in racing in 2002. Since then, he served as an advisor and actor in the film Seabiscuit, held the position of vice president and general manager at Santa Anita Park, worked as a racing analyst for TVG Network and launched the North American Racing Academy.

These days, his schedule is not quite as jam-packed as when he was at the pinnacle of racing, but the sexagenarian keeps himself fully occupied. When he's not out perfecting his swing on the golf course, a practice he normally partakes in about four days a week, he finds himself back at the barn giving riding lessons to his young grandson Griffin.

“Griffin lives right near me, about 15 minuted from my house,” he shared. “I get to pick him up from school every afternoon and spend a couple hours with him every day, so we're having a blast together. My two other grandsons live in Sherman Oaks, California and I get to see them a few times a year.”

While he's just starting to get into riding, Griffin undoubtedly has horse sense in his blood. Aside from a grandfather who earned $264 million on the racetrack, his mother Stevie McCarron Wigley is an accomplished equestrian and operates Cloud Nine Farm in Midway, Kentucky.

“His mom is being kind of cautious,” McCarron shared. “I think she seems a little reticent to have him ride too often. I'm sure it's because she doesn't want him to get hurt, but I wish he would ride more often. He's not really totally into it yet, but he enjoys it when he's doing it.”

McCarron said he would be happy if his grandson someday decided to pursue a career in racing, but admits he doesn't want him to follow in his footsteps with his particular job choice.

“It's pretty dangerous and I don't know if I could stomach it,” he said. “I just hope I'm around when he's of the age to decide what he wants to do. When he's 18, I'm going to be in my late eighties, so hopefully I'll make it to that point.”

Chris McCarron and Alysheba take the 1987 GI Kentucky Derby. | Horsephotos

McCarron shared the story of how he decided he wanted to be a jockey when he was a teenager watching his older brother Gregg McCarron excel among the East Coast jockey ranks.

“He started riding when I was a freshman in high school and when I got out of school on the north end of Boston, I would get on the train at three in the afternoon and go three stops to Suffolk Downs,” McCarron recalled. “At the time you had to be 18 or older to get in, so I would actually have to climb the fence to sneak in and watch my brother ride the last few races on the card.”

The older brother got his younger brother a job as a hot walker between McCarron's junior and senior year of high school at Rockingham Park in New Hampshire.

“I was infatuated from day one,” McCarron said. “When I went back to school to graduate from high school, I went from an average student to a less-than-average student because all I could think about was horses and racing. I graduated in 1972 and got a job on the racetrack with my brother's boss. The man who taught him to ride also taught me how to ride and I've been here ever since.”

McCarron said these days, he enjoys popping into the jockeys' room once in a while to chat with the riders and pick their brains.

“I really miss the big days,” he admitted. “I love to go into the jocks' quarters and I appreciate the camaraderie in there. But I don't miss riding on a day-to-day basis.”

Asked how today's top jockeys differ from those of his day, McCarron responded, “I think the jockeys of today are a little bit more knowledgeable about how the whole industry works. The most prominent and successful riders are very, very smart and they pay attention to all the different things that go on in our industry. They strive to make it a better place and I'm so excited about that.”

McCarron is using his past experiences and accumulated knowledge to further improve the sport by focusing on medication reform.

“I'm thankful for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act,” he said. “I worked for quite some time with my colleagues on getting that bill passed and we were ecstatic when it passed last year. I'm all about a level playing field. I want horses to be running on their own merit without any assistance from medication and we're working toward that end. It's going to happen soon and I'm thrilled about that.”

McCarron's ongoing mission is to improve the integrity of the sport, a trait that he also hopes will one day resonate with his grandson.

“The most important thing that I hope Griffin learns is integrity,” he said. “This sport has fallen on some tough times over the past two decades and so it's an absolute must for someone to be honest, straightforward and conduct themselves with integrity. I think that's where success starts. You've got to be honest and truthful about what you're doing, what you're saying and what you believe in. So I hope Griffin follows that lead and becomes someone who is respectable.”

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Dominguez: Whip Rules ‘Not Fair To The Rider, The Athletes Out On The Track’

Hall of Fame jockey Ramón Dominguez shared his opinions on the new whip rules in California and New Jersey with horseracing.net this week. The three-time Eclipse Award winner is concerned with both rider safety and wagering integrity.

In California, jockeys may only use the whip in an underhanded fashion and only six times during the running of a race. Dominguez worries that this does not allow riders to maintain a safe environment out on the track.

“Personally, my biggest worry is what happens when the need for a rider to take corrective action to protect himself, as well as the animal, arrives,” Dominguez told J.N. Campbell. “That is not visible to the observer. I think knowing that the jockey may have the predicament of doing what is right 'safety wise,' but possibly faces penalties is uncompromising. Should they take the chance to be proactive or run the risk that may cause a safety problem? That's not fair to the rider, the athletes out on the track or the integrity and future of the sport.”

Like other jockeys, both active and retired, Dominguez is also concerned about racing integrity. New Jersey has implemented the strictest whip rules in the country, with jockeys only allowed to use the whip for safety, not to achieve a better placing.

“As a jockey, other than making sure you keep your mount, yourself, other horses, and fellow riders safe, your main job is to help your horse reach its maximum placing,” Dominguez argued. “In order to do so, while riding a horse with a laid-back demeanor, that wants to only put forth effort according to what's being asked of him, you may sense the need to use the crop. This is a way to incentivize him. Sometimes you have to do this as early as the last three-eighths of a mile. If he is responding well to it, by the time you reach the last sixteenth, your main tool to ensure your horse reaches its maximum placing has been taken away from you. And with that, your likely opportunity to win; this applies not only to you, but to your connections, and equally important, the person who placed a bet on your horse.”