Steve Cauthen | Horse Racing Free Tips

Steve Cauthen, BC Winner Pebbles To Be Inducted Into British Hall of Fame

American jockey Steve Cauthen and the outstanding turf mare Pebbles (GB) (Sharpen Up {GB}) will be inducted into the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame, the official Hall of Fame for Flat racing in Britain. The newest inductees will be recognized on QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot on Oct. 21, with Cauthen making a rare trip over from the US.

Cauthen becomes just the fifth rider to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, while Pebbles becomes the first of her gender to be inducted alongside the likes of Frankel (GB) and his legendary late sire Galileo (Ire). Cauthen and Pebbles teamed to win the 1985 Eclipse S. at Sandown.

Now 63, Cauthen is the only jockey in history to have ridden the winners of both the Derby and Kentucky Derby and is the youngest to have ever won the US Triple Crown aboard Affirmed in 1978. He is the only jockey to appear on the cover of TIME magazine, which he did alongside the late boxer Muhammad Ali. Cauthen was Britain's champion jockey on three occasions and rode the winners of 10 English Classics, all but one for trainer Sir Henry Cecil, including Derby winners Slip Anchor and Reference Point.

“I'm grateful to have had so many brilliant opportunities on both sides of the pond and to still be recognised for my achievements is really quite special to me.

“Having been inducted into America's Hall of Fame some years back, it's an honour to now celebrate my induction into Great Britain's Hall of Fame, and I'm looking forward to marking this moment with family and friends on QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot later this month.”

Trained by Clive Brittain, Pebbles overcame quirkiness and a variety of setbacks and became the first British-conditioned winner of a Breeders' Cup race when successful in the 1985 Turf at Aqueduct. She had previous won the G1 1000 Guineas and the G1 Champion S. at Newmarket prior to her American conquest.

Said Brittain, “I still think about her today and can see her fresh in my mind, particularly with her boyfriend, Come On The Blues. Theirs was a great love story and he accompanied her wherever she went–even travelling out to America with her for the Breeders' Cup Turf. That day was the only time that I've been racing and felt nervous, but I just did the same as we'd have done at home and it all worked out.”

Speaking on behalf of Godolphin, the racing operation owned by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, Pebbles's owner, managing director Hugh Anderson added, “Pebbles was a uniquely talented and very tough racehorse with an outstanding race record. She truly was one of the best racehorses of the 1980s and a flagbearer for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed's racing operation at the time. She is a very deserving inductee to the Hall of Fame and His Highness is delighted to see her achievements recognised in this way.”

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Racing Industry Participants Shine in Common Wealth of Kentucky Project

What do an award-winning chef, a rising young country music star and a reigning champion trainer have in common?

All three are featured in the Common Wealth of Kentucky Project, an exhibit going on now through Oct. 1 at LexArts Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky. Along with chef Ouita Michel and singer Walker Montgomery, trainer Brad Cox is one of 70 Kentuckians who shared their life story for the collection, which is the culmination of a year-long project for impressionist painter Kelly Brewer and partner Beth Pride, a writer and digital storyteller.

Visitors can explore the gallery and connect with each Kentuckian on a multi-sensory level as they observe the portrait of the participants, read a short summary of their lives, and even scan a QR code with a smart-phone camera to listen to the participant's voice as they share portions of their own story.

The project was inspired by Brewer's mother, Jo B. Robertson, who passed away in 2020. Brewer decided that she wanted to paint portraits to honor her mother and raise money for the Jo B. Robertson Charitable Foundation, which was established to continue Robertson's legacy of helping to educate, house, clothe and feed the less fortunate. Brewer turned to Pride, the wife of Godolphin's Dan Pride, for assistance.

“We decided that we would call it the Common Wealth of Kentucky and that it would reveal the richness that the people who comprise this state are made of and the commonalities that we all have,” said Pride. “We hoped to do our best to break down these artificial barriers that really, at the end of the day, are not real.”

Together Pride and Brewer, along with advocate Jill Johnson, spent the next year traveling throughout the Commonwealth as Brewer painted Kentuckians from all walks of life while Pride collected their stories.

They met with Jeff Broadwater, a United States Army major general who served in Kuwait during Desert Storm and was deployed to Iraq twice, and Lou Anna Red Corn, the first Native American Commonwealth Attorney in Kentucky. They talked to Pedo Mann, a coal foreman in Eastern Kentucky, and Gentille Ntakarutimana, who was a Burundian refugee as a child and is now a legal assistant for Morgan and Morgan.

Louisville native Brad Cox is not the only racing industry member to appear in the collection. The sport is a common theme throughout the exhibit. Keeneland is represented by President and CEO Shannon Arvin along with well-known ringman Cordell Anderson. Other members of the sport who are featured include Lane End Farm's Bill Farish, Airdrie Stud's Bret Jones, Phipps Family Stable racing manager Daisy Phipps Pulito and Hall of Fame jockey Steve Cauthen.

“What we really tried to do is build a unique impression of who these people are and find something that maybe everyone doesn't know about them,” explained Pride. “Daisy was in the sports television industry for years and Bill was a personal aide to President George H.W. Bush. Everyone has something unique that really differentiates them, but we also found that we have so many things in common as human beings and we're all connected through our humanity no matter our background or where we're going.”

Participants also included political figures like Lexington mayor Linda Gorton as well as Kelly Craft, the former United Nations Ambassador who recently launched her campaign for Kentucky governor. Lexington locals will recognize names like Kentucky Sports Radio's Matt Jones and Bluegrass Hospitality Group founders Brian McCarty and Bruce Drake.

Each of the portraits on display are available for purchase through a super silent auction format where the bid amount is hidden from the public and managed confidentially. The auction will continue through Friday, Oct. 1.

“We're very grateful for the response,” Pride said. “We had about 400 people there on opening night and LexArts has told us that the traffic for the exhibit has been triple what they are accustomed to.”

The exhibit has also been encapsulated in the form of a book, which was written and sound-produced by Pride and features the original artwork by Brewer (the book is available in the gallery, at the Keeneland Mercantile in Lexington or can be purchased here).

As Pride reflected on the project, she said that in many ways, Kentucky horse racing represents a microcosm of the Commonwealth as a whole.

“The horse business is one of those industries where there is a lot of competition within the industry, but it's also an industry that has external criticism,” Pride said. “It's the same with bourbon, parimutual betting and coal mining. What happens is that the people in the industry are friendly competitors because they know they need to be bonded in a singular purpose of promoting and advocating for the horse and for the industry. That spirit where everyone is in it together is reflected all throughout Kentucky.”

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“As Exciting as Winning a Race,” Steve Cauthen Talks Keeneland September Score

Steve Cauthen sat in the shade of Barn 42 at the Four Star Sales consignment Tuesday afternoon, basking not in the memory of his glory days as a Hall of Fame jockey, but in quiet celebration after selling one of the top-priced yearlings of the day at the Keeneland September Sale.

The colt, a flashy son of Sharp Azteca out of the stakes-placed mare She's Roughin It (Forest Camp), sold for $250,000 to Jerry Namy and Garry Simms.

“This is as exciting as winning a race,” Cauthen declared. “When you get a good one and people like it enough to fight for it, it's great.”

Cauthen has been involved in the breeding side of the industry since back when he was riding, when he owned a few mares that stayed with his father at the farm in Walton, Kentucky. After retiring from the saddle in 1992, the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year took up golf for a while, but got bored after a few years. So, he decided to go out and find a few more broodmares to get more involved as a breeder.

Today, Cauthen has eight mares at his Dreamfields Farm in Kentucky. Most of the broodmares are owned in partnership with various friends. They focus on breeding to sell, but have also raced several homebreds over the years.

“We've done quite well,” Cauthen said. “We've breed some nice stakes horses. We bred a nice colt called Pegasus Wind (Fusaichi Pegasus) that ran in the 2006 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile.”

Cauthen picked out She's Roughin It, the dam of this most recent yearling success, at the 2007 Keeneland November Sale for $80,000. The daughter of Forest Camp had placed in a pair of stakes as a juvenile and won once as a sophomore for Steve Asmussen before landing with Cauthen.

She's Roughin It's first foal, The Truth and K G ( Successful Appeal), won over $200,000 and placed in a Grade III. She has since produced five more winners including Francesco Appeal, another stakes-placed son of Successful Appeal.

“She has had a lot of good foals,” Cauthen noted. “They're all really typey and the great thing is, her last three foals have been the best foals she has had.”

In addition to this Sharp Azteca colt, the mare also has a juvenile filly by the same sire named T. T.'s Women who ran fourth in her debut earlier this month as well as a weanling filly by Cloud Computing.

Cauthen was first drawn to Three Chimneys sire Sharp Azteca when the Grade I winner retired to stud. Doug Cauthen, a member of the advisor board at Three Chimneys, encouraged his brother to go visit the new stallion. Now a standout young sire, Sharp Azteca currently leads his class of first-crop sires by winners.

“Sharp Azteca is a big, beautiful stallion,” Cauthen said. “He's a striking individual and did plenty on the track, so I was happy to get involved and now I have a breeding right to him. I think with the fact that he has had MSW Tyler's Tribe, GSP Honed and SW Sharp Aza Tack, his horses are going for the top races and that's what gives people confidence to say maybe this horse can be a top stallion.”

Cauthen's colt was the first Sharp Azteca yearling to go through the ring this year at Keeneland September, with nearly a dozen more to follow as the week progresses.

Cauthen said that he had high hopes for his homebred from the beginning. The youngster spent his early days at Cauthen's farms before going through sales prep with Renee Dailey.

“This colt looked good since the day he was born,” Cauthen shared. “He was always a good type of individual and he just kept growing and improving. From a long time ago, I was hoping to get to $200,000 with him so this is a little better than I was expecting, but of course this has been a crazy good market. It's unbelievably strong and when you get to this point in the sale, there are still some good horses but less really nice individuals, so you hope [the buyers] all end up fighting for them.”

Cauthen is looking forward to watching another one of his yearlings go through the ring later in the week. His Cloud Computing filly out of the Dialed In mare Brilliant Dial sells as Hip 3381 with Fours Star Sales on Thursday. Until then, he'll celebrate today's achievement.

“The highest-priced yearling I've ever sold was $425,000,” he said. “My mares are nice but they're not Grade I winners so for me, this was great.”

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Steve Cauthen: ‘I Was Always in Awe of Lester’s Talent’

Steve Cauthen, the American jockey who enjoyed huge success when riding in the UK-including Derby victories aboard Slip Anchor and Reference Point–remembered the greatest of them all, Lester Piggott, who died on Sunday, aged 86.

Recalling what started out as a frosty relationship between the pair, Cauthen, who will form part of ITV Racing's presentation team at this year's Derby meeting, paid a glowing tribute to his great friend and rival.

Cauthen said, “As time went on, obviously we became competitors, as I started to get chances on better horses and got to compete in the big races at Ascot or wherever. At first we learned to respect each other and then we became friends.

“I think he appreciated me and I appreciated him. I was always in awe of his talent. As many people have said, you never would tell anyone to try to copy him, because his style was just so unique – nobody could do it the way he could do it.”

He added, “At the same time, the way he did it was brilliant in his own way. He was a great judge of horses. You talk about balance and he really did have it.”

Between 1955 and 1984, Piggott rode more than 100 winners a season in Britain on 25 occasions. He won his ninth and final Derby on Teenoso in 1983, yet Cauthen was struck by the way he routinely connived to get aboard the right horse, no matter who he upset.

“More than any of it, he had that determination and desire to win,” said Cauthen. “He loved to win. He figured a way to get on the right horses and once he did, it was easy for him.

“I've heard of the many times that he got on rides at other jockeys' expense, but I was fortunate that it didn't happen to me. On that side, Lester was ruthless. On the other side, I've heard a lot about how he did a lot of things for people. He was very kind to people and did a lot of compassionate things that he didn't want anyone to know about.”

Piggott was tall for a jockey at 5ft 8ins and struggled with his weight, surviving on cigars, coffee and the occasional piece of chocolate. Cauthen, who was signed by Henry Cecil to take over from Piggott, also battled the scales towards the latter part of his career.

After more than a decade in England, he retired from race-riding at the age of 32, having amassed 10 British Classics and three jockeys' championships.

Both men were stylists who could get every ounce of talent from their charges. Yet only Piggott would go to any length in a bid to snaffle the next winner.

“He was just a great competitor and he wanted to get on every horse to win every race he rode in,” Cauthen said.

“Lester was so unique. Everyone wanted to be like him, but nobody could do it. I can't imagine even trying to ride as short as he did, especially being as tall as he was. We were both unique in our own way and hopefully it made British racing better in some form.”

Despite the sombre start to the week, Cauthen is looking forward to arriving back in Britain, having been invited to be part of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

“It will be great to come over for the Oaks and Derby,” he said. “I am also an advisor or racing manager for a couple of farms over here-Three Chimneys and Dixiana. I enjoy being involved.”

Cauthen added, “For a while there I wasn't doing much and while I was doing my own thing, it is fun talking to the others guys about all that is going on and making plans for horses. I was kind of missing that part. I'm looking forward to coming over for the Queen with her Jubilee. I'm basing my trip around that and obviously I'd love to stay for Royal Ascot.”

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