Mr BioFile Interviews by Scoop Malinowski
By Scoop Malinowski
Status: Former jockey 1976-1993. Won first race at age 16 in 1976. As a full time jockey in 1977 earned $6.1m in purses. In 1978 became the youngest jockey to win the Triple Crown at age 18. 14,630 total mounts and 2,794 career wins.
DOB: May 1, 1960 In: Covington, Kentucky
Childhood Heroes: Braulio Baeza. He’s a jockey I admired when I was thinking about becoming a jockey.
Hobbies/Interests: I play golf and watch my kids grow up.
Nicknames: The Six Million Dollar Kid.
Early Racing Memory: I used to go on the backside when I was a kid and watch the Derby. From the backside with my mom and dad. The size of the event. The glory and the glamour and the pizzazz – even from the backside, the Triple Crown, the Derby, and all that was dynamite introduction to racing ever since I was five or six. I didn’t go to the grandstand. I stayed with the horsemen in the stable areas and watched the race from just along the backside of the track with all the stable workers and people like that.
Favorite Movie: Pretty Woman.
Favorite Meal: Lobster.
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Vanilla.
First Job: I was working for my dad (Tex) for $5 a week muckin’ out stalls – at my mom and dad’s farm, where I was raised (Walton, KY).
First Car: Red Mercury Cougar.
Greatest Career Moment: Winning the Belmont 1978 (with Affirmed to win the Triple Crown, vs. Alydar by a nose). The whole thing, every second of it.
Most Painful Career Moment: My ten race losing streak (1979) was probably about as painful as it gets. I never really thought… I mean, I knew I was going to get through it one way or another.
Musical Tastes: I like all kinds of music, I like country music, I’m a big country music fan but I like everything. I just like something with a nice little rhythm to it.
Funny Racing Memory: The guys… a lot of good pranks have been pulled but right off the top of my head I can’t think of a good one.
Worst Injury: I broke my neck. A fall. A horse fell and landed on my sternum, hit the ground head first. I can’t remember (the horse’s) name, it was in England in 1988.
Favorite Vacation: Yeah, I like the beach.
Childhood Dream: I loved sports. I wanted to be a baseball player, a football player, a basketball player. Then finally after sixth grade I realized I probably wasn’t gonna be able to do any of the others. And that’s when I started thinking about becoming a jockey.
Favorite Athletes To Watch: I like any sport where there’s a great competition, where guys are doing something at the top level. I don’t care if it’s boxing, baseball, football, basketball, swimming, anything. Anything where people are trying to excel at anything, I love to watch it.
Pre-Race Feeling: Think about how to win. How to ride my horse to his best advantage.
People Qualities Most Admired: Truthfulness.
