Christopher John "Chris" McCarron is one of the most famous jockeys the United States ever enjoyed! He was born in 1955 and in 1974 began racing, after the encouragement of his brother, Gregg. During his career, he raced 34,239 mounts between 1974-2002 and had a winning percentage of 21%! He retired in 2002 after 28 years of racing, worked on the film Seabiscuit, worked for the Santa Anita Race Track, and then decided to open a Riding Academy to teach how to be a jockey.In this photo, you can see some of his very first students, and he is in the background! Most everyone in the horse industry thinks that this riding academy is a great idea that U.S. horse enthusiasts desperately need. Most jockeys internationally do have riding schools to learn their sport; we've been unique for our lack.
Anyway, you will remember Mr. McCarron from my earlier blog posts about John Henry. He was hugging that elder statesman! He was a regular rider for that fabulous Eclipse Award winning horse and spent time with him when he passed earlier this Fall.
But here are some of his many achievements. He won the 1974 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey, the 1980 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey, the 1980 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, and the 1991 Mike Venezia Award for "extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship." He was the youngest jockey to win $100 million, and the nation's leading jockey 6 times! He also won 9 Breeders' Cup Races, including 5 Breeders' Cup Classics, and won 6 U.S. Triple Crown Races, 2 Kentucky Derbys, 2 Preaknesses, 2 Belmonts! He was inducted into the National Museum and Racing Hall of Fame in 1989, and when he retired he was the all-time leading money winner, with $264 million in winnings!
Among his many retirement accolades, some said that he "punched the clock day in and day out." He was a "role model and fierce competitor."
Besides John Henry, his Kentucky Derby winners were Alysheba (1987) and Go For Gin (1994)!
Anyway, I think it's great that he's running a riding academy for jockeys. I have the link posted below! Only $3,300 per semester for 6 semesters of learning -- a deal really! And they provide the horses. I bet he's a great teacher. This is what he had to say about finding your bliss, "I"m a true believer that everybody is born with an ability to excel at something. Everybody has a talent to be really, really good at something, whether it be drawing, singing, kicking a football, or whatever it might be. But it's the lucky people that actually find out they discover what that talent is."
http://nara.kctcs.edu/aboutDisplay_section_4.cfm
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCarron
or
http://hall.racingmuseum.org/hall/jockey.asp?ID=200
or
http://www.macbethfund.org/news_stories/chris_retires.htm