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==Riding== |
==Riding== |
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Day stated, "[[Easy Goer]] was the best horse I ever rode."<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.horsenation.com/2013/10/21/a-blessed-life-pat-day-on-making-peace-with-his-sport-his-faith/ | work=Horse Nation | first=Grace | last=Van Dyke | title=A Blessed Life: Pat Day on making peace with his sport & his faith | date=October 21, 2013}}</ref> Day has ridden winners of [[Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing|U.S. Triple Crown]] races nine times, which is more than most any other jockey of his generation, including Jerry Bailey, Chris McCarron, Eddie Delahoussaye, and Laffit Pincay. He is second all-time with five wins in the Preakness and is the only jockey to have won that race three times in a row. His nine wins in Triple Crown events ties him for third all-time behind only Bill Shoemaker and Eddie Arcaro. In addition, he won the Breeders' Cup Classic four times. |
Day stated, "[[Easy Goer]] was the best horse I ever rode."<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.horsenation.com/2013/10/21/a-blessed-life-pat-day-on-making-peace-with-his-sport-his-faith/ | work=Horse Nation | first=Grace | last=Van Dyke | title=A Blessed Life: Pat Day on making peace with his sport & his faith | date=October 21, 2013}}</ref> Day has ridden winners of [[Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing|U.S. Triple Crown]] races nine times, which is more than most any other jockey of his generation, including Jerry Bailey, Chris McCarron, Eddie Delahoussaye, Angel Cordero, and Laffit Pincay. He is second all-time with five wins in the Preakness and is the only jockey to have won that race three times in a row. His nine wins in Triple Crown events ties him for third all-time behind only Bill Shoemaker and Eddie Arcaro. In addition, he won the Breeders' Cup Classic four times. |
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In 1991, Pat Day won the [[Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing|Canadian Triple Crown]] and the [[Breeders' Cup Distaff]] aboard the future Hall of Fame filly [[Dance Smartly]]. He is the only jockey to have ridden at least one mount in each of the first 20 [[Breeders' Cup]]s, and ranks fifth all-time in Breeders' Cup winners, with 12. Day ranks behind [[Mike E. Smith]]'s 26 Breeders' Cup winners, [[Jerry Bailey]] and [[John Velazquez]]'s 15 each, and [[Garrett Gomez]]'s 13.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://stats.breederscup.com/bcosJockeysByMoneyPDF.cfm?jockeyRace=ALL&jockeyYear=ALL&jockeyID= | work=Breeders' Cup | title=Leading Breeders' Cup Jockey Stats | date=October 21, 2013 |accessdate=May 23, 2017}}</ref> |
In 1991, Pat Day won the [[Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing|Canadian Triple Crown]] and the [[Breeders' Cup Distaff]] aboard the future Hall of Fame filly [[Dance Smartly]]. He is the only jockey to have ridden at least one mount in each of the first 20 [[Breeders' Cup]]s, and ranks fifth all-time in Breeders' Cup winners, with 12. Day ranks behind [[Mike E. Smith]]'s 26 Breeders' Cup winners, [[Jerry Bailey]] and [[John Velazquez]]'s 15 each, and [[Garrett Gomez]]'s 13.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://stats.breederscup.com/bcosJockeysByMoneyPDF.cfm?jockeyRace=ALL&jockeyYear=ALL&jockeyID= | work=Breeders' Cup | title=Leading Breeders' Cup Jockey Stats | date=October 21, 2013 |accessdate=May 23, 2017}}</ref> |
Revision as of 18:16, 15 April 2018
- For Melvin "Pat" Day the New Zealand artist see Melvin Day
Patrick Alan "Pat" Day (born October 13, 1953 in Brush, Colorado) is an American jockey. He is a four-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991. Day also received the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1985, given annually to a North American jockey who demonstrates the highest standards of professional and personal conduct. In 1995, he was voted the Mike Venezia Memorial Award for "extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship". Some critics said Day was a big fish in a small pond because the majority of his wins and all of his riding titles were in the Midwest.[1] Day didn't win any riding titles in California, New York or Florida, when he was facing the best jockey competition while riding on a daily basis.
Technique
Pat Day was known for being a patient rider with gentle hands, and for not using a horse more than he had to. Because Day often arrived at the wire too late, he was given unflattering nicknames—Pat (I'll Wait All) Day,[2] and Patient Pat. As Pat Forde, a reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal, penned in 1995, “He is so patient he could watch a faucet drip for days.”[3] Day's riding style, as Barry Irwin wrote in 2016, "drove many a captain of industry, hard-boot trainer and horseplayer to the brink of rage."[4] He often looked too passive, and his deliberate riding style of waiting and waiting, then making a move, and waiting again, frustrated trainer D. Wayne Lukas, though Lukas won five Triple Crown races with Day in the saddle.
Riding
Day stated, "Easy Goer was the best horse I ever rode."[5] Day has ridden winners of U.S. Triple Crown races nine times, which is more than most any other jockey of his generation, including Jerry Bailey, Chris McCarron, Eddie Delahoussaye, Angel Cordero, and Laffit Pincay. He is second all-time with five wins in the Preakness and is the only jockey to have won that race three times in a row. His nine wins in Triple Crown events ties him for third all-time behind only Bill Shoemaker and Eddie Arcaro. In addition, he won the Breeders' Cup Classic four times.
In 1991, Pat Day won the Canadian Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup Distaff aboard the future Hall of Fame filly Dance Smartly. He is the only jockey to have ridden at least one mount in each of the first 20 Breeders' Cups, and ranks fifth all-time in Breeders' Cup winners, with 12. Day ranks behind Mike E. Smith's 26 Breeders' Cup winners, Jerry Bailey and John Velazquez's 15 each, and Garrett Gomez's 13.[6]
Records
Day is also the all-time leading rider at Churchill Downs and Keeneland Race Course, the two largest tracks in his adopted home state of Kentucky. At the Downs, Day was often so dominant that veteran horseplayers would complain — bettors would often wager so much money on horses with Day in the saddle that the payoff odds would decline.
In 1989, he set a North American record when he won eight of nine mounts in a single day at Arlington Park.
Religion and Retirement
Early in his career, he had serious substance abuse problems with both drugs and alcohol, but became a born-again Christian in the early 1980s. He has been involved with the Race Track Chaplaincy of America since his conversion, and is currently the racing industry's representative on the board of that organization.
After undergoing hip surgery that forced him to miss the Derby for the first time in 21 years, Day announced his retirement on August 3, 2005 after a 32-year career that saw him ride 8,804 winners, fourth on the all-time list, and ranks fourth behind John Velazquez (over $382 million), Mike E. Smith (over $309 million) and Javier Castellano (over $300 million) for prize money won, with his mounts earning nearly USD 298 million.[7] He said he would retire and commit the rest of his life purely to spreading the Gospel.
Day and his family reside in the Lake Forest subdivision in Louisville, Kentucky.
On June 3, 2016, Kentucky Governor Bevin appointed Day to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. [8] [9]
Year-end charts
Chart (2000–2004) | Peak position |
---|---|
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2000 | 1 |
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2001 | 3 |
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2002 | 4 |
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2003 | 6 |
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2004 | 12 |
References
- ^ Eisenberg, John (1996). The Longest Shot. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help) - ^ Privman, Jay (May 3, 1992). "KENTUCKY DERBY : Day Makes the Right Choice : Jockey: The man who passed up rides on Alysheba and Unbridled gets first Derby victory in 10 tries". The Los Angeles Times.
- ^ LaMarra, Tom (April 23, 2014). "Day by Day". Bloodhorse. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
- ^ Irwin, Barry (2016). Derby Innovator. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help) - ^ Van Dyke, Grace (October 21, 2013). "A Blessed Life: Pat Day on making peace with his sport & his faith". Horse Nation.
- ^ "Leading Breeders' Cup Jockey Stats". Breeders' Cup. October 21, 2013. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
- ^ "All Time Leaders - Jockeys". Equibase. May 23, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
- ^ http://www.lanereport.com/63986/2016/06/gov-bevin-appoints-3-members-to-horse-racing-commission/
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-12-21. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
{{cite web}}
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