Patrick Alan 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 and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.[1] 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.[2] 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. His genius for saving enough horse for the stretch drive were key factors in his Breeders' Cup wins, most notably the 1984 Breeders' Cup Classic when he unfathomably kept longshot Wild Again together against the onslaught of Gate Dancer and Slew o' Gold in one of the most exciting finishes in racing history. His ability to ration a horse's reserves was also put on full display in the 2000 Breeders' Cup when he brought home another big longshot in Cat Thief, who exploded in deep stretch under Day's guidance. He also sometimes drew criticism by riding tentatively in certain situations.[3][4]
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, ranking him well behind Eddie Arcaro's 17 wins in Triple Crown races as well as Bill Shoemaker's 11, while tied with Gary Stevens, Bill Hartack and Earl Sande's 9 each. However, Day had a poor Kentucky Derby record with only one win in twenty two tries.[6] Some of Day's losses on top horses in the Kentucky Derby included Easy Goer, Forty Niner, Summer Squall, Demon's Begone, Rampage, Corporate Report, Tabasco Cat, Timber Country, Prince of Thieves, Favorite Trick, Ten Most Wanted and in 1999 he rode Menifee, who finished second behind Charismatic in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.[7] Pat Day's first and only Kentucky Derby victory was aboard Lil E. Tee, who in 1992 scored one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Kentucky Derby. On the day of that 1992 Kentucky Derby, future Belmont Stakes and Breeders' Cup Classic winner A.P. Indy was forced to scratch from the race due to a foot injury. The heavy favorite in that 1992 Kentucky Derby was American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt and Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Arazi, who was coming into the race after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to remove chip fractures from the top joint of both knees.
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 sixth all-time in Breeders' Cup winners, with 12. Day ranks behind Mike E. Smith's 26 Breeders' Cup winners, John Velazquez's 16, Jerry Bailey's 15, Lanfranco Dettori's 14, and Garrett Gomez's 13.[8]
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.
At the time of his retirement, Day was the all-time money leader. He has since been surpassed by John Velazquez, Javier Castellano and Mike Smith. Day's career 22% win rate is the highest rate of the top 10 money earners.
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 $393 million), Mike E. Smith (over $317 million) and Javier Castellano (over $314 million) for prize money won, with his mounts earning nearly $298 million.[9] 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. [10] [11]
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
- ^ "ASHOF Inductees" (PDF). Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. 2018-01-01. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
- ^ Eisenberg, John (1996). The Longest Shot. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
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ignored (help) - ^ Christine, Bill (November 8, 1989). "HORSE RACING : Maybe It's Time Easy Goer Gets a Different Rider". The Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Moran, Paul (September 19, 1989). "Easy Goer Shows He Won't Easily Be Beaten". The Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Van Dyke, Grace (October 21, 2013). "A Blessed Life: Pat Day on making peace with his sport & his faith". Horse Nation.
- ^ McNamara, Ed (May 3, 2017). "Pat Day's career was complete when he finally won Kentucky Derby". Newsday. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
- ^ Guild, The Jockeys' (1999). The History of Race Riding and the Jockeys' Guild. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
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ignored (help) - ^ "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.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)