Columnist Ralph Siraco: McCarron on verge of recording milestone win

Ralph Siraco

Monday, April 23, 2001 | 9:48 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing colunn appears Monday and his Southern California selections appear Tuesday-Sunday. Reach him c/o Las Vegas Sun, 2275 Corporate Circle Drive, Suite 300, Henderson, NV 89014.

When jockey Chris McCarron next rides into the winner's circle, he will become only the seventh person in thoroughbred racing history to record 7,000 lifetime victories. He racked up No. 6,999 on No Armistice in the ninth race Sunday at Hollywood Park.

He has come a long way since his first career mount back on January 24, 1974, when he finished last on Most Active at the old Bowie Racecourse in Maryland.

McCarron soon learned his craft, winning his first race on February 9 at the same track, and by year's end had won a record 547 races, sweeping the riding titles at Pimlico, Delaware Park, Bowie and Laurel on the way to his first Eclipse Award as the nation's champion apprentice of 1974.

Born March 27, 1955, McCarron was introduced to the sport he would so dominate by his older brother Gregg, who rode in Maryland until his retirement in 1993.

McCarron's quick rise to the top of the Maryland circuit prompted a move to the big leagues of the Southern California racing scene in 1978.

The Dorchester, Mass., native was the first jockey to reach the $200 million lifetime earnings record when he accomplished that feat with a Breeders' Cup Classic victory aboard Alphabet Soup at Woodbine in 1996. He is the sport's all time money-earning rider with more than $245 million -- $12.7 million last year alone -- and has become the country's most proficient stakes rider.

McCarron sat atop the Southern California riding scene in the 1980s, capturing 19 of his 25 Southland titles in that decade, winning 10 Hollywood Park trophies, four at Del Mar, three at Oak Tree and a pair at Santa Anita. His most recent title came at Hollywood Park in 1998 when he defeated Corey Nakatani 52-50 by winning three stakes races on the closing weekend of the meeting.

Inducted into racing's Hall of Fame in 1989, he became one of only three jockeys to win the Eclipse Award as an apprentice and again as a journeyman when he was honored with his second year-end trophy in 1980.

McCarron has built his reputation on communications skills -- both equine and human. Many horsemen have come to rely on McCarron's "sense and feel" on a horse, a trait that has separated McCarron from most other riders.

Along the way, McCarron has partnered with many champions. Highlights include the Triple Crown triumphs of Alysheba (Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, 1987), Go For Gin (Derby, 1994), Danzig Connection (Belmont Stakes, 1986), Touch Gold (Belmont, 1997) and Pine Bluff (Preakness, 1992). His eight Breeders' Cup victories include a record four Classics aboard Alysheba (1988), Sunday Silence (1989), Alphabet Soup (1996) and Tiznow (2000).

McCarron was the first rider to win five $1 million races in a year when he won a total of 16 Grade I races in 1988. And, with the help of the international date line, he rode stakes races in Japan and California on the same day. On November 29, 1992, he finished 10th on Dr. Devious in the Japan Cup, then 17 hours later won The Matriarch at Hollywood Park on Flawlessly.

In addition to winning the George Wolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1980 and the Mike Venezia Memorial Award in 1991, McCarron, with his wife Judy and comedian Tim Conway, established the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund in 1987 to help disabled riders.

Although McCarron is the regular rider of reigning Horse Of The Year Tiznow, and also serves as the regular pilot of potential turf champion Bienamado, the two-time Kentucky Derby winner finds himself looking for a mount in this year's "Run for the Roses."

McCarron's run for the record book, however, continues on Wednesday at Hollywood Park.