Monday, June 24, 2002 | 10:03 a.m.
Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday and his Southern California selections run Tuesday-Sunday.
It was a Hollywood/fairy tale ending. Not even the greatest script writers from Tinsel Town could have topped fate. Jockey Chris McCarron retired from the saddle on Sunday with panache to punctuate an unparalleled racing career of which the great sport of kings could be proud.
Christopher John McCarron gave racing, its fans, the sports world and fate just one week to conjure up a farewell salute to a superstar career that spanned four decades and numerous records.
History would record a fitting finale.
After rumors were confirmed with a press conference announcing his retirement on June 15, McCarron set Sunday's Affirmed Handicap at Hollywood Park as his final ride. His vehicle for posterity was Came Home, the Santa Anita Derby winner that failed in the run for the roses.
The 47-year-old reinsman was suffering through a 27-race losing streak when he showed up at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's All Star Jockey Championship.
McCarron, who has risen to the challenge throughout his career, got the adrenaline flowing for the Friday night competition. He won the first race in the four-race series and rallied from last place to win the final event and the championship in dramatic fashion.
Buried in a commemorative cake to honor his retirement and soaked from a water bath that included the old Gatorade bucket, McCarron set the stage for the final act at -- where else? -- Hollywood Park.
Sunday's final day saw McCarron accept six rides and each was bet down as a tribute to the occasion. McCarron recorded career victory number 7,140 in the day's fifth race on Blind Ambition. Then came a half-hour ceremony befitting the man. Family and friends paid homage with memories and tributes before the final ride.
That final act came in the seventh race, the Affirmed Handicap. Attending the pace from the outset of the 1 1/16th mile feature, McCarron kept Came Home closely pacing the field until the top of the homestretch. There, for the last time, the Dorchester, Mass., native put the finishing touches on the storybook ending. Came Home rolled under the finish line to the deafening roar of an appreciative crowd.
History was witnessed.
McCarron closed the books on his 28-year riding career a winner.
He finished sixth on the all-time victories list at 7,141 and retired as the highest money-winning rider of all time with earnings of more than $264,350,000. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989, McCarron is one of only three riders in history to win the Eclipse Award as both an apprentice and journeyman rider.
He set the record for most wins in a year in 1974, when after his first career victory on Feb. 9 aboard Most Active at Bowie, he went on to record 545 more victories to lead the nation. He received his bookend trophy in 1980.
McCarron won 25 riding titles on the Southern California racing circuit from 1979 through 1998. He boasts victories in each of the Triple Crown events, winning the Kentucky Derby in 1987 aboard Alysheba and in 1994 with Go For Gin along with a pair of Preakness and Belmont Stakes. He won nine Breeders' Cup races, guiding Tiznow to back-to-back victories in the 2000 and 2001 Breeders' Cup Classics for a personal total of five in the centerpiece event.
Among the other champions McCarron rode were Precisionist, Touch Gold, Forty Niner, Danzig Connection, Bien Bien, Go For Gin, Lady's Secret, Riboletta, Paseana, Bayakoa, Cavonnier, Flawlessly, Free House and Sunday Silence. In addition, he was the regular rider of two Horse of the Year winners, Alysheba in 1988 and John Henry in 1984.
And, McCarron has not been without the scars of a hazardous occupation.
Among a cracked shoulder blade, bruised kidney, fractured ribs and damaged knees, McCarron sports a steel plate and 11 metal pins for reconstruction to a femur and hip joint from a 1986 spill at Santa Anita. His most recent reminder came on June 3, 1990, days before an engagement with Horse of the Year Sunday Silence, when he broke his left femur, right forearm and right tibia just below his knee. A metal rod was required to repair his leg.
But for all the accolades, accomplishments and bumps, bruises and breaks, McCarron has conducted himself with dignity and class as a role model for the sport's human stars. He has remained grounded and humble throughout his career, something instilled from his family roots.
Born on March 27, 1955, from Boston Irish blood, Chris was one of nine siblings -- four brothers and four sisters. His older brother, Gregg, paved the trail to the track and was an accomplished rider who retired from the Maryland racing circuit with 2,403 career victories.
Rare of athletes who make fast money in the fast lane, McCarron has managed a scandal-free career that reflects his life. No drug dependencies, no overwhelming amount of suspensions and no divorces. Judy McCarron has been a stabilizing force in his life and their 26-year marriage has produced three beautiful daughters -- Erin, 23; Stephanie, 22, and Kristin, who is approaching her 20th birthday.
While the racing world is still reeling from the sudden retirement, McCarron said he thought long and hard before hanging it up. He talked to athletes who retired and said most of them told him he would know when the time came.
In making the decision, McCarron said, "I never really understood how they could be so sure, but I know now that it's time for me."
Thanks for the memories, Chris.
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