Columnist Ralph Siraco: Day will remain active in racing off the saddle

Ralph Siraco

Monday, Aug. 8, 2005 | 8:58 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday and his Southern California selections run Tuesday-Sunday.

The rumors started materializing on Wednesday when Churchill Downs officials notified the press that a special announcement was scheduled for the next morning concerning the Hall of Fame rider. His longtime agent and friend, Doc Danner, confirmed the news soon after the news conference, just saying, "He is retiring." Period.

Pat Day selected the historic Louisville landmark for the announcement because he considered the home of the Kentucky Derby his home track. And rightfully so. Day has won more races at the world's most legendary track than any other jockey in history. In his 32 years in the saddle, Day has won 34 riding titles combining the spring and fall meetings there.

Although he's approaching his 52nd birthday on Oct. 13, Pat Day, born in Brush, Colo., seemed to be enjoying his mid-May return to the saddle following lengthy hip surgery in early March that kept the Kentucky resident from expanding his number of consecutive Kentucky Derby appearances to 22.

Among all the milestones, statistics and big races that Day has racked up, his only Kentucky Derby victory, on Lil E Tee in 1992 , ranks as one of his most shining moments.

Day had been soul searching since his return, but it wasn't until he won the Fleur de Lis Handicap aboard Two Trail Sioux on June 18 that it really hit him.

Day said his lethargic response to the victory was a sign from God to retire. He returned from his recent sabbatical, secluded in a friend's cabin along the Kentucky River, with the realization that the time had come.

Day rode his first winner at the bush track of Prescott Downs, Ariz., on July 29, 1973. And for the first 10 years of his career he was a troubled but talented soul lost in drug and alcohol abuse.

Then, broken, down-and-out in a hotel room on January 27, 1984, Day said he was saved by the Lord. He has been a born-again Christian ever since. That year he rode his first Kentucky Derby on the way to a record 21 consecutive Derby rides, won seven races from eight mounts on the June 20 Churchill Downs card, and took the inaugural Breeders' Cup Classic aboard Wild Again on November 10, 1984, on the way to his first of four lifetime Eclipse Awards.

He retired as the sport's leading career money-earner with purses totaling almost $298 million.

Day said his career has taken him "above and beyond my wildest expectations." His accomplishments back up that humble claim. In addition to earning more money in racing than any other rider, Day retires fourth on the all-time victory list with 8,803 wins from 40,298 mounts.

Inducted into racing's Hall of Fame in 1991, he led the nation's riders in annual victories six times, rode a dozen Breeders' Cup winners and is the only North American rider to ride eight winners from nine mounts -- accomplished at Arlington Park in 1989.

In addition to a Kentucky Derby win, Day has won the Preakness Stakes five times and the Belmont Stakes three times for a total of nine Triple Crown races. He was honored by his peers with the 1985 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, inducted into the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. (While growing up in the small ranching community of Eagle, Colo., Day competed in rodeos and was on his high school wrestling team.)

Day considers his win on Wild Again in the 1984 Breeders' Cup Classic as a turning point in his career.

When asked to compare the championship equines he partnered, Day said Easy Goer -- who gave us the memorable duels with Sunday Silence throughout the 1989 Triple Crown races -- was the best horse he's ridden, but remembers as fondly his first career victory on a horse named Forblunged, and the win aboard Woof Woof in 1982 that gave him his first national riding title.

Day now embarks on a mission that will lead him to a more active roll in the Race Track Chaplaincy of America program. He will assume ministering to youth groups and assisting to broaden the RTCA's presence throughout the country. Day believes that is his next calling.

For all the accomplishments on the race track throughout his career, Day is remembered for being a better person than rider -- one who was always there to help young riders and those in trouble, and a gentleman who was a goodwill ambassador for the sport. And, most importantly for Day, his maker.

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