JC / Railbird

Jockeys Archive

Bailey Preps for Retirement

So reports Bill Finley, who writes that jockey Jerry Bailey “is close to reaching an agreement with ESPN and ABC to work as an analyst on racing telecasts for both networks when he does retire.” Bailey denied that he’d reached any deals and said that he would be riding at Gulfstream when it opens on January 4. “I’m going to start riding at Gulfstream,” Bailey said. “I don’t know how long it’s going to last.”

Posted in Jockeys on December 13, 2005

Stevens Ends Riding Career

It was hardly a Hollywood ending, but Gary Stevens’ last ride wasn’t a bad one. The jockey announced his retirement on Friday, citing injuries and difficulty making weight as reasons for ending his successful riding career, in which he won 5,005 races and more than $220 million in purses. On Saturday, he finished second in his final race, aboard the Patrick Biancone-trained Louve Royale. Despite the loss, Stevens told the thousands of fans that gave him a standing ovation at Churchill Downs that he was leaving as “the happiest guy in the world“:

Stevens isn’t out of racing entirely. The Hall of Fame rider will begin working for TVG in January as an on-camera analyst.

Posted in Jockeys on November 27, 2005

Michel Lapensee, 1947-2005

Talk to a jockey about the dangers of riding and they’ll point out that they’re the only athletes followed by an ambulance. The statement is both fatalistic joke and stark acknowledgment of fact. No jockey gets through a career without injuries; an unfortunate few are permanently disabled or killed riding. Such was the fate of Michel Lapensee, who died last Friday from injuries he suffered in an accident at Suffolk Downs on October 24.

Hundreds of mourners gathered in a Providence church this morning to remember and honor the 58-year-old rider as a husband, father, colleague, and friend. The ceremony was simple and emotional, a burial mass followed by two eulogists. Lapensee’s niece read from a piece she wrote while her uncle lay in intensive care, in which she touched on the question that must have crossed the minds of many others when they heard the news of Lapensee’s death — “Was feeling at one with an animal … worth this?” She was followed by an old friend of Lapensee, who recalled his humor and graciousness, his love of fishing, and his passion for racing. “I can still hear his voice, from when he broke his maiden at Green Mountain. He was in front of me, yelling, ‘I’m going to win, I’m going to win!'” It was that thrill and joy that kept Lapensee at the track long after most jockeys have retired. Walking away from the sport was “never an option,” Lapensee’s son, Michel Jr., told the Boston Globe.

In his 38-year career, Lapensee won 2,678 races from more than 20,000 starts. “When my dad was working,” said Michel Jr., “he was one with the horse.” Lapensee is best known for riding Playing Politics, who in 1998, at the age of 16, became the oldest horse to ever win a race at Suffolk Downs. “He was the oldest racehorse of his generation and would not have achieved the honor without the help and companionship of one Michel Lapensee,” writes Paul Daley in his remembrance of the jockey.

“Mike got on the horse and gave his best,” said trainer Mario DeStefano. On October 24, Lapensee climbed aboard Mecke’s Money for that afternoon’s ninth race. On the far turn, the six-year-old gelding broke his left front cannon bone and fell, throwing Lapensee. It was a $4,000 claiming race. There was no glory to be had but that inherent in riding a thoroughbred at top speed, in doing his best on the racetrack. Lapensee’s dedication to riding kept him coming back, doing the only work he knew and loved, and in the end, it killed him. Was feeling at one with an animal worth a man’s death? That’s impossible to answer. But the presence of so many this morning testified that a life spent riding was not a life spent in vain.

Posted in Jockeys, Suffolk Downs on November 3, 2005