JC / Railbird

Jockeys Archive

P Val’s Pants Sell

With less than half an hour remaining in the auction, a bidder named myenemiescallmecollect swooped in to buy ad space on jockey Patrick Valenzuela’s pants and collar. (eBay)

Posted in Jockeys on March 25, 2005

Sponsor P Val

Jockey Patrick Valenzuela is looking for an advertising sponsor. For $15,000+, he’s offering ad space on his pants and collar. I’m thinking about this for Railbird — I bet my site traffic would really increase with the URL splashed across P Val. As Valenzuela says, “My sport is nationally televised and I have received quite a bit of media coverage lately.” Indeed, he has. Unfortunately, much of it has been for some personal issues, not his great riding. (eBay)

Posted in Jockeys on March 23, 2005

Elliott Held by Immigration

The US immigration bureaucracy is working hard to keep America safe — from pesky Canadian jockeys. Stewart Elliott, who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness on Smarty Jones last year and is the rider of likely Derby contender Rockport Harbor, was arrested by the Customs and Border Protection office in New York and transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Elliott, a Canadian citizen, was detained in connection to a guilty plea in an assault case four years ago. He’s to appear before a federal judge today. (Detroit Free Press)
Related: Elliott talks with Dick Jerardi about his past. “I just want to tell everybody that I’m not proud of what I did. I have nothing to hide. I’ll tell everybody. I was a bleep-up, and now I just want to straighten out and ride good horses and do my job.” (Philadelphia Daily News)
3/4 Update: Elliott was released yesterday and returned to New York to ride four mounts at Aqueduct in the afternoon. “The jockey’s spokeswoman said she is confident the problem will be cleared up quickly.” (Boston Globe)

Posted in Jockeys on March 3, 2005

Guild Meeting Underway

“The Jockeys’ Guild began its annual meeting Dec. 6 with a call for solidarity — even in the face of the dismissal of member Eddie King, who had sued the organization — and a call for members not to talk to the press.” (Blood-Horse)
Related: “Former jockeys associated with the Disabled Jockeys’ Fund, which will be terminated at the end of the year, on Dec. 6 said they’re comfortable with a plan by the Jockeys’ Guild to make payments to disabled riders from the Guild’s primary account.” (Blood-Horse)
Also: “Disabled jockey Gary Donahue, co-chairman of the Disabled Jockeys’ Fund, said he is considering dropping out of a lawsuit against the Jockeys’ Guild after Guild management presented evidence that finances earmarked for accident victims are accounted for.” (Thoroughbred Times)

Posted in Jockeys on December 7, 2004