StarsOfRacing

There are so many stars of thoroughbred horse racing that I don't even know where to begin, but I'll give it the old college try! There have been many great stars on the jockey side of horse racing. As you probably saw as portrayed by real-life Hall-of-Fame jockey Gary Stevens in the film Seabiscuit (who himself is a great star of the sport, having won nine, yes nine, Santa Anita Derby's, and also having won his first of several Kentucky Derbys aboard the Hall-of-Fame Filly Winning Colors, as well as winning the Derby in the late 1990's aboard Silver Charm and Real Quiet), George Woolf, who substituted for Seabiscuit's regular jockey, journeyman Red Pollard, several times, most notably in the 1938 Pimlico Special, which is more commonly known as arguably the most famous match race ever run between 1937 Triple Crown Winner War Admiral, the greatest son of the legendary Man o' War, and the plucky west coast champion Seabiscuit who, incidentally, was so famous in 1937 and 1938 that there was more newspaper coverage of him, a thoroughbred racehorse, than anything in both years' time. That's not a typo! That's correct, Seabiscuit's star burned so bright that more was written about him than such luminaries as President of the United States of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Cary Grant, Bing Crosby, or anybody else on the face of the Earth you care to attempt to name. Woolf was perhaps the first star jockey the sport ever saw. In later years Eddie Arcaro, Bill Shoemaker, Braulio Baeza, Jerry Bailey, Laffit Pincay Jr., Chris McCarron, and Kent Desormeaux have all become great stars of the sport as jockeys. However, the true stars of the track are the horses themselves, and the clearest path to white-hot stardom for any thoroughbred is to win the coveted Triple Crown, which is the single most difficult feat to accomplish in all of thoroughbred racing. Of those, the one whose star burns the brightest is the amazing Secretariat, who not only won the Triple Crown, who not only set records in all three legs, but who, in winning the Belmont Stakes, set seemingly impossible standards for margin of victory and time when he won the race by an astounding thirty-one lengths in a still-standing dirt world record of 2:24 flat. There are many stars in the world of thoroughbred horse racing, but his burns the brightest and probably always will.

The Run For The Roses - The Kentucky Derby is often called “The Run for the Roses”. Each year, the Kentucky Derby winner is presented with a blanket made of 554 red roses. The tradition dates back to 1883, when a New York socialite named E. Berry Wall attended a post-Derby party and began presenting roses to all the ladies in attendance. The founder and president of Churchill Downs, Colonel M. Lewis Clark, was in attendance. Wall’s roses may have given Clark the inspiration to make the rose the official flower of the Kentucky Derby. Despite this, it was over a decade before roses were commonly used. The first garland of roses was gently placed on the winning racehorse in 1896. Since then, roses have been an integral part of the Kentucky Derby. Singer and songwriter Dan Fogelberg wrote a song, Run For The Roses, in 1980 to honor the Derby.

The Jockey - In thoroughbred racing, each horse is ridden and controlled by a jockey, a skilled rider. Horse trainers hire these jockeys for a fee, choosing a jockey based on the rider’s skill, horse’s preference, and other considerations.Each jockey in a race wears brilliant “colors” or “silks”, which represent the colors of the horse’s owner. Although nicknamed silks, many are now turning to synthetic materials instead. It is commonly believed that jockeys are short, ranging from 5 feet to 5 ½ feet tall. In reality, jockeys must meet weight restrictions only. There are no height restrictions; however, the need for a light-weight rider generally favors smaller riders. Jockeys are in danger of injury and even death. You can safely experience the life of a jockey with www.HorseRaceGame.com, the amazing thoroughbred racing horse game online! Be a virtual jockey, compete for real cash prizes, and more. A great simulated horse racing game!