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Christopher John McCarron (born March 27, 1955, Boston, Massachusetts) is a retired American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey. He mounted his first horse ever at 16.5 years old and was racing professionally by 18. At only 19 years old (his first year as a jockey) Chris McCarron wove a spell that brought his mounts to the winner's circle 547 times in 1974, breaking all records for most races won in a year. The previous record was set by Sandy Hawley in 1973 with 515 wins in a year.
He was introduced to the sport of thoroughbred racing by his older brother, jockey Gregg McCarron. Chris McCarron began riding professionally in 1974 at East Coast racetracks where he won the 1974 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey in the United States.
He moved to race in California in 1977, a year he scored his first of three wins in the Kentucky Oaks. In 1980 he won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey as best overall jockey and that same year his peers voted him the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. In 1991, he was voted the Mike Venezia Memorial Award for "extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship".
McCarron won nine Breeders' Cup races, including five Breeders' Cup Classics, and rode six winners in the U.S. Triple Crown Races. Other major wins for McCarron include the Del Mar Oaks (4), Del Mar Futurity (4), Del Mar Handicap (6), Del Mar Debutante Stakes (3), La Jolla Handicap (7), San Bernardino Handicap (6), Clement L. Hirsch Handicap (7), San Felipe Stakes (7), Florida Derby, Eddie Read Handicap, Bing Crosby Handicap, Jockey Club Gold Cup (2), Arlington Million, Fantasy Stakes (4), San Clemente Handicap (5), Hollywood Gold Cup, Woodward Stakes (2), Santa Anita Handicap (3), Haskell Invitational (2), Santa Anita Derby (4), San Diego Handicap (6), Pacific Classic, Canadian International and Japan Cup. McCarron led all North American jockeys in earnings in 1980, 1981, 1984 and 1991. He also topped the leaderboard in wins in 1974, 1975 and 1980.
In 1989, Chris McCarron was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. After 28 years in racing he retired in June 2002. He finished as thoroughbred racing's ALL-TIME leader in purse earnings with more than $264 million in winnings and 7,141 races won. He won about 21% of the races he rode, a percentage that only 5 jockeys have ever held.
In 2003, McCarron served as a technical advisor, racing designer and actor in the 2003 film Seabiscuit . That same year he was hired by Magna Entertainment Corp. to serve as vice president and general manager of Santa Anita Park. After resigning his job at Santa Anita in January 2005, he announced he would be opening the first ever riding academy in the United States: the North American Racing Academy which is part of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. In 2008, he was working as a racing analyst for TVG Network for only a year.
Desmond Sandford "Sandy" Hawley, is a Canadian Hall of Fame jockey.
Cigar, was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1995 Breeders' Cup Classic and was the 1995 and 1996 American Horse of the Year. During his distinguished career he won 16 consecutive races, became the leading money earner in racing history, and was later inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame.
Julieann Louise Krone, is a retired American jockey. In 1993, she became the first female jockey to win a Triple Crown race when she captured the Belmont Stakes aboard Colonial Affair. In 2000, she became the first woman inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, and in 2003 became the first female jockey to win a Breeders' Cup race. She has also been honored by induction into the National Women's Hall of Fame and Cowgirl Hall of Fame.
Gary Lynn Stevens is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey, actor, and sports analyst. He became a professional jockey in 1979 and rode his first of three Kentucky Derby winners in 1988. He had nine wins in Triple Crown races, winning the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes three times each, as well as ten Breeders' Cup races. He was also a nine-time winner of the Santa Anita Derby. He entered the United States Racing Hall of Fame in 1997. Combining his U.S. and international wins, Stevens had over 5,000 race wins by 2005, and reached his 5,000th North American win on February 15, 2015.
Alysheba was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won two legs of the Triple Crown in 1987. A successful sire, he produced 11 stakes winners.
Jerry D. Bailey is an NBC Sports thoroughbred racing analyst and a retired American Hall of Fame jockey.
Charles Edward Whittingham was an American Thoroughbred race horse trainer who is one of the most acclaimed trainers in U.S. racing history.
Tiznow is an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his wins in the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2000 and 2001, becoming the only horse to win this race twice. He was the 2000 American Horse of the Year and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2009.
Edward J. Delahoussaye is a retired American Thoroughbred jockey from New Iberia, Louisiana.
Corey S. Nakatani is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. He got his big break in 1990 when he rode Itsallgreektome to win big stakes races.
Garrett Keith Gomez was an American Thoroughbred jockey who won two Eclipse Awards and thirteen Breeders' Cup races during his career.
Ramón A. Domínguez is a retired Eclipse Award-winning champion jockey and Hall of Fame member in American thoroughbred horse racing.
Flying Paster (1976–1992) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse.
Donald R. Pierce is a retired U.S. Racing Hall of Fame jockey in thoroughbred horse racing.
Turkoman was an American Thoroughbred racehorse and sire.
Khaled (1943–1968) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse best known as a sire in the United States. Bred and raced in England by the H. H. Aga Khan III, Khaled was sired by Hyperion, the 1933 Epsom Derby and St. Leger Stakes winner and a six-time Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland. Hyperion was a son of 1918 English Triple Crown champion Gainsborough. Khaled was out of the mare Eclair, and his damsire, Ethnarch, was a son of The Tetrarch. The United Kingdom's National Horseracing Museum called The Tetrarch a "phenomenon" and reported that he was voted Britain's two-year-old of his century. In its description of the colt, the National Sporting Library's Thoroughbred Heritage website in the United States uses terminology such as "probably the greatest two-year-old of all time" and that he was "possibly the greatest runner ever."
Desert Wine (1980–2003) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his three-year-old season that included a runner-up finish in the Preakness Stakes and four stakes wins in California, including the Strub Stakes.
Jerry Lambert was an American jockey in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing best known as the jockey of Hall of Fame inductee, Native Diver.
Dernier Empereur was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was originally sent to race in France where he had considerable success, winning the Prix Guillaume d'Ornano and La Coupe de Maisons-Laffitte as well as finishing second in the Prix du Jockey Club as a three-year-old in 1993. In the following year he recorded his biggest success when he won the Champion Stakes in England. As a six-year-old he was transferred to the United States where he won the Del Mar Handicap and the Carleton F. Burke Handicap before his racing career was ended by injury. He made very little impact as a breeding stallion.
Drayden Van Dyke is a jockey in thoroughbred racing. At graded stakes races, Van Dyke has won 67 events ranging from Grade I to Grade III. Of these wins, Van Dyke has won both the Starlet Stakes and Yellow Ribbon Handicap four times. As a Breeders' Cup jockey, Van Dyke won the Turf Sprint event at the 2018 Breeders' Cup. He was also runner-up at the Breeders' Cup Mile event in 2018 and the Dirt Mile at the 2021 Breeders' Cup.
Chart (2000–2002) | Peak position |
---|---|
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2000 | 6 |
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2001 | 6 |
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2002 | 52 |