Shane Sellers

Shane Sellers
Shane Sellers
Occupation	Jockey
Born	September 24, 1966; Erath, Louisiana
Career wins	4,147 (through 2009)
Major racing wins
	Cornhusker Handicap (1989); Round Table Handicap (1990); Arlington Oaks (1991, 1993); Ashland Stakes (1991, 1993, 2000); Hopemont Stakes (1992, 1993); American Derby (1993, 1994); Kentucky Cup Turf Stakes (1994, 1999); Appalachian Stakes (1995); Secretariat Stakes (1996); Jockey Club Gold Cup (1996); Woodbine Mile (1996); Blue Grass Stakes (1996, 1997, 2004 ); Massachusetts Handicap (1997); Suburban Handicap (1997); Florida Derby (1998, 1999); Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational Handicap (1998); Matron Stakes (1998); Shakertown Stakes (1998, 1999, 2004); Oklahoma Derby (1998, 2000); Diana Handicap (1999); Dogwood Stakes (1999, 2003); Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap (1999); Lane's End Stakes (1999); Maker's Mark Mile Stakes (2000); Black Gold Stakes (2003) American Classics / Breeders' Cup wins; Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (1997); Breeders' Cup Turf (1998)
Significant horses
	Skip Away, Black Tie Affair ; Countess Diana, Buck's Boy

Last updated July 04, 2024

Shane Jude Sellers (born September 24, 1966 in Erath, Louisiana) is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. At age eleven, he began working around horses and in 1983 rode his first winner at Evangeline Downs.

Advertising controversy

Shane Sellers was also one of the first of five top jockeys to wear advertising patches in the Kentucky Derby, starting in 2004. They sued on First Amendment grounds, to be allowed to wear ad patches during the race. The ruling was issued on April 21, 2004, by U.S. District Judge John Heyburn in Louisville.

The patches, worth approximately $30,000 apiece, were legal in other Triple Crown states of New York and Maryland, but were argued by The Kentucky Horse Racing Authority that they might lead to corruption and violated racing tradition.

The other jockeys included Jerry Bailey, John Velazquez, Gary Stevens, and José A. Santos.

Retirement

A serious knee injury in December 2000 kept Sellers out of racing for a year and a half. His experience led him to become an outspoken critic of the lack of proper health insurance being provided to jockeys. He returned to the track in 2002, racing until his retirement in late December, 2004.

Music career

In 2001, Sellers was signed to DreamWorks Nashville.^[1] His first single for the label, "Matthew, Mark, Luke and Earnhardt," peaked at number 58 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in May 2001.^[2] He released an album, also titled Matthew, Mark, Luke and Earnhardt, on Lofton Creek Records in 2003.^[3]

Jockey

Sellers, along with fellow jockey Randy Romero, was featured in the 2004 HBO documentary film titled Jockey. Directed by Kate Davis, it told the story of their problems resulting from racing injuries and the effects of constant crash dieting to maintain racing weight. In 2005, Shane Sellers also appeared on CNN in a special with Paula Zahn to speak out about the serious health problems many jockeys experience as a result of the current weight limits.

Sellers last raced on 6/15/2013 at Indiana Grand Race Course.

Sellers Today

Sellers currently owns and trains horses at his farm in Broussard, Louisiana. He still lobbies racing authorities and others involved in the sport to raise jockey weight limits and improve the quality of horse racing for everyone involved in the industry.

Renowned jockey, Shane Sellers is set to make his return to racing on July 2, 2009 after a four and half year hiatus from the sport. He will be riding Ide Ball – trainer Mark Guidry – in the first race at Evangeline Downs Racetrack & Casino. The 42-year-old Erath, LA native jockey retired from racing on December 15, 2004 after amassing 4,069 wins and riding earners of nearly $130 million. He is best known for his memorable ride of Skip Away over the great Cigar in the Jockey Club Gold Cup in 1996 and his Breeder's cup wins aboard Buck's Boy and Countess Diana along with his 14-year consecutive streak of having Kentucky Derby mounts. His best finish in that Classic was a third with Wild Gale in 1993. The two took third again that year in the Belmont Stakes.

Sellers was one of the first top jockeys to wear advertising on their silks and was an advocate for better pay, health insurance, and weight issues for riders. His intentions for coming out of retirement are signified by his return to the south Louisiana track. According to Mr. Sellers, “It’s no secret to why I’ve decided to come back and why I decided to come back to Evangeline. I rode my first winner here in 1983, and it’s time for me to get back to my roots and what I love. I still believe in what I was fighting for back then, but over time I realized that my method or message was not always delivered in a respectable way. If I offended anyone, I apologize and want everyone to know that I am through with all of those causes. With my renewed commitment to God and my family, I just want to continue to do what I know and love – that’s ride. I am so thankful for the open armed response that I have received on my comeback and look forward to rekindling old friendships and relationships.”

Freedom's Rein

Sellers co-wrote an autobiography with Tricia Psarreas in which he discusses his fights for higher jockey weights, better health insurance, and endorsements, along with the aftermath of his retirement.

Discography

Albums

Title	Album details
Matthew, Mark, Luke and Earnhardt	Release date: July 8, 2003 Label: Lofton Creek Records

Singles

Year	Single	Peak positions	Album
Year	Single	US Country ^[4]	Album
2001	"Matthews, Mark, Luke and Earnhardt"	58	Matthews, Mark, Luke and Earnhardt
2003	"Back to Riding Rainbows"	—
2003	"There's a Song on the Jukebox"	—
2004	"You Can't Count Me Out Yet"	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Year-end charts

Chart (2000–present)	Peak position
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2000	3
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2003	28
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2004	27

Related Research Articles

A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual who rode horses in racing. They must be light, typically around a weight of 100–120 lb., and physically fit. They are typically self-employed, and are paid a small fee from the horse trainer and a percentage of the horse's winnings. The job has a very high risk of debilitating or life-threatening injuries.

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.

Kent Jason Desormeaux is an American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who holds the U.S. record for most races won in a single year with 598 wins in 1989. He has won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes three times each, and the Belmont Stakes once. Aboard Real Quiet, he lost the 1998 Triple Crown by a nose.

Jerry D. Bailey is an NBC Sports thoroughbred racing analyst and a retired American Hall of Fame jockey. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest jockeys of all time.

Robby J. Albarado is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. He began riding at the age of 10 and progressed to riding at bush tracks in his native Louisiana by the age of 12. After turning professional, he earned his first official win at Evangeline Downs in 1990. Since then, he has won more than 5,000 races, but his career has endured setbacks as a result of serious injuries. During 1998 and 1999, he suffered two skull fractures, one of which required doctors to replace a damaged portion of his skull with titanium mesh and polymer plate. Another serious accident in the fall of 2000 kept him out of racing for the better part of 2001.

Patrick Angel Valenzuela is an American thoroughbred horse racing jockey. Born into a racing family, his father plus three of his uncles, including Ismael Valenzuela, were jockeys. He rode his first career winner on November 10, 1978, at Sunland Park Racetrack in Sunland Park, New Mexico. In 1980, 17-year-old Pat Valenzuela became the youngest jockey to ever win the Santa Anita Derby. He was voted the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award by his peers in 1982.

José Adeón Santos León is a retired Chilean thoroughbred jockey who has been honored by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in the United States.

John R. Velazquez is a Puerto Rican jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. He began his career in Puerto Rico and moved to New York in 1990. In 2004 and 2005 he was the United States Champion Jockey by earnings and both years was given the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey. He was inducted into the Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2012, rode his 5,000th winner in 2013, and became the leading money-earning jockey in the history of the sport in 2014.

Randy Paul Romero was a Hall of Fame jockey in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing.

Calvin H. Borel is an American jockey in thoroughbred horse racing and rode the victorious mount in the 2007 Kentucky Derby, the 2009 Kentucky Derby and the 2010 Kentucky Derby. His 2009 Derby win with Mine That Bird was the third biggest upset in Derby history,, and Borel's winning margin of 6+3⁄4 lengths was the greatest in Derby history since Assault won by 8 lengths in 1946. On May 1, 2009, Borel won the Kentucky Oaks aboard Rachel Alexandra, only the second time since 1993 that a jockey has won the Oaks-Derby combo, and just the seventh time overall a jockey has accomplished this feat in the same year. On May 16, 2009, Borel won the 2009 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico with thoroughbred filly Rachel Alexandra. In doing so, Borel became the first jockey to win the first two jewels of the Triple Crown on different mounts. Borel's nickname is "Bo'rail'" due to his penchant for riding close to the rail to save ground.

Jon Kenton Court is an American jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing.

Mark Guidry is a former American jockey. He ranks 22nd among jockeys in career wins with 5,222 wins as of March 7, 2014, the date of his last ride. He subsequently announced his retirement from riding to become a jockey's agent. This was Guidry's second retirement. He initially retired in 2007 and did not ride again for 4 more years.

Curt C. Bourque is an American jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. He began his riding career in 1984 at Evangeline Downs in Lafayette, Louisiana and won his first race later that year at Jefferson Downs Racetrack.

Ronald D. Ardoin is a retired jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing. He is one of a number of successful Cajun jockeys who began their careers riding in bush track races in Louisiana.

Anna Rose "Rosie" Napravnik is a former American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey and two-time winner of the Kentucky Oaks. Beginning her career in 2005, she was regularly ranked among the top jockeys in North America in both earnings and total races won. By 2014 she had been in the top 10 by earnings three years in a row and was the highest-ranked woman jockey in North America. In 2011, she won the Louisiana Derby for her first time and was ninth in the 2011 Kentucky Derby with the horse Pants on Fire. In 2012 she broke the total wins and earnings record for a woman jockey previously held by Julie Krone, and became the first woman rider to win the Kentucky Oaks, riding Believe You Can. She won the Oaks for a second time in 2014 on Untapable. She is only the second woman jockey to win a Breeders' Cup race and the first to win more than one, having won the 2012 Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Shanghai Bobby and the 2014 Breeders' Cup Distaff on Untapable. Napravnik's fifth-place finish in the 2013 Kentucky Derby and third in the 2013 Preakness Stakes on Mylute are the best finishes for a woman jockey in those two Triple Crown races to date, and she is the only woman to have ridden in all three Triple Crown races.

Marlon St. Julien is an American equestrian professional in Thoroughbred horse racing. In 2000, he became the first African-American jockey to ride in the Kentucky Derby in 79 years, when he rode Curule to a seventh-place finish.

Raywood J. Broussard was an American jockey in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing.

Brian Joseph Hernandez Jr. is an American Eclipse Award-winning jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. He began riding professionally in 2003 and achieved his first win on November 29, 2003, at Louisiana's Delta Downs. As of May 2024, he has over 2,500 victories.

Andrew Mack Garner was an American jockey who won the 1934 Kentucky Derby as well as the 1929 and 1933 Belmont Stakes. He was inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1969. Mack Garner made his professional racing debut on July 16, 1914, at a Butte, Montana racetrack.

Corey James Lanerie is a jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing. Based in Kentucky, he has won 19 jockey titles at Churchill Downs and has won meets at Ellis Park, Lone Star Park, Sam Houston and Retama Park.

References

↑ Stark, Phyllis (September 1, 2005). "Universal Shuts Down DreamWorks Nashville". Billboard . Prometheus Global Media . Retrieved September 3, 2011.
↑ Flippo, Chet (May 3, 2001). "Tim McGraw's Circus Is A True Big Top". Country Music Television . Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
↑ Adams, Kathleen (December 15, 2004). "Sellers Makes Retirement Official". BloodHorse. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
↑ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 374. ISBN 0-89820-177-2.

External links

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[1] Stark, Phyllis (September 1, 2005). "Universal Shuts Down DreamWorks Nashville". Billboard . Prometheus Global Media . Retrieved September 3, 2011.

[2] Flippo, Chet (May 3, 2001). "Tim McGraw's Circus Is A True Big Top". Country Music Television . Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2011.

[3] Adams, Kathleen (December 15, 2004). "Sellers Makes Retirement Official". BloodHorse. Retrieved September 3, 2011.

[whitburn-4] Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 374. ISBN 0-89820-177-2.

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