Steve Cauthen, who at 18 was the youngest jockey ever to win the Triple Crown in 1978, wanted to be a quarterback.  But, he said this afternoon speaking to the Northern Kentucky Horse Network, when he was about 12 and all his friends grew 6” and he didn’t, he decided to become a jockey.

            Like a quarterback, he said, jockeys tend to get all the glory when things work out well and all the grief when they don’t.  In response to a question, he said, 98 percent of winning is the horse, 2 percent the jockey.  While jockeys and trainers study the horses and how they all run, “the whole race can change in a second.” The best jockeys are the ones who make the fewest mistakes.  “A great jockey can sometimes win on the third or fourth best horse in the race.”

            Affirmed – the last horse to win the Triple Crown – “had gears, mind and heart” and could respond more than many horses, he said.  While he got to know the big stallion quite well, he said of the 14,000 some horses he rode, about 10,000 he didn’t even see before being legged up to race them.

            His most memorable win was the Belmont, the last leg of the Triple Crown.  “I was scared I might mess it up, so I felt relief when I passed the wire.”

            In answer to a question about falling, he said, “The thing about falling is you know you are about to fall, then the next thing you know is you are waking up in the hospital.”  He’s come very close to being paralyzed, has broken his neck and knee among other things.  He didn’t hold onto anxiety about it. “You can’t ride with fear.”

            A native of Walton (in the southern part of Boone County), Cauthen’s dad -- Tex was a farrier at Turfway Park in Florence and his mom -- Myra, was a horse trainer.  At 16 he weighed 92 pounds and could easily stay under the usual weight of 117 carried by U.S. Thoroughbreds.  Since his dad was so well known and liked, track officials turned a blind eye to his riding underage.

            The most valuable thing he learned from his dad?  “The best thing my dad did was teach me to work hard.  If you’re around horses, there’s plenty of work,” Cauthen said.

            After connecting with Affirmed and beating Alydar in every leg of the Triple Crown in ’78, Cauthen was named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated, given the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey and Outstanding Jockey and the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award which honors a rider whose career and personal conduct exemplifies the best example of thoroughbred racing professionals.

            Maintaining his weight was a huge issue.  After a growth spurt at 18, Cauthen weighed 108 and was 5’6” – very tall for a jockey.  (Height-to-weight tables say a man of 5’6” should weigh between 130 & 164!)  So, shortly after winning the Triple Crown he moved to Europe where jockeys are allowed a few more pounds.  In his 14 years as a jockey (a dozen more than the common length of a jockey’s career), Cauthen won derbies in nearly every country you can imagine might race horses – Ireland, England, France, Japan, Hong Kong, Norway, Italy, Iceland, Australia, South Africa and more.  He knew all of England’s royal family.

            Because he was physically maturing, he retired at 32 and bought a farm in Verona, Ky. where he raises Thoroughbreds and lives with his wife and three daughters, whom, he says, are now more into dancing than horses.  Two of his mares were daughters of Affirmed and his horses carry some of the stallion’s bloodlines.  Affirmed died in Jan. ’01.

            Owners generally get 60 percent of a horse’s winnings.  Of that jockeys get 10 percent.  Of their 10 percent, jockeys’ agents get 25 percent.

            Despite his incredible credentials and successes at a very young age, Cauthen is very affable, friendly and self effacing, often donating his time to help charities and various causes.   This week his enthusiasm is centered around his horse called Little Brown who is running Thursday.

            For more information and videos of the Triple Crown races, see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Cauthen

http://www.cityofwalton.org/Cauthen.htm

http://derbylegends.com/steve-cauthen/biography.shtml