What a Day for a Daydream : Jockey Looks for Own Version of Magnificent Seven

On Aug. 19, 1973, two months before his 20th birthday, Pat Day won the first race of his career at obscure Prescott Downs in Arizona. Fewer than than 2,000 people were there, and the track photographer’s camera didn’t work, so there’s no winner’s-circle picture to mark the occasion.

On Nov. 10, 1984, about 2,800 winners later, Pat Day won the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic with a strong-willed colt named Wild Again. There were 64,000 fans at Hollywood Park, besides what seemed to be about 1,000 photographers in the winner’s circle, and nobody’s camera malfunctioned.

Day’s arrival at the enclosure aboard Wild Again, amid a stewards’ inquiry that eventually exonerated his horse in a roughly run race, was seen from every angle. The picture of Day, his pink silks glistening in the mid-afternoon California sun, his face tilted in the direction of the heavens and his riding helmet raised high, is a study for posterity.

The crowd behind the winner’s circle might have thought that Day was saluting them, and actually that was Day’s immediate intention.

“But then, I decided to thank God,” Day said. “I wasn’t thanking Him for the win, I was thanking Him for the moment.”

An admitted former cocaine user, the survivor of a failed marriage and an abortive two-year stay in New York during which he brawled in the jockeys’ room with Angel Cordero and loathed the big-city life style, Day says he became a “born-again” Christian in January of 1984.

Even before that, though, he had put his career back on track. Day won 1,253 races from 1982 through 1984, leading the nation in wins all three years--a feat that had been accomplished only once before, by Bill Hartack in the 1950s.

Day and his wife, Sheila Ann--she’s the sister of Santa Anita jockey Ray Sibille--live in a Chicago suburb, although they’re on the road much of the year when the 33-year-old rider competes in Kentucky and Arkansas. “I’m a country boy at heart,” Day says. “I love the open spaces.”

Day has considered riding regularly in California, where the purses are considerably more lucrative than in the Midwest.

“I’ll be riding at Churchill Downs later this year, then we’ll just have to see,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m doing a month from now, let alone next year. I kind of hate to give up what I have. I’m third in the country (in purses with $8 million) this year, and I’ve probably gone two months without riding (some of the idle time caused by the illness and then the death of his father in April).”

Day didn’t win a Breeders’ Cup race last year at Aqueduct, his best finish from four mounts being a fifth on Au Bon Marche in the Juvenile Stakes. Saturday at Santa Anita, however, Day will be in the spotlight more than all the other jockeys except one. When entries were taken Wednesday for the third edition of the Breeders’ Cup, 79 horses were named, and Day will have a mount in all seven of the races worth $10 million. Only Laffit Pincay will be as busy.

Day’s day will start with a ride aboard Pledge Card in the Juvenile. After that, he will ride on Anything for Love in the Juvenile Fillies, Love That Mac in the Sprint, Lieutenant’s Lark in the Mile, Lady’s Secret in the Distaff, Duty Dance in the Turf and Turkoman in the Classic. Two of Day’s horses have been installed by Jeff Tufts, the Santa Anita linemaker, as favorites, Turkoman at 8-5 in the Classic and Lady’s Secret at 4-5 in the Distaff.

Strangely, Day has ridden only one of his Breeders’ Cup horses before. Day and Lady’s Secret have been inseparable most of the year, combining to win three major races in New York this fall alone. Turkoman’s regular jockey, Chris McCarron, is sidelined for at least six months because of a broken thigh bone, and Day got the mount because Gary Stevens, who won the Marlboro Cup with the colt, is committed to ride Precisionist in the Classic.

“Experience riding a horse always helps,” Day said. “It’s bound to be beneficial. But I don’t think I’m coming into these races cold turkey. I may not have ridden these horses, but I’ve ridden against them in several races and know them that way.”

It was three months since Day had ridden Wild Again when they won the Classic, at 31-1, in 1984. A strong rider, Day needed all that strength during the stretch run to control his horse, with Gate Dancer, on the outside, coming over to crowd Slew o’ Gold and Wild Again attempting to come out from next to the rail. The stewards, finding only Gate Dancer at fault, dropped him from second to third. Wild Again reached the wire a nose before Gate Dancer, and Slew o’ Gold was only another half-length back.

“I get goose bumps every time I talk about that race,” Day said. “The other half of the Slew o’ Gold entry (Mugatea) tried to duck out when we went past the finish line the first time, and my horse also tried to duck away. My horse was straining at the seams that day. He was grunting every time his feet left the ground.

“Through the stretch, every time Slew o’ Gold came to us, my horse would dig in. I only hit him on the shoulder one time, because I was told that he didn’t like to be hit. I was trying to pull him back all through the stretch.

“I didn’t think they could have taken my number down and made Slew o’ Gold the winner, because he was done and beat. Angel (Cordero, riding Slew o’ Gold) had every opportunity to run by me from the quarter pole on, but his horse just couldn’t do it.

“I didn’t have any idea what the stewards would do, though. I just told them my version. I know one thing--I didn’t want to be kissed in, I wanted to win it if I deserved it.”

The Day mount who probably deserves to win Saturday is Lady’s Secret, who has dominated her division, winning on both coasts, all year long. But eight other horses were entered in the Distaff, including Classy Cathy, whose owner, Edward A. Cox Jr., is paying a supplemental fee of $120,000 for her to run.

“Lady’s Secret is a machine,” Day said. “There aren’t words to describe how awesome she is. She’s well-proportioned, but she’s not a picture horse. She’s not the kind who would jump off the page at you if you saw a picture of her. But a picture doesn’t show how much heart this horse has.”

Should Lady’s Secret win Saturday, the horde of photographers will surround the filly and Pat Day, just the way they did with Wild Again. Better than that time at Prescott Downs 13 years ago, when Day made the winner’s circle but missed the memento.

THE FIELDS

JUVENILE

2-YEAR-OLDS, COLTS AND GELDINGS.

DISTANCE: 1 1/16 MILES.

PP Horse Jockey Wgt Odds 1 Demon’s Begone Santos 122 5-1 2 f--Flying Lieutenant Toro 122 20-1 3 Capote Pincay 122 7-2 4 Alysheba Shoemaker 122 12-1 5 Orono Hawley 122 15-1 6 Polish Navy Romero 122 9-2 7 Gulch Cordero 122 5-1 8 Pledge Card Day 122 15-1 9 f--Gold on Green Valenzuela 122 20-1 10 Flying Newsboy Delahoussaye 122 12-1 11 Qualify Stevens 122 20-1 12 Bet Twice Perret 122 8-1 13 Damascus Drama Vasquez 122 20-1

f--mutuel field

TRAINERS (By post position): 1. Phil Houswald. 2. Jerry Fanning. 3, Wayne Lukas. 4. Jack Van Berg. 5. Carl Nafzger. 6. Shug McGaughey. 7. Leroy Jolley. 8. Wayne Lukas. 9. Joe Manzi. 10. John Fulton. 11. Laz Barrera. 12. Warren Croll, Jr. 13. William Cocks.

OWNERS (By post position): 1. Loblolly Stable. 2. Cardiff Stud and Bandar Farms. 3, Barry Beal, Robert French, Jr. and Eugene V. Klein. 4. Dorothy and Pamela Scharbauer. 5. Bay View Stable. 6. Ogden M. Phipps. 7, Peter M. Brant. 8, Joseph Allen. 9, Green Thumb Farm Stable. 10. Ed Friendly. 11. Ethel D. Jacobs. 12. Blanche P. Levy. 13. C.N. Ray.

PURSE: $1 million. First place: $450,000. Second place: $225,000. Third place: $108,000. Fourth place: $70,000. Fifth place: $50,000. Sixth place: $10,000.

NOMINATOR AWARDS: Stallion, First Place: $25,000. Second Place: $12,500. Third Place: $6,000. Foal, First Place: $25,000. Second Place: $12,500. Third Place: $6,000.

JUVENILE FILLIES

2-YEAR-OLDS.

DISTANCE: 1 1/16 MILES.

PP Horse Jockey Wgt Odds 1 Silk’s Lady Pedroza 119 15-1 2 Tappiano Cruguet 119 5-2 3 Saros Brig Shoemaker 119 12-1 4 Brave Raj Valenzuela 119 6-1 5 Fantasy Cat Cordero 119 20-1 6 Zero Minus Hawley 119 20-1 7 Ruling Angel Panna 119 8-1 8 Sacahuista Pincay 119 2-1 9 Polonia Eddery 119 20-1 10 f-Anything for Love Day 119 30-1 11 Taxpayers Folly Delahoussaye 119 30-1 12 f-Coaklay Solis 119 30-1 13 Prankstress Stevens 119 20-1

f--mutuel field

TRAINERS (by post position): 1. Henry Moreno 2. Scotty Schulhofer. 3. Joe Manzi. 4. Mel Stute. 5. Neil Drysdale. 6. Carl Nafzger. 7. Jim Day. 8. Wayne Lukas. 9. Jim Bolger. 10. Wayne Lukas. 11. Frank Brothers. 12. Mike Chambers. 13, Michael Whittingham.

OWNERS (By post position): 1. Wichita Equine. 2. Frances A. Genter. 3. Green Thumb Farm Stable. 4. Dolly Green. 5. William Farrish III and James Kilroy. 6. William Floyd. 7. Sam-Son Farms. 8. Barry Beal and Robert French, Jr. 9. Henryk deKwiatkowski. 10. Eugene V. Klein. 11. John Franks. 12. John and Mary Roche. 13. Viking Farms.

PURSE: $1 million. First place: $450,000. Second place: $225,000. Third place: $108,000. Fourth place: $70,000. Fifth place: $50,000. Sixth place: $10,000.

NOMINATOR AWARDS: Stallion, First Place: $25,000. Second Place: $12,500. Third Place: $6,000. Foal, First Place: $25,000. Second Place: $12,500. Third Place: $6,000.

SPRINT

3-YEAR-OLDS AND UP.

DISTANCE: 6 FURLONGS.

PP Horse Jockey Wgt Odds 1 Smile Vasquez 126 8-1 2 Double Schwartz Eddery 126 20-1 3 Taylors Special Romero 126 6-1 4 Bedside Promise Pincay 126 12-1 5 Green Desert Swinburn 124 12-1 6 Carload Shoemaker 126 20-1 7 Love That Mac Day 126 15-1 8 Pine Tree Lane Cordero 123 12-1 9 Groovy Santos 124 3-5

TRAINERS (By post position): 1. Scotty Schulhofer. 2. Charles Nelson. 3. William Mott. 4. R.L. Martin. 5. Michael Stoute. 6. Willard Proctor. 7. Wayne Widmer. 8. Wayne Lukas. 9. Jose Martin.

OWNERS (By post position): 1. Frances A. Genter. 2. Robert E. Sangster. 3. W.F. Lukas. 4. Jawl Brothers. 5. Maktoum Al Maktoum. 6. Glen Hill Farms. 7. Patt Stables. 8. L.D. Mathis. 9. John A. Ballis and Theodore V. Kruckel, Jr.

PURSE: $1 million. First place: $450,000. Second place: $225,000. Third place: $108,000. Fourth place: $70,000. Fifth place: $50,000. Sixth place: $10,000.

NOMINATOR AWARDS: Stallion, First Place: $25,000. Second Place: $12,500. Third Place: $6,000. Foal, First Place: $25,000. Second Place $12,500. Third Place: $6,000.

DISTAFF

3-YEAR-OLDS AND UP, FILLIES AND MARES.

DISTANCE: 1 MILES.

PP Horse Jockey Wgt Odds 1 Paradise Toro 123 30-1 2 Outstandingly Stevens 123 8-1 3 a--Twilight Ridge Romero 119 4-5 4 Park Express Eddery 119 12-1 5 Magnificent Lindy Delahoussaye 123 5-1 6 a--Lady’s Secret Day 123 4-5 7 Fran’s Valentine Shoemaker 123 6-1 8 Shywing Pincay 123 8-1 9 s--Classy Cathy Santos 119 12-1

a--entry

s--supplemetal entry for $120,000

TRAINERS (By post position): 1. Jack Van Berg. 2. Laz Barrera. 3. Wayne Lukas. 4. J.S. Bolger. 5. Neil Drysdale. 6. Wayne Lukas. 7. Joe Manzi. 8. Jerry Fanning. 9. Shug McGaughey.

OWNERS (By post position): 1. Robert Snell. 2. Robert Snell and Jack Van Berg. 3. Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Klein. 4. P.H. Burns. 5. Paula L. Tucker. 6. Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Klein. 7, Green Thumb Farms Stable. 8. Cardiff Stud Farm. 9, E.A. Cox.

PURSE: $1 million. First place: $450,000. Second place: $225,000. Third place: $108,000. Fourth place: $70,000. Fifth place: $50,000. Sixth place: $10,000.

NOMINATOR AWARDS: Stallion, First place: $25,000. Second place: $12,500. Third place: $6,000. Foal, First place: $25,000; Second place: $12,500; Third place: $6,000.

MILE

3-YEAR-OLDS AND UP.

ON TURF.

PP Horse Jockey Wgt Odds 1 a--Palace Music Stevens 126 3-1 2 s--Hatim Delahoussaye 126 8-1 3 Glow Maple 123 8-1 4 Double Feint Cordero 123 20-1 5 f--Lieutenant’s Lark Day 126 20-1 6 f--Fred Astaire Romero 123 20-1 7 Last Tycoon St.-Martin 123 15-1 8 Al Mamoon Valenzuela 126 4-1 9 Sonic Lady Swinburn 123 7-2 10 Air Display Toro 123 20-1 11 Magical Wonder Velasquez 123 20-1 12 Mangaki Pincay 126 15-1 13 f--Truce Maker Olivares 126 15-1 14 a--Thrill Show Asmussen 123 3-1

a--entry

f--mutuel field

s--supplemetal entry for $120,000

TRAINERS (By post position): 1. Charlie Whittingham. 2. John Gosden. 3. Woody Stephens. 4. Leroy Jolley. 5. Howard Tesher. 6. Robert Reinacher, Jr. 7. Robert Collett. 8. Bobby Frankel. 9. Michael Stoute. 10. Darrell Vienna. 11. George Mikhalides. 12. Richard Mandella. 13. Michael Whittingham. 14. Charlie Whittingham.

OWNERS (By post position): 1. Nelson Bunker Hunt and Allen E. Paulson. 2. Juddmont Farms. 3. Sonia Rogers. 4. Peter M. Brant. 5. L.T. Stevens. 6. Greentree Stable. 7. R.C. Strauss. 8. Bert Firestone and Edmund Gann. 9. Sheikh Mohammed. 10. Irving Apple. Robert Forgnone, Richard Levy and James K. Klein. 11, Mahmoud Fustok. 12, Chrys and Manlin. 13, Greer Garson Fogelson. 14. Richard L. Duchossois and Charlie Whittingham.

PURSE: $1 million. First place: $450,000. Second place: $225,000. Third place: $108,000. Fourth place: $70,000. Fifth place: $50,000. Sixth place: $10,000.

NOMINATOR AWARDS: Stallion, First Place: $25,000. Second Place: $12,500. Third Place: $6,000. Foal, First Place: $25,000. Second Place: $12,500. Third Place: $6,000.

TURF

3-YEAR-OLDS AND UP.

DISTANCE: 1 1/2 MILES.

PP Horse Jockey Wgt Odds 1 a--Theatrical Stevens 126 2-1 2 Manila Santos 122 4-1 3 Dahar Solis 126 5-1 4 Wylfa Pincay 126 30-1 5 Pillaster Cordero 122 20-1 6 a--s--Estrapade Toro 123 2-1 7 Darara St.-Martin 119 30-1 8 Ivor’s Image Swinburn 119 15-1 9 Duty Dance Day 123 20-1 10 Dancing Brave Eddery 122 9-5

a--entry

s--supplemetal entry for $240,000

TRAINERS (By post position): 1, Bobby Frankel 2, Leroy Jolley 3. Charlie Whittingham 4. Darrell Vienna 5. Leroy Jolley. 6. Charlie Whittingham. 7. Alain deRoyer-Dupre. 8. Michael Stoute. 9. Shug McGaughey. 10. Guy Harwood.

OWNERS (By post position): 1. Bert Firestone and Allen E. Paulsen. 2. Bradley M. Shannon. 3. Summa Stable. 4. R. Duggan. 5. Peter M. Brant. 6. Allen E. Paulsen. 7. H.H. Aga Khan. 8. Simon Fraser. 9. Ogden M. Phipps. 10. Khalid Abdullah.

PURSE: $2 million. First place: $900,000. Second place: $450,000. Third place: $216,000. Fourth place: $140,000. Fifth place: $100,000. Sixth place: $20,000.

NOMINATOR AWARDS: Stallion, First Place: $50,000. Second place: $25,500. Third Place: $12,000. Foal, First Place: $50,000; Second Place: $25,000; Third Place: $12,000.

CLASSIC

3-YEAR-OLDS AND UP.

DISTANCE: 1 MILES.

PP Horse Jockey Wgt Odds 1 Turkoman Day 126 8-5 2 Precisionist Stevens 126 2-1 3 Skywalker Pincay 126 12-1 4 Hopeful Word Valenzuela 126 15-1 5 Bold Arrangement Eddery 122 30-1 6 Alphabatim Delahoussaye 126 8-1 7 Triptych Cruz 123 15-1 8 Iades Asmussen 126 30-1 9 Herat Bailey 126 20-1 10 Mogambo Cordero 122 20-1 11 Nostalgia’s Star Toro 126 12-1

TRAINERS (By post position): 1. Gary Jones. 2. Ross Fenstermaker. 3. Michael Whittingham. 4. Richard Mandella. 5. Clive Brittain. 6. John Gosden. 7. Patrick Biancone. 8. Francois Boutin. 9. John Gosden. 10. Leroy Jolley. 11, Jay Robbins.

OWNERS (By post position): 1. Saron Stables. 2. Fred W. Hooper. 3. Oak Cliff Stables. 4. James M. Clifton, Robert Doll, Barrett Morris, and Virginia Morris. 5. Anthony Richards. 6. Juddmont Farms. 7. Allen Clore. 8. Rochetta Della Incise. 9. John Franks. 10. Peter M. Brant. 11. Dr. Jack K. and Margaret Robbins, A.C. Duckett and Mary Jane Hinds.

PURSE: $3 million. First place: $1,350,000. Second place: $675,000. Third place: $324,000. Fourth place: $210,000. Fifth place: $150,000. Sixth place: $30,000.

NOMINATOR AWARDS: Stallion, First Place: $75,000; Second Place: $37,500; Third Place: $18,000. Foal, First Place: $75,000; Second Place: $37,500; Third Place: $18,000.