Cauthen Spends Fourth of July in His New Country

He still looks like the kid from Kentucky, but Steve Cauthen hardly sounds, and rarely thinks, much like an American any more.

One thing hasn’t changed, however, and that is why Cauthen spent the birthday of his birthplace, America, in the bosom of his adopted place, England, making a living over here the same way he did over there. Riding a horse for pay.

On Wednesday, he brought home one of three mounts he rode at Warwick, a slightly better-than-average day for the man who for a glorious year was the most celebrated rider in the United States and has won this nation’s jockey championship three of the last five years.

But he planned no more celebration of that victory than he did Independence Day.

“I don’t know that July 4th means anything special to me any more,” Cauthen said softly. “Other than I’m glad that somebody did it about 200 years ago. It’s not like I miss the fireworks or anything. We have those over here, you know.”

Cauthen feels that way about many things that were part of growing up in America. The occasional craving for a hot dog goes away soon enough, and with a little bit of effort, he can get his hands on a progress report on his favorite baseball team -- the Cincinnati Reds -- and his friend -- pitcher Tom Browning -- are “faring.”

Just after his arrival, Cauthen might have said “doing” instead of faring. But if, after 10 years of living around London and riding around the Continent, he is not quite as famous a transplant as McDonald’s, it is not for a lack of trying.

His accent is English, as is his girlfriend, and he has -- the sincerest form of flattery -- cultivated an interest in the comings and goings of the royal family. On Tuesday, as Cauthen left Wimbledon for the London train station and his home in Newmarket 50 miles to the northeast, the cab he was riding in pulled over to allow the motorcade of the royals to go past.

Expertly, he named the limousine’s occupants though they sped by in a blur, then grinned, almost sheepishly, at the lone American riding in the cab with him.

Asked whether he considers himself more English than American, Cauthen replied, “I consider myself to be quite happy wherever I am, whenever I’m there.

“Certainly, I miss various things at varying times, but it doesn’t happen that often, and it’s not often very strong. And if I haven’t found somethng to replace it here, then I make sure I get it when I’m back at home in Kentucky around the holidays.”

In 1978, Cauthen had as grand a year as any teen-ager ever had, plucking all three gems of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown aboard a magnificent colt named Affirmed. The horse, as it turned out, was the last to manage the feat, and Cauthen, at 17, was the youngest jockey ever to do so.

But less than a year later, the partnership was finished. Trainer Laz Barrera took away the mount during a meet in California in the middle of February, with Cauthen in the midst of a skid that would extend to 110 races without a victory.

And by late spring, the boy wonder made a very grown-up decision to open shop in Europe, where the purses are smaller, but the money and security for a top jock is better, where the pace is slower and the season shorter.

“I liked Europe, that’s why I’ve stayed,” Cauthen said. “I’m not sure I knew really what to expect, but it suited me quite well from the start.”

That wasn’t entirely true. He did win his first race, but he spent the rest of year having difficulty getting good mounts and by the end of 1979, the English tabloids trumpeted headlines asking “Superkid or Superflop?”

The “super” part of the description was perhaps open to question, but the “kid” business would soon prove incorrect. Cauthen was 5-foot-2 when he left the U.S., and if not exactly growing by leaps and bounds -- he is 5-6 today -- he was growing nonetheless.

“Obviously, I was maturing, and maybe that’s another reason living and racing over here has worked out -- the weight scale for jockeys is slightly higher.

“When you’re working on that fine a line, a pound here or there, it can make a major difference. I could probably still ride there at my weight of 119 now, but I’d certainly miss a few mounts because of it,” he said. “Basically, I miss very few here.”

Cauthen made his mark in 1985 by becoming the first American in 71 years to win the English jockey championship and he repeated the following season after hooking up with famed trainer Henry Cecil. He has had his share of ups and downs since -- he was treated briefly at a Cincinnati hospital for alcohol dependency in December 1985 and was nearly crushed in an August 1988 fall -- but few regrets.

Cauthen pocketed $12 million during his brief tenure full-time in the U.S., and has pocketed some loose change in several rides there since. He has accepted mounts for Breeder’s Cup races and was at Arlington Park outside Chicago, competing in the Million only last August.

And though he has gotten several calls about returning to the Kentucky Derby, where Cauthen piloted Affirmed to the first victory in a series of unforgettable battles with Alydar, he has refused.

On the first Saturday in May, England kicks the thoroughbred season into high gear by staging its own classic for 3-year-olds, the much-less famous (but like everything else here, much older) 2,000 Guineas.

“Besides, my record at the Derby is 1-for-1. I’d have to be nuts,” Cauthen said, slipping into a distinctly American tone for the first time in an hour, “to fool with perfection.”