Difficult Times Test Jockey’s Resolve

Jim Lewis has quietly become one of the top jockeys at Los Alamitos Race Course, while overcoming major personal obstacles.

He has been legally separated from his wife, trainer Kelly Long, for two years, because they say it was the only way to get around complicated state insurance laws that would have denied Lewis benefits if he was injured while riding horses.

And in April, just as the season in California was starting, Lewis tested positive for cocaine and codeine while riding in Oregon. He was suspended for several days.

Somehow, that didn’t stop him from getting off to one of the best starts of his career. He’s neck and neck with two of the track’s high-profile riders, Joe Badilla Jr. and Eddie Garcia, for most victories during the meeting. At this pace, Lewis will earn victory No. 700 before the meeting is out in December.

Long and Lewis, married in 1988, are still together, but in 1992, when Long got her trainer’s license, the couple said they had no choice but to get the separation.

“It was tough for Kelly,” Lewis said. “But it was a dream of hers to train and I wanted to give her a shot at it.”

While rare, this is not the first time a trainer-jockey couple has separated to avoid complicated state rules, a spokesman for the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Assn. said. No one at the California Horse Racing Board could confirm Lewis’ claim that he would lose insurance benefits, which are provided by the trainer to the jockey for each mount they take.

The association spokesman pointed out, however, that state conflict of interest rules would have prohibited Lewis from riding for anyone but his wife if they had not received the legal separation.

Lewis was perplexed by the events in Oregon.

The Oregon Horse Racing Board suspended Lewis when he tested positive and California honored the Oregon suspension. Lewis could have had the suspension lifted by meeting with Oregon stewards and agreeing to counseling guidelines for first-time offenders. Instead, he hired a lawyer. After a couple of weeks of legal wrangling, he agreed to see a drug counselor and take another drug test. The test came back clear and Lewis was reinstated in both states.

Lewis said he was taking only prescription medication when he tested positive.

“It was a freaky deal,” said Lewis, 38. “Oregon was trying to make an example out of me.”

Since getting back in the saddle, Lewis has been winning races at a 22% clip. Among the mounts he has had this season are Las Alamitos, the most highly touted 2-year-old filly from the Dutch Masters III stables, and California Sires Cup Derby winner Costal Classic.

Last week he rode Martys Easy Cash, a 2-year-old colt, to victory in a non-stakes race with the best 300-yard time of the meet.

“He’s a real hard-working kind of guy,” jockey Ralph Seville said. “He works 365 days a year and he’s one of the more consistent riders around.”

Lewis was 15 when he took his first mount, riding for fun in an Idaho county fair while visiting an aunt. He won his first two races, and eventually came to California in 1984.

“I’d done just about everything I could do up there and I wanted a pretty nice challenge,” he said.

In 1993 Lewis, who has 670 victories, rode what he calls his finest ride, the 60-1 longshot Ms Lady Casanova to victory in at 16.62 seconds, one of the best times ever posted for 350 yards in the $154,000 Ed Burke Memorial Futurity.

Humble and reserved, Lewis rides about 80% of the horses in trainer Jaime Gomez’s barn.

“I have him gallop 10 to 15 of my horses every day,” Gomez said. “He’s the type of rider that does what you tell him to do.”

Lewis has been like silk aboard Costal Classic, a classic example of a horse that isn’t overly talented, but responds when ridden the right way.

“He’s capable of winning [the Golden State Derby],” Lewis said. “He’s usually not the fastest horse, but he’s so consistent that when others mess up he will be there for you.”

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Seville, a 15-year veteran, has taken himself off all mounts after he sustained pain in his kidneys as a result of weight control problems. Doctors have advised him to take a few months off. He says he may return by September, but he is considering becoming an agent or working in construction.

Seville, 30, has battled weight problems for years. Three weeks before the meet began in April he was 41 pounds above the 120-pound weight limit. Doctors have told him he is risking his health if he continues to starve himself.

“I love riding. It’s something fun to do, but this last time really messed me up,” he said. “Maybe I will be back. Maybe I won’t. We will see.”

Los Alamitos notes

Jockey Eddie Garcia rode Prevailing Winds to victory in the $64,625 Gold Rush Derby, a 870-yard race on July 5. It was the fourth victory in nine starts for Prevailing Winds and gives trainer Blane Schvaneveldt a steady long-distance horse in his stable for the first time in three seasons. . . . Track owner Edward Allred had three horses in the Gold Rush Derby, but, as has been the case with his 400-horse stable in stakes races during the meet, none won.

Champions of Champions winner My Debut isn’t expected to make its first start until the Go Man Go Handicap Aug. 16, according to Schvaneveldt. . . . Magna Terra Smoky, the track’s leading Arabian money winner, has been sidelined with pulled back muscles since April.