Widely regarded as one of the premier jockeys ever to mount a thoroughbred, Jerry Bailey has claimed nearly all of racing’s most glittering prizes. He has won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont two times each, as well as a record fifteen Breeders’ Cup races. He has received the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top jockey an astounding seven times. A member of the Racing Hall of Fame since 1995, he holds the records for the most earnings in a year and most stakes wins in a season. A national spokesperson for the Breeders’ Cup, the Daily Racing Form and the New York Racing Association, he is also the lead commentator on NBC’s horse racing coverage.
Bailey battled to work his way up from teenage exercise rider and quarter horse jock to the Winner’s Circle at Churchill Downs and other storied tracks around the world. His toughest challenge, however, was to conquer the alcoholism that nearly destroyed him professionally and personally. With stunning honesty and arresting detail, Bailey traces his descent into misery, his inspiring recovery, and the magnificent racing achievements made possible by his sobriety. In Against The Odds: Riding for My Life, Bailey tells his story in collaboration with Tom Pedulla, a sportswriter for USA Today.
Before regaining his sobriety, Bailey was doing well and making good money, but he could not touch the top riders on their best days. After recovery, Bailey was finally able to put all of his natural and acquired assets – his enormous competitive drive, his physical and mental courage, his coordination and concentration, his ability to read a shifting pack of horses and riders in an instant and find a way through – fully in the service of his sport.
By 1991, with his first Breeders’ Cup victory, Bailey was “in the zone” and in 1993, when he won his first Kentucky Derby aboard Sea Hero, he was soaring to unimagined heights.
As president of the Jockeys’ Guild from 1989 to 1996, Bailey became an official advocate for improved health and safety standards in racing He championed the use of “flak jackets” that offer riders some protection in the event of a fall, and won modest improvements in health, accident, and life insurance for jockeys, which remain scandalously inadequate. Bailey is a proponent for additional changes in racing that would make it safer for horses and human beings and create new fans for a sport with a declining and aging audience.
