Against The Odds
A new book by jockey Jerry Bailey and USA Today's Tom Pedulla sheads some light on an interesting life.
By Bill FinleyThe story of Jerry Bailey the jockey isn't that compelling. He's good, he's won a lot of races, ridden a lot of good horses. That same book could have been written about Gary Stevens, Pat Day, Chris McCarron or anyone of a number of top jockeys past and present. But "Against The Odds: Riding for My Life," a book written by Bailey along with USA Today's Tom Pedulla, is not really a book about a jockey. It is about a person and that person is an intriguing and complicated individual who was willing to bear his soul about a battle with alcohol that threatened his marriage, his career and, perhaps, his life. And that is why this book succeeds.
Bailey started drinking in high school and turned it up several notches when he began his riding career in 1974. He was young and particularly immature, was making money, was full of himself and fell into a lifestyle where partying was more important to him than his riding career.
"I was going out almost every night because that is what pretty much everybody around me did," Bailey writes. "We would order a couple of drinks, eat a light dinner, then drink some more. We never cared where the evening took us. Sometimes, it led to strange places.
"There was a time when I awoke a jolt to the acrid smell of cleaning solvents. I could see in the darkness that I was crammed into a small space, with my knees pressed against my stomach. There were sponges and soiled rags all around. Welcome to the mop closet at Caravan East, a nightclub in Albuquerque, New Mexico."
Some 15 years into his career, the same jockey now established as the best in his profession was mired in mediocrity. He was just another face in the crowd in the New York jockeys' room, nowhere close to cracking the top. The reason, Bailey says, was his drinking. Though he never rode while inebriated, his constant drinking dulled his reflexes, took away his sense of timing and robbed him of his drive to succeed.
In 1989, with his marriage about to fall apart, his career going nowhere and with an increasing awareness that he was not a particularly nice person, Bailey decided enough was enough. He sought treatment, which included counseling and an outpatient treatment program for alcoholism. To this day, he continues to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
In 1988, his last full year riding while battling problems with alcohol, he won 159 races and his mounts earned $5,628,657. In 1990, the first full year he was alcohol free, he won 224 races and his mounts earned $9,390,557. The difference is no coincidence. Beating the bottle, Bailey, writes, is what turned him into the world-class jockey he is today.
"My preparation, always a strength, was even better," Bailey writes of his post-booze turnaround. "I looked at past performances and it was as if the race was unfolding before my eyes. I was able to see where every horse was likely to be placed at different stages...My reaction time was awesome. My reflexes were sharper. Everything seemed to be moving five miles per hour, not ninety-five. Riding was no longer just a job. It was becoming a great deal of fun."
Bailey also spares no details in his battle to start a family with his wife Suzee. Both had infertility problems and the result was years of heartache and frustration while they failed to conceive a child. Finally, the Baileys were able to have a child thanks to a complicated fertility treatment known as gamete intrafallopian transfer. Bailey's love for the child, Justin, jumps off the page whenever his son is mentioned.
The second half of the book is devoted primarily to the on-track details of Bailey's career and his ascension to the top of his profession. Three of the book's 14 chapters are devoted to Cigar, an indication of how much the two-time Horse of the Year meant to Bailey.
His accounts of Cigar, his Kentucky Derby wins on Sea Hero and Grindstone and his other notable accomplishments are interesting, but not nearly as interesting as his poignant recap of the worst years of his life when little mattered to him other than his next drink. Beating alcoholism turned out to be a lot more important than anything he ever accomplished on the racetrack. That's what "Against the Odds" is really all about.
