Bailey will be missed
There's a 4-year-old filly named Where's Bailey, which also is a question heard constantly at tracks and OTBs the past 15 years or so. Usually, Jerry Bailey had his mount, more often than not the favorite, right where it was supposed to be. Soon, no nervous bettor will ask it again.
"What excited me most was to ride the best horses in the best races on the biggest days," Bailey said. "But to get to those days, you have to go through a lot of routine days, and I really didn't have the passion for them anymore.
"I just thought it was time."
For the past few years, there was speculation that Bailey would quit, and he never denied that the day was far off.
"In the last four years, I've taken my traditional month off at the end of the year to see if I still had my competitive fires," Bailey said. "I've scaled back so much the past four years that I've been basically riding on weekends. The later you get into the year, the more commitments you have to make, and I didn't think I'd be up to it for another year.
"I guess what I'll miss most is the feel of riding a really good horse. Those are few and far between, and I think they were what really kept me around."
Bailey leaves a resume unlikely to be matched for decades, if ever. He won seven Eclipse Awards and six 3-year-old classics, taking the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont twice each. Among his 5,892 victories are a record 15 in the Breeders' Cup, including five Classics. On the all-time earnings list, he is second by about $2 million to Pat Day. There was nothing left to accomplish, and Bailey walked away healthy and at the top of his game. Or at least close to it.
"I think I'd be less than honest to say I was as good physically as I was five or six years ago," he said. " . . . But I think I made up for it mentally, and I think I'm a smarter rider than I was then."
Bailey was always more of a finesse jock. His great racing brain was what set him apart, and his smarts and coolness under fire were priceless, especially in big races. D. Wayne Lukas said no one but Bailey could have won the 1996 Derby on Grindstone, who got there in the last jump to win by a nose.
Like most major talents, Bailey has a mercurial personality, affable and witty one minute, distant and angry the next. Although an excellent interview, he is more respected than beloved by the media. After losing a stakes race, he could be snappish, but a few minutes later he might be willing to patiently detail what had gone wrong.
Although basically a detached guy ruled more by his head than his heart, Bailey let his guard down in Wednesday's teleconference with dozens of reporters. His voice cracked a few times, which was most unusual. He said that as a teenager his strong competitive urge drew him to riding more than a love of thoroughbreds, but he said his experience with the great Cigar changed him.
Bailey was on Cigar in the final 15 races of his record-tying 16-race streak from 1994-96. He said he was moved by the horse's talent and courage. "I had always liked horses, but I came to love horses when I rode Cigar," he said. "He was the most charismatic horse I've ever known."
Bailey pointed to their victory in the 1996 Dubai World Cup as his most emotional victory. "It was not only because I won, but because I was representing my country," he said. "It was as close to an Olympian as I could ever be."
Yet Bailey's greatest triumph came away from the track, where he overcame a severe alcohol problem that nearly wrecked his career and marriage. In his riveting autobiography, "Against the Odds: Riding For My Life," written with USA Today sportswriter Tom Pedulla, Bailey admits he was a mediocre underachiever until he quit drinking in January 1989.
Bailey will begin another career in March as a racing commentator for ABC and ESPN. Undoubtedly, he'll excel there, too, because few jockeys ever were as intelligent and articulate.
"So I'm not really retiring," he said, "just bringing entertainment to you in a different package.''
When asked how he wanted to be remembered, Bailey said, "That I gave everybody their money's worth, and that I always put a horse in position to win if he was good enough."
No horseplayer could have asked for more.
