Preakness winner Rose has mom to thank
STANTON, Del. - Jeremy Rose's mom had no idea her son came so close to disaster at the Preakness Stakes atop Afleet Alex.
From her seat near the finish line, Cindy Robinson simply could not see her son deftly survive one of the more incredible scenes in sports -- as Afleet Alex began crumpling toward the track, Rose grabbed hold onto the horse's mane, pulled him back to his feet and guided him to victory.
"I did hear the gasp, but I didn't know what it was," Robinson said. "I didn't know what happened until pretty much during the press conference. I'm glad I didn't see it."
And to think, it was mom who helped get him into the hazardous profession.
It all started with Miss Peggy.
Standing not much more than 3 feet, Miss Peggy was a pony that would have fit snugly under a 1,000-pound beast such as Afleet Alex.
Robinson never hesitated to put her 5-year-old son on the pony. She watched as the undisciplined horse often would go from full speed to a dead stop and toss her only son head over heels into the turf.
"He would get up bawling and I'd tell him to get your butt back up on the pony and do it until she doesn't do it anymore," she recalled.
Turns out, mother really did know best.
Rose didn't give up and eventually tamed that pony. Later, his first year as a high school wrestler, his 103-pound frame got slung around like mud, but Rose kept hitting the mat until he made the state finals.
And when Afleet Alex's Philadelphia owners decided that a green jockey like Rose wasn't good enough to ride their prized horse, he shrugged it off and stayed hopeful that his chance would come again.
Now, the 26-year-old is on top of the horse racing world, with a win in the Preakness, a fistful of lots-of-zeros-at-the-end checks that need to be cashed, and the Belmont Stakes coming up June 11.
"I thought I could make a living at it," Rose said this week from his home track of Delaware Park. "I never thought it would be like this."
It's hard to fathom Rose never visited a racetrack until 1999, soon after his hopes of becoming a collegiate wrestler were upset by a rules change. Since then, Rose has a Maryland Breeders' Cup win under his saddle, a record win in the Arkansas Derby, and the 2001 Eclipse Award given to the nation's top apprentice.
"Everything's gone by so fast that I can't believe I've gotten to this point," Rose said.
Rose grew up in Bellefonte, Pa., not far from Penn State. His mother, also a horse lover, helped him show quarter horses and she started collecting contacts that would pay off more than a winning Giacomo bet in the Kentucky Derby.
He took a few detours along the way to the Preakness. Besides wrestling in high school, he earned a few belts in karate. He even tried getting bigger with hormone shots until he realized he could do anything he wanted, even at 5-foot (that, and the needles hurt).
"Would I have been happier if he had been an attorney or a doctor? Yeah, but he was built for this," Robinson said.
Rose, who played on the same Little League team as Cincinnati Reds pitcher Eric Milton, came from a small family -- his mother is 5 feet tall and his biological father was 5-foot-3.
"When he was 9 years old, he looked like a 5-year-old," Robinson said. "So we put him on growth-hormone shots for a short period of time."
Rose said doctors told him he could have grown about four or five more inches, but he stopped the shots after only a few months.
"His size was never a real issue other than he wanted to play football, which was the only thing I wouldn't let him do," Robinson said. "He said, 'But mom, I'm faster.' I told him, 'If they catch you, they're going to squish you."'
Rose's small frame stood out to Bellefonte wrestling coach Fran Johnson, who had grown tired of forfeiting matches in the 103-pound weight class because he didn't have a wrestler. Johnson persuaded Rose to join the team as a sophomore.
"I didn't know anything about wrestling," Rose said. "He said I was small enough and they needed a 103-pounder, so I went in.
Rose lost a whole lot more matches than he won his first year, but showed some promise.
"For someone of that age and so small like that, there aren't a lot of natural wrestlers," Johnson said. "He had that mental attitude and strong work ethic. He wanted to do his best and he kept working on it."
Rose posted a winning record his junior season and he lost only three times his senior year, winning a district championship and advancing to the Class AAA state finals. Rose was recruited by powerhouse programs and planned on going to college until the NCAA raised its lowest weight class from 118 to 125 pounds. Deciding that was too much weight for him to pack on, he quit.
With wrestling out of the picture, Rose grappled with what to do next. He decided he wanted to be a jockey after reading a story about one who quit school and made big bucks as an apprentice.
A family friend took Rose to the track, and that convinced him.
"It looked like something I could figure out," Rose said.
His mom contacted some acquaintances and arranged for him to break into the business in Puerto Rico. Rose lived there for nine months, mostly to break in 2-year-olds.
When he returned, Robinson relied on a co-worker's referral and arrived at Delaware Park to meet with brothers Mike Petro, a trainer, and Nick Petro, a jockey.
"I basically sold them on my son," she said. "I was looking for some place for Jeremy to work and further his career."
Swayed by his persuasive mother and feeling Rose had the proper build to succeed, the Petros gave Rose a job as an exercise rider. In September 2000 they gave him a shot aboard a Mike Petro-trained horse named Daly's Princess. Rose came home a winner.
"He could stay on any horse we put him on," Mike Petro said. "He didn't know much as far as racing was concerned, but he learned real quick. It came natural to him."
Soon, Rose hooked up with trainer Tim Ritchey, who put him on Afleet Alex. Rose was aboard Afleet Alex for the horse's first six races, until the Philadelphia owners of the Cash Is King Stable decided a tested jockey should take the saddle for the Triple Crown trail.
Rose said he understood the decision, but when the horse finished last in the Rebel Stakes and the replacement jockey committed to another horse for the Derby, Delaware Park's finest was back in the saddle and Rose rode Afleet Alex to a third-place finish.
Rose, who lives in Elkton, Md., has thoughts of one day riding better horses in bigger races, maybe in California. For now, he's happy to be near home. He bought his mom a farm in Centre Hall, Pa., and just coaxed his buddies into helping him finish an extra room he's adding on for their Texas Hold 'Em games.
So far, instant fame has hasn't swelled Rose's ego.
"If it does, we'll smack him," Mike Petro said, laughing. "If that doesn't work, we'll call his mom."
Watch the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 11 at 5 p.m. ET on NBC
Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press
