Laffit - All About Winning

if the six of the greatest athletes that ever lived Lafitte is right there with them there's there's nothing that any other great athlete has done that Lafitte can't match you know I didn't get to see Babe Ruth I was lucky enough to watch Michael Jordan a couple of times in person but mostly on TV i watch Wayne Gretzky for many years playing with with the Kings and to me Lafitte belongs in that category of the pantheon of athletes that we've seen in the United States during the 20th century he's like the best jockey in the world statistically and then when you get to know him as a person there's a lot of traits that you can see why he became you know one of the most consistent and incredible athletes over our over the decades I would put with feet in one of the top ten athletes in the last hundred years not just jockeys but to do what he did at 54 55 years old is incredible and I just don't think any other athlete than any other field could accomplish what he did Lafitte would probably appreciate being compared more to Lou Gehrig or Cal Ripken guys that showed up every single day for a long period of time played through injuries played through illness played through slumps played through personal crisis kept playing the game and that's what Lafite been chi has always done and always did and and he arrived at the end of his career so far in front of the next guy that you know you look back and like wow what did I do [Music] the story begins here in the narrow strip of a country famous for its canal its straw hats and its thoroughbred jockeys Lafitte pink-eyed jr. was born on December 29th 1946 he was raised in a bottom floor corner apartment in a barrio de San Felipe at Panama City neighborhood on the shores of the Gulf of Panama photos of the well-scrubbed baby Lafitte don't show it but money was tight for the pink eyes and local civic improvements were rare the commerce of the American built canal did not trickle down to poor corners like San Felipe which meant his mother Rosario at her hands for caring for Lafitte his sister and their two young Step Brothers the family had enough to let Lafitte being all-around boy he played baseball and soccer cowboys and Indians he fished with friends and the warm tide waters of the Gulf he spent summers with his grandfather swimming in this bill way about Shore toadette showed Adam on Sundays like a good son he dressed in his nicest clothes and walked a few blocks for mass at iglesia de san jose pink eyes boyhood prayers were simple he prayed for the health of his family he prayed for the New York Yankees and for a chance to play alongside his idol Mickey Mantle [Music] more than 40 years later on a rare visit home the memories came flooding back the city of his birth had grown a modern skyline the canal now belongs to Panama for pinkeye it was a moment to remember that teenage version of Lafitte all-star second baseman and future major leaguer stepping in for a few imaginary cuts in his neighborhood ballpark and a reunion with the very same teammates who knew him when everybody told me I was gonna be too small to be a to be a baseball player and I said well if I cannot be a baseball player be a jockey I started going to the track when I got to the track the people over there they knew me because my father was a jockey and when I used to say my name they know you use some of the jockey Lafite pinkeye my father was running in Venezuela but all right away they start telling me that I was going to be too big to be a jockey and it bothers me really bothered me so I said I show them you know and I started right away washing my way I didn't want to eat I remember my mother being very worried because I was 15 years old at the time I was becoming a man anytime and she said you're supposed to eat you know I want you to become a man you know you something could go wrong you know and you gotta eat and I didn't want to eat because I said well I want to be a jockey and if I'm too heavy I won't be able to be a jockey well the first time I rode in a official race in my country Panama I rode a horse called whaling and I had no helmet so I I there was a noise okey there that we had to helmet I'm let me borrow his helmet when he said it and it was kind of big for me you know but I need a helmet so I I wore the first time now I find myself in the stretch in front and and I say guys I got a see you know and I and I couldn't see because they had me keep going dry on my face so fine said bear with is so I took the helmet off and I won the race Lafitte has had an operatic life when he wins his first race and his helmet toss toss it off halfway through the race and finishes his first winner of his life bareheaded and smiling I mean that that that kicks things off in a big way and there's no way that any part of a life that starts like that is going to be boring I mean I hear we can took it every when I was a little kid in Panama so I grew up thinking gosh what it'd be like to win that race you know and and that's what I wanted I wanted the experience to win the feeling or winning that race and many many times when i when i after i wrote it raised a way that i finished second up there or out of the morning or whatever i'd see the winning jockey and i'm going like a wow boy I would share it I wish I had a feeling you know I wish I could feel what he's feeling right now fueled by this burning desire to win pink I was an overnight sensation a teenage superstar in his native land when American horse owner Fred Hooper beckoned the larger racing world came to know his name the first thing I knew Lafitte was when Hooper told me that he was considering bringing her a rider up from Panama that it was doing well down there that was leading rider in Panama and and he had already brought Braulio buyers up so he knew something about the riders down there I would say you're selling the kid I left when I left Panama I had everything there I had a new house I was making a lot of money I had a girlfriend I really had no reason to live you know anything I came over here and I was very lonesome I felt very lonesome and cut cotton if it would have been a tough guy I probably will go back through it first race on July the first the filly that he rode teaches art one easily and he just seemed seemed like he just took off from there he wouldn't races correctly every day just coming from another country and starting out like he did it was amazing I recall when the feet first came from Panama he couldn't speak English came to our house and we had a lot of photographs up on our wall leading upstairs and the feet would stand there for hours at a time looking at those photographs and with amazement you know and I thought to myself here's a guy that's really gonna make it because I got the feeling when he was looking at that photos that someday it will be me the first couple of races I wrote anything I was gonna make it here I said this place is too fast you know the horse is going too fast you know there everybody come out of the gate and it's chaos you know I mean he was rough [Music] I should have listened to my mother I should have gone to school because I'm gonna kill myself over here Rosario had good reason to worry her son was playing a dangerous game in a faraway land but she also had a right to be proud building on his success in Chicago in New York pink I traveled west to Southern California in 1967 before long he was being mentioned in the same breath with such legendary writers as Johnny Longden and bill shoemaker I used to think I could get Johnny to retire to have an easy time of it but not this is bad with Lafitte just as tough are you gonna have competition Bill Doran that's true crack game read on competition than that it's true yeah I think older than you were the toughest guy to beat them and when you got the 2 in front nobody ever touch it when he caught him you dude goodbye but I watch you two fellers I don't know of any better to Langdon was right shoemaker and pin Kai were two sides of the same rare coin I remember when he came in the judge to my a different thing I I said what boy sees more guy you know it's styling and I I mean picture him being that that leader you know through the year we got to be good friends you know I came to California we we used to get together every weekend whether he won the big gray so I want the big race we used to get together and celebrate and it was a lot of fun you know and I learned a lot from him it was an amazing time because you really did see the levels of the riders from London to Schumaker to pink you could see the handoff you could just it was so clear you know where it was headed Willie shoemaker Lafitte pink guy those were the two big riders and I remember a few pink eye winning the first four races the card that day and all of them he was right there at the top of stretch and just drove off in one and and I just remember him just being with a horse just really like this little this muscle mass coming down the stretch and ever since day I can still remember him winning those four races and I had to leave and it was like wow man this guy is incredible Lafitte has an incredible amount of determination I mean he's unwavering and his desire to win he is passionate about what he does you loved race riding it's really every fiber of his being to just want to be a jockey if riders don't win they don't get much money seconds and thirds are nice but if you don't achieve that goal of winning as far as a rider to make it in the thoroughbred racing game you're not gonna ride very long I thought about being the lead writer always always when I eat throw my career there wasn't a time when I didn't think about no being a writer there some time where I a said that not to be alien right because I could you know I wasn't writing us well and I wasn't writing the the the good horses but there was always in the back of my mind if I had the opportunity I would be fighting right there for it well I don't think Lafitte's desire to be number one was any greater than a number of other jockeys and I wrote against I don't think it was any greater than mine for a period of time the thing that separates the feet is the longevity for someone to go along with that psyche you know that mindset that work ethic for that long a period of time is mind-boggling to me vividly remember that day the first day that I met bethey it was first horse I ever owned Charlie Willingham had bought a horse um I wasn't in battle royal I think it was his first first horse that he owns and at the time he was married he was married to Angie Dickinson and he put the feet on the horse and a metal fiend it was first time I ever saw a jockey wearing myselfs my first race and was very very exciting and they took about 10 minutes to develop the film and we won by this much and then I remember the horse won by a nose and so laughs II had to be 17 you know he maybe had just been in the country maybe less than a year come over maybe on the contract at Hooper and that was my introduction to Livi in 1968 at the age of 21 pink I married Linda at Kovac the daughter of a Las Vegas construction magnate theirs was a whirlwind romance and a fairytale wedding a Royal Union befitting the young Prince of California racing Lafitte was devoted to Linda and in turn Linda became Lafitte's most passionate fan she catalogued his victories with scholarly diligence and agonized over his defeats always ready to defend her husband against the slightest whispers of doubt [Music] while Linda's love was unconditional the racing press and racing fans were harder to please but eventually Lafite seduced him as well with his combination of raw power in competitive zeal the proof came in 1971 at Santa Anita Park when he stood alongside his friend Bill shoemaker to receive California's top riding honor the George Woolf memorial jockey award he doesn't show emotions too much he's very quiet and when something's bothering him it's very hard for him to let it be known it's very hard for me to go anyplace with her and he just forgets about it when I wreck it the best give it get the better there was no way with me to be a really great jockey you have to possess finesse good hands and you have to have the ability like Lafitte had it all he could ride a sprint race or he could ride a long-distance race get a horse to relax come from off the pace and finish very strongly and there's where his greatest strengths would come into play is that he had that physical ability to finish very very strongly and that very often was the deciding factor in in a lot of his victories not once not twice but a half a dozen times I'd see him in front coming into the stretch and then two horses would pass him and he would come back now I I'm telling you I saw him do that a dozen times fall back to third place and come back at them through sheer strength and power one of the most difficult things to do is finish the race with both hands on the reins and pushing with all your might when we're coming down there riding we're not just kind of going in motion with the horse we're actually pushing with our arms and shoulders as hard as we possibly can trying to get that horse to stretch his neck out his head out as far as it possibly will extend it's such a combination of being a gifted writer being a gifted athlete and then having the focus that he had all of his life to to just tunnel vision on on a race and what he needed to do to win and and you know maybe maybe when they turn for home at the quarter Pole and he knuckle down and started pushing I don't know if anybody could get more out of a horse the last quarter mile on their feet [Applause] at the end if you were coming up Tom and he had horse you better be as strong as him to finish if not you weren't gonna be the last resort was the whip and when you go to it I mean you'd have to you definitely have to have one year and like I said if you had you have to have that much more than he had to beat him but maybe that far you know you know Lafitte was a very aggressive rider early in a race and he always had a forward position and you would always think that well he's really used up his horse when you hooked into the feet you better have some horse and you better come full head of steam because he always had something left lost kitty between horses Perdue King here comes bowl second now making a huge move on the outside mister game player down at the Rio lost kitty Perdue king bowl second on the extreme outside coming to get the lead now gold second lost Kitty's very game on the inside Perdue King is their goal second and lost kitty but it's going to be ball second lost Kitty's coming I believe lost Kitty got a nose but that was one of the times when I thought in in my career when I just went home and laid down that night and said you know thank God for Lafite pinkeye because we're not gonna win that with anybody else it was one of those moments anytime that you got in ahead and had battle with Lafitte pinkeye and you happen to be d-mannose I think for me that was one of the most satisfying feelings I could ever get because you knew you were beating the best and one of the not not one of the best but the strongest finisher that the sport has ever seen even until the day he retired it was October of 1984 I'll never forget and it was just the feet and I we'd left the rest of the field and he looked over at me and he said something like no whips huh like that I said all right and he says I'll bet you a hundred to foobie too so we started writing you know we thought running no meeting nobody wasn't heating a source but I didn't think got tough for me you know it looked like he was gonna beat me I said the hell with this so I whip my horse and I read in my head I said you lost the bet and he started laughing he said yeah I lost the bet but I won the race and the race was like a $50,000 first prize money so that was sort of teaching the new kid on the block of lesson there they are saying that it goes like is know how you win or how you play the game where it's not that in horse racing in horse racing is how you win the race how you win they're into the stretch still follow rocky along the rail and on the outside crystal water pistol' water moving rate fiscal letters on the outside and Father akhi on the rail fights back again further back crystal water on the outside la fée it's the most dedicated dedicated person I've ever met in relation to anything whether it's a job career family whatever it is here's a guy that will go out to dinner and they will bring dessert over and I know how much he likes sweets oh he will do it just take a fork in it taste it and say wow dessert was great and that will be it I couldn't do that but the thing that sets Lafitte apart and in said support what I would call the great writers that I've seen is something that's less tangible an inner drive a dedication some spirit that takes them their performance to different levels but I can bet all my money that is nobody more dedicated in LA sleeping guy and no body in the world will have more willpower and lastly pink eye to keep his way that he did for many years to eat the way that he did the discipline that he did that he had you can't make him do anything that he thought he was wrong I thought my friend that I had you know you always gone out of the way and do stuff he was like he's fun to be with him because he was he was always laughing anything you say he laughed so he makes a good customer for a comedian you could say anything and he laughed he laughed for hours and hours but he won't do any you trotted that make it to do some have a drink or stay a little later than one o'clock no way what'd I tell you if you look in the dictionary and you're not under the word discipline would be a picture of Lafite pinkeye right there I never seen somebody so disciplined it would be when I got inducted into the Hall of Fame I was very proud and I was I felt bad that I wasn't there and I very surprised because I was I was so young I remember the area in broken collarbone and I would have to fry all the way I was thinking about going over there with a broken collarbone and that's why we had to say a speech and you know how young when you come to say speech I don't think that's why I'm over here very nervous when I wouldn't say special just talking from a people so I decide not to go but I wish I wish I would her I said at the Hall of Fame ceremony a few years ago I said what does it all mean when they put you in here it means just simply this when all the champions get together you can stand call jockey or not and say I belong and it's that simple in 1978 pink I was a bystander to the exploits of the graceful chestnut affirmed and his young jockey Steve cotton as they won America's Triple Crown some things though are meant to be when pink I took over on a firm the following year it was a match made in racing heaven they never lost a race together one of the horses that I wrote I feel was the best not only was the consistent but he was a fighter and to me this mother horse that I knew one of the best rides I ever saw the feat put up was in 1979 at Belmont Park Lafitte was unaffected a bit who should have won the Triple Crown in 1979 these are two of the greatest sources that I ever saw with my eye and I think she'll and Lafitte would too the two greatest jockeys without question I never seen a race where it was so much publicity I mean they were social rivalry between these two horses a firm and a spectacular beat and I tell you I never felt so much pressure another race Lafitte put up probably in my mind or not probably definitely in my mind the greatest performance in that I ever saw [Music] an early lead gallant best on the inside in second by a length spectacular bid his third by a headbutt coastal on the outside of very close fourth they are tightly bunched past the stands for the first time the feet positioned himself in such a way that he could take advantage of having the lead and he floated out cause shoe to take back a little bit shoe dropped in the feet floated back in he was playing cat-and-mouse with shoe all the way on the outside can't get closer spectacular bit still in second Bailey how do you want to go inside so how'd you make her outside on me and I think you were wanted to do the same thing coastal spectacular head back into third coasters now challenging the leader he caused shoe to really think hard and change his mind a couple of times during the running in the race I kept him way out and finally he said the hell with this he took back and went inside it's spectacular between those two and dropping back ahead get that bestest still for that the stretch [Applause] it's time stone between those two spectacular street second costal is dropping back in third past the sixteenth pole takes this reese first of the year not only was i happy guy and jockey but I was relieved I was very relieved Lafitte certainly made the difference and here's an example of how well he could perform in a very high-pressure situation like that there was a lot on the line with horse of the year these two horses were valued you know in the millions and millions of dollars a lot of money was wagered on both horses on the day and Lafitte just rose to the top he did not like anybody to leave the jockeys room after him he felt that he wanted to always be the last one out and there were times when he would leave the jockeys room and start to walk towards the paddock and then realized if somebody might be behind him and he would circle back behind that person to let them go I was uncomfortable I felt a little bit better with pressure before the race the less time I spend in the paddock and got on my horse the better for me I felt like when I got on on the horse I relaxed I was ready to go out there and win it race it was very superstitious to be honest with you if he hates something anyone for races that they he would think it's certainly eight and he would eat that you know the cows come home my mother said to me do me a favor and I want you to wear your underwear inside out and I say well why she said well because for people that have bad wishes it won't work so ever since I wear my underwear inside of it better safe than sorry because horse racing takes no prisoners Lafitte thought the filly named Landa Lucy could have been a female version of a firm the first time Lafitte Roeder when they put the time up I remember distinctly Lafitte standing on the scale saying I don't think she went that quick you know because she was so deceptive and I mean you she got she captured the imagination of the public being by Seattle Slew didn't hurt Landon Landon Lucy drying out running easily midnight rapture and miss bigwig and Linda Lucy is the winner by eight weeks lambda Lucy just galloping by twelve links lambda Lucy the winner by 15 like Lafitte takes his cross chirps to her and that's when 21 links happen she opened up 21 lengths as a two-year-old filly from the quarter pull to the wire in record time Lafitte's pulling up on the backside I am awestruck I had never seen that kind of coloration they're worth running them like that I thought I had a champion I really thought I was gonna have a lot of fun with her and then she she got very sick and she she never came out of it she just she'll die you know and what social loss you know I remember Wayne was very distraught about the whole thing you know he took it very very very bad and we all did you know because we knew what we had a winning losing race that I'll always remember Lafitte riding and was the Santa Anita Handicap of 1982 and he was on one of the all-time tough horses named Perot he was a French horse trained by Charlie Whittingham and the horse in the race against him the horse to beat was John Henry it was a horse that Lafitte had ridden before well these two horses are clearly the two best older horses in the world at the time but there's this man I mean it's New York subway traffic it's just it's incredible Perrault gets bounced around the first turn John Henry gets stopped shoemakers riding John Henry parole starts to make his way up pinkeye is now making every perfect move you can imagine they forgot you to be John Henry these two horses all of a sudden at the top would stretch after all the trouble they've had to get there for the first mile and they pop out together and it's almost like the rest of the field disappears and here they come down the stretch and keep eyes on the inside on parole shoemakers on the outside on John Henry and they're gone at each other these two horses are not giving up anything right down to the line and toward the end of the race I think I hit Saburo left-handed just to shake him up and give him that little extra finish the pearl comes out into John Henry and they drift wide Poirot beats John Henry by this much and is disqualified and I want to tell you that that was the best losing ride I'd ever seen the most exciting race I'd ever seen and the fact that you had bill shoemaker and Lafitte pinkeye involved at the end two great friends from a long time ago made it just that much more special we threw this little plane and I remember that I was I was sitting in in in in a way where I was looking at the passenger sitting in front of me I was looking at the back of the plane about a minute minute and a half into the flight I was sitting right next to engine the ignition just exploded on this side that I was on it sounded like a trash can full of tin cans being shaken my left side yes he just blew off I immediately thought what this was the end for us I didn't really have any doubt about it and be brain move and everything and I thought we're going down I looked around the cabin with feet still had that paper in front of him never put the paper down the Racing Form I remember looking at there and there was growing his heart you know I thought he was like we are to get one of the other passengers was saying prayers had a rosary out and another passenger was looking for an escape route from the aircraft mrs. Eric turned around and said we have nothing to worry about I've spoken with the pilots and we can fly all the way to Kansas on this one engine and with that Lafitte the paper dropped and he just says finally this this iron man had broken through in it and had it certainly some concern with his mortality I remember the old nurse they were talking about getting a new airplane and I'm I was getting ready to go home I didn't want to get him another plane but I was you know I was kind of afraid to say that any wanna go you know so I said well I said I have to stick with it you know I gotta eat they get on my plane when hard to go with him we got off the airplane we disembarked and the first thing I saw the feet do he went over to a candy machine Ibaka candy and I started laughing because before we've taken off he'd nibbled on two peanuts which he'd cut in half they're so dedicated to his diet and I started laughing when I saw me in those candy bars he said something to the effect that came so close I gotta have some of this because I've given up so much the sacrifice was worth it ten Kai's reputation as a big money writer kept him in demand when Hall of Fame trainer woody Stevens needed a last-minute replacement for the 1982 Belmont Stakes Lafitte was happy to answer the call would he want you to go on and ride a horse tomorrow conquistadora Cielo and I said Wow you know he surprised me you know he said we should go I say okay so I got ready you know took a plane right after it races back to New York Belmont Park is the Long Island landmark where Manowar citation and Secretariat stake their claims as the greatest horses of the 20th century [Music] at first glance Belmont could pass for an Ivy League university complete with imposing brick architecture and tree-lined promenade but Belmont is where students of the game look to the best of the Thoroughbred breed and on that rainy day in 1982 pink eye and conquistador Cielo gave them something to remember into the lead is set on the inside is alongside in second then it's linkage in third but conquistadors Cielo has moved up taken lots of ground racing very far from the rail he was eating the track own bilieva horse he stuck Dorsey yellow complete control this Belmont Stakes has appealed by 15 weeks maybe 20 lengths that was my first three big ground race and I was so excited because guys I never thought I would one you know and what my advice at least I won one you know I wanted that the victory left him hungry for more one year later pink I returned to Belmont once again riding a horse for woody Stevens this year when riding caveat when they came to the top of the stretch angel Cordero was on a horse that was leading and he tried to shut Lafitte off and he put Lafitte and so tight that that caveat bounced off the rail at the top of the stretch of Belmont Park but Lafitte was just so fearless and the horse fortunate was so courageous I was thinking it either I'm gonna go through oh I'm gonna go down I'm gonna what try to get through and sure enough by the time I got there the ball was so tired that we tossed the other horse I tossed agree oh my boo was big hole in my boot by touching the rail now when I figure there when he started it all was that at the time he got that he was no and he went for it and he made anyone the Belmont I mean how many people casino he wasn't room there and you look at that film he went for it and he rides his clothes to the rails and he ride a ride and I've seen the whitewash off the fence on his boot more than once so he rides where the Goron's tight if I would have chickened out a little bit I would have to take back and clip here and I woulda lost the race there's no question about my I woulda lost the race so I had to I had to go to that to the hole I don't think there's a more dangerous profession in the world and being a writer there just isn't and you know I think somebody told me once they kill more jockeys and race car drivers and and I believe it I've lost some really good friends and racing that way and riders I meet that ambulance every time it happens and these guys I mean they're they're doing it every day and they know the results that mean they've got friends that are in wheelchairs that aren't getting out of those wheelchairs ever it's the only sport where an emergency medical team follows the action jockeys in the in the forties were the highest-paid athletes like Ted Williams and a jockey like Eddie Arcaro may make the same money as as it Ted Williams and I thought that really I'm you know you hear people wanting to like say the jockeys can make it too much money they don't want to give him the 10% you know I listen that they only want to give them the 5% if they don't win so I just think they're I'd be honestly I think they're underpaid because anytime you get yourself on the horse and you've owned that starting it's a real dangerous job over the years we've seen horse to jump over the inside fence outside fence jump out the back go out the front uni what we've seen it we've seen jockeys get their legs broke their arms broke we've seen assistance starters get their legs and arms broke you seen people get knocked unconscious it just it's just rough it's just rough game there's steel all around you it's padded but you have 1,100 pound animal under if he decides to go up and over that's your your reflex you can only do so much all of a sudden your jump Darrell he gave me no warning or nothing he just jumped around and and I went in in a minute or in the hole that is between the main track and into scores and he follow me I went on top of him and hit the rail he follow me and landed right on top of me more often than not he came back before he was supposed to come back I saw him ride with a broken back I've seen him ride in in pain and the most amazing thing is that he doesn't complain I broke my my collarbone sometime when I count I count 12 and sometimes I count 13 and my reefs in the front many times both sigh I had a broken toe a broken leg one time henkle surprising is surprising that is no more injuries to tell you into sometime it's like a miracle that a horse a horse it don't go down more often you know one of the amazing things about the Lafitte pink eyes and the other riders in the room is they go through one of those and they climb back aboard I mean when you stop and think about that I mean I think there's a small group of people that maybe people that jumped above Snake River Canyon or something and then riders because you you you really wonder why a guy even if he loves the sport has a passion for it it's gonna climb back aboard after one like that Albert was was probably one of was going to be one of the greatest riders that ever lived he could get so much run out of a horse and just a really likable guy always happy always up in Lafitte and and our who were best of friends an ADA's horse flipped up the bar that was up above him he had right below the helmet and just smashed the back of his head and killed him instantly but they all understand the danger of the sport and they know that that could happen to them any day and it's a business and they they go right back to it in February we were fighting fully and brightest I Anita went when the accident happened so it was a big big surprise for everybody that all of a song is not there anymore he is followed by song he he's there and all of a song he got killed you know a lot of people a lot of a lot of the jockeys you know friends they were very sad and but it is something that it happened sometime and you just you just you feel it but you have to forget about it because you can just be thinking that way because you are doing st. job you got to go out there every day and and and put yourself in danger you just never know when something when it's your turn to do what we do you have to love it you truly have to love it because you know in the back of your mind every day that and your family you know you could die tomorrow and that's that's the bottom line but yeah we love it so much and you know you take it fall and you get up and go again and the other day unfortunately I have a little accident there I can my horse clip hill and I went down and and broke three ribs and in my back and my right side - and my left and I had a broken dish and and I mean I was very close to it we paralyzed but that's this that's part of the business you need to face reality you need to fade out writers get hurt that horses breakdown that people go broke and that we die that's part of life okay when you learn that you should don't be afraid to show anything series if you go plus you've got on the track it trade the opportunity of that feeling of sharing something with the thoroughbred racehorse of coming down the stretch you know pushing on its neck and heading its foot full match the way you push your ear and like timing it to share something like that with a horse and then you know your trade office I'll give anything I'll give my life if I have to you know but let me do this every day and let me have the chance to ride if I as a representative of the jockeys in this industry had to present to the world how athletic we are Lafitte would be the guy that I would put on stage if anybody's ever tried to sit in a chair without a chair take the position sitting in a chair without a chair that's similar to what we are doing on the back horse with our legs just with our legs and we do it for two two and a half minutes and most people that I come across can't do it for 30 seconds at the same time you have to be very very strong from your shoulders and your forearms to help the horse run it now you have to take all the strength and you have to balance it to where you're not throwing a horse is tried out so not only do you have to be exceedingly strong you have to have great balance then you have to have the courage to climb upon them and do it going 40 miles an hour the most physically fit athlete is Luffy Pincott there's not an ounce of fat on that man it's just muscle pure muscle that you combine that pure muscle with no fear so I really believe that he is the best all-around athlete and people say oh yeah they're just sitting on the horse the horse does all the work no that's not true I mean you know the best horse of the race can get beat so many times by an inferior jockey or a jockeys mistake my first view and thought about Lafite is he was the strongest rider that I had never seen needed he appeared to almost dominate the animals and carry them to the finish line ahead of the rest the best way I can describe it is he looked like a miniature mr. atlas I mean he had a perfectly sculpted body he wasn't aggressively intimidating he was subdued I mean he didn't say much she was very quiet but he just looked at and you knew his record going in but you looked at his physical attributes and he intimidate you when you look at the averages of riders it's like five years for an average rider to ride and he was 39 years he was the top of his game you know to stay at the top of your game for that many here sis amazing image there's no other athlete in the world that could accomplish that if anyone thinks that being a professional jockey is all work and no play they haven't been to Del Mar [Music] the track was the 1937 brainchild of a Hollywood crowd led by being Crosby who funded the construction and provided the theme song cool breezes from the Pacific and the warm Summer Sun care of the rest the feet pinkeye the kid from tropical Panama felt right at home he began riding at Del Mar in 1976 and before he was through reign as the leading jockey in Del Mar history [Music] Delmar Delmar was great you know we didn't assume that was really our summer vacation we get out of school in June but we were counting down the days until July and it was such a tight-knit community and everybody would be at the beach before going to the races and we'd come home from dinner or whatever it was and find out on the porch fishing he'd go down by the water and fish that's like one of us you know favorite pastimes outside of riding the biggest moment was gonna see where I was the most nervous with him riding hard life was down here at Del Mar in the DOE Morrow's she was the favorite and I tell you she almost went down in the first turn she has so much trouble during the race here second bag right focused straight ahead yep she overcame all kinds of trouble all kinds of trouble boxed in a couple guys have mercy pending against their heads right number one fork now moving up behind me inside a foggy morning I'm h3 match that in practice Barrett turning into the stretch a baby plants that right number one is second by a head and here kim gitae mean and right perfect dammit site right number one [Applause] he was so into riding you know and just be focused on that so much that if sometimes he would it's like walk out of the room he forget to put his helmet on or he'd have one on and take another one with him and he'd just do weird things like that a lot of times he'd take like a little three minute nap and he had this little arm that he used to put on his boot I forgot the other arm I took it with me and I realized that I had to work while I wasn't a horse so I didn't want to have the alarm there you know so I put him inside my my own there were and when for some reason when I started going to the gate the alarm went off I shut it off look II think I was obsessed with winning the Kentucky Derby it's it's v race it's the most famous race in the world I don't care where you are he tried for many years to win the race he had great mounts once you get involved in the game you do everything that you do every day the Kentucky Derby was just ran yesterday I'm already want to know how I can situate myself for next year's and and that's how that's what it's all about without that Derby there's a huge gap that needs to be filled in and I watched a tape in 1985 which was my first Kentucky Derby I think that moment sticks in my mind more than any other thing about Lafite and had a huge impact on me to the importance of the Kentucky Derby to hear his voice cracking and tell him what what he did that morning in the jocks room saying that he had never asked God for help in a race he had asked him to keep him safe and keep the other jockeys safe but he said a little prayer before he went out he said got it if you can give me a little push this afternoon I would really appreciate it and that says right there what it means I mean I get emotional thinking about it because when I heard that I knew how important it was to defeat pan KY 18 1984 denry when that rose well for some reason I knew that that was probably my last chance to win the Derby I had a lot of pressure my wife was very sick at the time so many things were wrong going wrong for me you know I wasn't doing that great but I remember this this particular date I said you know I said god I today if you can give me a little push I really appreciated it's our time that I win this race if I can do anything for me just do it today [Music] from the rail it's out there with bear hunt on the outside up in the center of the track it's a swale they're moving [Applause] finishing Lafitte pink-eyed jr. just moving here for a minute yes after 11 tries the first Derby when you thought it over a little bit you have any more words to describe it well I feel a wonderful I never experienced any feeling like that after I cross the wire and she said once you do that once I hope I'll do it again and I wish my father would my family were here today to celebrate and I remember I got to gallop out with the feet you know as we were galloping out after the race after he'd wanted and just see how excited he was he finally won it you know and I'd never said that picture stays in my mind and that's why I don't know it's maybe has something doing me want to win it so bad to you and I last quarter mile you just take off running I don't think you breathe I don't even know if I took a breath the next 400 yards after the wire my entire life was just ching ching ching ching ching how did I get here you know how I can't believe I just did this my first Kentucky Derby that I finished second I was very disappointed but I was excited Wow won the Kentucky Derby and I called Ken the second one and just Kabira now it's like it's very girly and very helpful and Lafite come to me get off get off that mentality he said it took me 20 some years and I wrote probably 1012 favors and I won one and I guarantee you that God is saving one for you and you get to meet people and they say they tell they say oh he's a jockey you know and oh say oh yeah oh you are one d Kentucky Derby I said yes not kidding Wow they get all because that's that racing everybody's mine you know so to finally get that elusive derby win on Swale I think was really a crowning achievement for him and then to consider that he rode for another 19 years after that at a high level is amazing but that was really the the race that I think completed him was was winning the Kentucky Derby when I started writing I I did it because I wanted to do something I want to hear my family I my mother I wanna help I want to buy a house for her but I knew that I wasn't gonna have a long career I said I just could not last maybe until I'm about Tori maybe because of my whey protein because I knew I wasn't that stupid know what I was going through his body was like a 160 pound person compact you know his mother used to call her the little Incredible Hulk in THE Jackson his will to maintain his way and his will to accomplish goal was very very strong and then I try all the diets I did the high protein the low protein the no protein the nor only no carbs I try everything and not nothing you know it worked for a little bit yes when you put it in you know you know you want to lose weight and then I was too weak I went to the feel of it on me you take this medicine you do this stay away from coffee stay away from iron keep doing your exercises he was my doctor literally in six weeks when that doctor took the cast off he told me your heal you don't need another second cast and I feel it I told you who will be he did a lot of studying over the years with regard to nutrition and exercise and basically told himself a long time ago that this is this was the way he was going to have to do it and he adhered to that regimen and that's a big reason for his success you a bill like a moon you know like a little Spartan Eggar you have to have a little bit of everything you have to have a better protein you have to have some carbs and you have to have some oil in some sugar I think if you eliminate any of those things you will not get intro especially if you are an athlete Linda pink I was fighting her own battles with depression and the effects of a ruptured appendix in December of 1984 she threw her husband a lavish birthday party I never liked to have a birthday party for me and she insisted you know and and I said okay go ahead and she invited everybody actually was it was kind of eerie you know in fact she wasn't enjoying life whatsoever she kept repeating that to me many times and and one day she ended her life you just feel like you're never gonna come out of it you know but I I start thinking about well I still got family you know I still got my kids I think I my mother I think I've family brothers so I just I said like if I want to keep writing which is what I like I have to keep going so I put myself together which person was difficult I rather like him when he'd get on a horse the horse sensitive sensed his relaxed mode not uptight the horses feel that it for jocks uptight he might not perform as well as if a jocks relaxed every animal he rode knew what Lafitte wanted out of him whether just giving him that little extra inch towards the end that resilience he will say well to transmit that to the animal and I will say they'll be the old-time great shoemakers well when I met him he said look at me Here I am a guy that weighs only about 95 97 pounds do you think I could muscle a horse always about 1,200 pounds not in a million years he said my hands are my way of communicating with them the difference between a great Rider average rider and not so telling the rider is degree of hindrance that you create on a horse's back every rider creates a certain degree of hindrance just by virtue of my weight because I weigh 115 pounds there's no way a horse can run as fast carrying me or Lafite as he could went out late in the race deepen the stretch jockeys start getting tired horses are getting tired the jockeys are getting tired the legs are starting to give out the stronger you are the better chance you have of staying in perfect balance and rhythm with that horse that's where Lafitte excelled when they're in motion running then you don't see a horse and a jacket you see just one together in 1985 spend a buck had won the Kentucky Derby but this is before the Triple Crown had offered a bonus because spend a buck going into the Kentucky Derby can one two big prep races at Garden State Park he was eligible for a two million dollar bonus and there was a lot of pressure because he hadn't written the horse before it was a very controversial race because the owners of the horse had decided to forgo the Triple Crown and blow off the Preakness and Belmont in exchange for going after this this jersey Derby and it's it's bonus money when I think about it was so much pressure because I I told he so should a gallop you know I mean I there's no way he could get B it going for the early lead bunting home toward the inside his second and ever spend a buck ranging up between horses and getting the rail as they passed the stands for the first time he was hooked very early in the race they said scorching fractions for the first six furlongs of the race and as they came to the top of the stretch I mean it really looked like spending the buck was completely out of gas and by all rights he was but he had Hercules on his back that day pitching the quarter Paul spending [Applause] Oh [Applause] it seemed almost as though he literally put the horse on his shoulders and carried spend a buck across the line I don't know how many races he won over the years by a neck or a nose because of that incredible upper body strength he had but that was the one that had the most money off the line there was always a lot on the line in Hollywood Park the stylish Los Angeles track were pink I was the undisputed king of the big money events the proof lies in the history of the Hollywood Gold Cup a race first one in 1938 by the legendary Seabiscuit pink I won his first of nine gold cups in 1970 when he was just 23 in 1977 he rode the tenacious crystal water to a narrow victory over the champion filly Casca Paytm two years later Lafitte teen with his all-time favorite affirmed to beat Italian champion sir lad [Applause] text an affair in 1986 riding on a sprained ankle the size of a grapefruit pink I won gold cup number seven was super diamond then at the age of 55 pink I won his ninth Gold Cup in 2002 [Applause] I had a filly that was absolutely crazy and she was so dangerous to ride but he rode for the people that owned it I shouldn't have put him on her and sure enough when they get around to the side the half-mile pole I just see the feet slipping off I saw what did I do bill put him on this and I just kicking myself for putting him on there and so they Jogger up to the gate he jumps off again and they load her in the gate gets in the gate and she flips again and throws him off buying the gate she runs the race I ran it's a bad third this is for 8,000 the cheapest there is when he gets back all I can do is to apologize to him I said I feel so bad I'm so sorry if I put you on her and he just looks at me and he walks away he talks to my assistant and then a Darrel radar nice asteroidal Lafitte one he said you're afraid he's gonna take you off this filly next time the horse was like who might oh like this very much so it was cantering up to the spot and then stopping and then leaping through the air like really high and Corey not good time he was like I'm gonna ride in this horsey is a big source I'm not gonna do this going 45 miles an hour I had the horse like you know slide into the grass and then leap the dirt and then continue with the racing that would just be crazy and everybody's like oh that's really here's really this horse was really exaggerating it turned up in level like solafeet was on the horse and in front of us and I made a turn and they said hey my feet I said would you ride that horse and he goes two times in my life I would ride that horse he goes when I was young and crazy and foolish and now he said pink I was every inch the crazy young kid in 1967 when he got his first look at Santa Anita Park nestled in the golden foothills just miles from downtown Los Angeles built in 1934 santa anita was an art-deco dream that could post a history as rich as Wrigley Field or Fenway Park before he was through pink I would become an important part of that history especially after days like March 14 1987 [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] six straight winners but could he make it seven it was all riding on the back of a stubborn gray horse mean better one of all the horses that I could ruin the last race you know I had to write these sources listen like the wind you know I sir Ivan really liked my chances and sure enough on the turn I said hey what I mean this was running off for good [Applause] [Music] [Applause] that was so happy you know why because maybe we I was what always wanted to win seven races because in Panama I never won seven races and Velasquez won seven races in Panama vici won seven races in Panama and I never did and I came across six times winning seven races over there and that's something that I always wanted to do and finally I got to do it at Sandia well there's no question that I am Lafitte's biggest fan and I mean he's been everything to me I mean when I was a kid I the report used to write in school and you know other people write in reports about Abe Lincoln and Babe Ruth while I was writing about Lafitte big guy and nobody hardly ever knew who he was you know because most twelve-year-old kids don't go to the racetrack and my teachers never knew but he was my hero and like in my bedroom you know and all my friends at the Farrah Fawcett poster on the wall and kiss and Led Zeppelin and maybe dr. J well I had Lafitte just covered in my in my bedroom eight I had the paperclip and his posters program covers and he was everything when I was riding my bike I'd be imagining I was Lafitte thinking that I'd do that pink eye power play I was riding home and it's just I'd never left me as I got old to the day he quit riding it was always the same the greatest performers require a memorable stage for pinkeye that stage was the Breeders Cup introduced in 1984 as the Super Bowl of horse racing riding Colts and fillies young and old over distances short and long pink I became the common denominator of Breeders Cup success I said Lafitte I don't think we're as good as easy core and we might as well recognize this so what I want you to do today is I want you to open up uneasy Gore in the stretch just like you did last time he's gonna clock it Pat days sitting on him he's gonna clock you he is not gonna be concerned about you because he can run by you whenever he wants so what does he do when he rolls up to you I don't want you to resist at all just let him roll right by he again and we'll settle for second today and if you watch the tape this is what happens now we go to the Breeders Cup and here comes the feed in the paddock we're easy Gor is the mortal lock of the 20th century he is every newspaper turf writer scribe handicapper betting $2 Wendell player in America has got ez Gore singled in the Breeders Cup it is a no-brainer I tell the feet in the paddock and I said I want you to roll along on the lead like you'd been doing when you get over on the far turn this is at Churchill Downs by the kitchen which sets over on the far turn near the 3/8 Bowl I said at that point I want you to squeeze off without a lot of fanfare and try to get a length or two lead when you approach the quarter pole on that long stretch of Churchill Downs squeeze off another couple of legs Pat day is not gonna be concerned about you in this horse we put blinkers on him he's going to be sharper today when you turn and stretched for the home stretch I said you ride like you stole him I said I want you to open up and ride as hard as you can is it true pink easy six feet from home [Applause] in my opinion Lafitte Ben Chi and Wayne Lucas pull off the biggest upset in racing I don't know when I thought a horse was a Morlock like or was in that Breeders Cup and yet even second I think one of his greatest rides ever though was in the 1986 Breeders Cup Classic he was on a a middle priced horse named Skywalker who was kind of suspect at running a mile and a quarter and there was a lot of pace in the race that day there was a horse named precision ax stin there there was a very strong stretch runner named Turk oh man and the feet put on a riding clinic for the ages that day my 80s was away slowly Skywalker comes away for the lead and tore the inside it's precision as' going into the first turn he was able to put enough pressure on precision ax staying just in front of and just to the outside of that horse that precision astiz extremely uncomfortable being in there and when they got to the far turn Lafitte decided to bust the race open go for the lead there he left the precision as B hind him and he needed to make that move then because Turco man was rallying from behind and Turk oh man made a powerful late run [Music] to catch Skywalker he leads by pulling with the flute onto the wire precision at this second gentleman coming third Skywalker is still there precision is take the man [Music] bird breeders cut plastic the fine line that Lafitte had to negotiate in that race between not going too fast early but taking care of a speed horse who could have really messed him up early on the lead blowing the race open a little earlier than some jockeys might have felt comfortable doing because he knew what was going to be coming late in the race and having enough to hold off Jericho man to me that two minutes in terms of what he had to accomplish for a mile and a quarter in a race like that I think might have been his greatest right I tell you I got on by Akua at the right time I got on her she was a very narrow sweetie she was unbelievable good she was the two made the best filly I have it rode I recall when Lafitte started riding her you know he said well if I can get it relax a little bit you know maybe we can do it well from then on Lafitte rotor and boy he just got her to relax and and she just kept winning and winning and winning but she is seven legs off the lead and gorgeous the rail [Applause] in the 1993 juvenile for Phyllis two-year-old Felicia I wrote a filly called fun children which I really liked us feeling she was a big strong feeling and she could run and I really like my chance at that day the best relief from the you're wearing the breath field from everywhere were here and three furlongs from the line now that the leader is still our doula sar doula is strong on the lead stellar cat still trying to get to her heavenly prize and potent chatters in here on the outside and here she comes as they move toward the top of the stretch trying to fight off [Music] [Applause] what up finish here and the big rob's here to a narrow victory over Sardella and there is Lafitte pin Chi junior now with seven Breeders Cup wins and still one not closer to Bill shoemakers all-time records over 8,000 and very much still counting we have a cubicle where we hang the clothes the clothes weren't there Lafitte was in there what a what a mask that you put on for sleeping so you can shut off the light and he was meditating so I was asking one of the vallis you know I said what is he doing in there well I said he goes in there and meditates but while he was in there I noticed there was a string hanging and there was a plastic black spider hanging on the end of the string so I think it was shoe maker that hung that in front of his box while Lafitte was meditating well the next thing you know Lafitte takes off that mask it scared me leaving hair out on me because I always got close I was in there or everything started coming out of there I just wouldn't I told you what's gonna bite me or something and we laughed and we laughed it was so funny but it was great it was all in fun and he came out in Spanish and cussing and spent I didn't know worth what he was saying but whatever it was it would probably wasn't good [Music] the jockeys team really is the people that prepare the horse and his agent who seeks out the horses for him to ride race riding and being a jockey is is so much different from other team sports and that you have to go back into the locker room take your shower take your meals take your quiet time with guys that you've just been out riding you know half-ton animals nose to nose tail the tail and boot - boot with and sometimes very dangerous very close very fine finely divided situations there can there can be a lot of strife there can be a lot of tension he stopped pushing me out and I thought pushing me in and there was a horsing thrown and the hoof the horse three thought you said no we're here on riding through the horses horses here and he went down you know he just came right in front of me and dropped me completely down I want and I was really yes I didn't get hurt and when I came back to the winner's circle Frank was in the winner's circle and he was trying to pull me off the origin I start yelling and I just grabbed him off his horse and we just started getting a fight right there in the winner's circle which was really the crowd kind of really liked that you're not seen as brawling you went back to the darkroom I took a picture with the OMS and everything you know and then I went back to the doctor so here he comes after he's had his picture taken he just won the Delmar feature a $200,000 stake race and I got nothing he's got everything and I'm still mad and he came around the corner he saw me he just came running at me and we got into another fight right there right outside the Joshua he ended up thinking of the last race because of the fire and because he was upset so I ended up picking up his sword they asked me if I wanna ride a horse and I'll ride him and the horse 100 I think anyway now this guy's gonna really be pissed with me yeah but I remembered you know talking to him about his new girlfriend when he met Jeanine and how and he would say how beautiful she was you know and and once Dorian I remember talking about their first successful date and how that she was so beautiful he realized he got dizzy and had to sit down I knew her three years before I marry her so I just want to make sure that I was doing the right thing because I I really want to get married again unless was something something very special so we were married all this time and and this is probably the best move I've ever made in my life they had called in the ass Lafitte if he wanted to be in a Sports Illustrated Latin Edition and I think it was just something that they said it was just about Latin athletes and he said yes I'd do it you know I'll do it and then one or two weeks later they had called and said well the thing is is you have to have your wife and your wife has to be in a bathing suit so he's like well I don't know if she's gonna want to do that so they asked me and I I was a little hesitant and we kind of thought about it for a little while and then jean lafitte our son said you have to you have to do it it's just you have to do it why why wouldn't you do it and I said well who wants to stand there and wearing a bathing suit for everybody to you know criticize you and he said why do you care what people think and I thought coming from her at the time he was eight so I thought coming from him telling me and his dad not to worry about what people think and just do it so we we went ahead and decided to do it well the first time that I decided to put a tattoo a Buddhist tattoo over here this name of my wife and this is a tattoo of a pirate and people used to call me the pirate because I guess because my name is Lafitte you know and I used to win a lot of races so they naming the nicknaming name me the pyrite all of a sudden the word was getting around pink eyes over the hill don't ride pinkeye anymore that was a lot of baloney that that's a rumor that started he was getting tech he was not in a slump he was getting very mediocre mounts and he would finish third or fourth on them and he would give them a great run just because they don't win does it mean that they he would give a sensational he'd finished fourth and any other ride of the horse would have been eighth Schumaker ptolemy says the feet the day you turned 50 not the day before the day you turned 50 people start to change their ideas like that one day you're too old to ride and he told me later he says that happen I wasn't writing any horses I wasn't writing nothing I was running maybe two or three hours a day with no chances you know so I was gonna go up north maybe go over there maybe people get to ride me over there you know and maybe I could break the record up there I remember he was in terrible slump couldn't win a race you know and it just killed him because he tried everything you know to try to change his diet and do different things and thought okay maybe I'll go to an easier circuit circuit because people thought that maybe you know he it was just over with he wasn't ever gonna break the record they thought he wouldn't break it he says I don't care what I do I'm gonna break that record he knew that the minute he starts showing signs of you know I'm gonna take the the overland route that people would start talking about you a look at he's lost his nerve and he to him he knew he didn't want people thinking that he just dove right in the middle of it every time and it was incredible that you know what kept that burning desire but you know what he just loves what he does when your customers go that's when you go and I saw the feet going through that and you know I was out here a lot of a lot of times riding on a weekend or so and I looked at his attitude and it never wavered at least outwardly you know he always kept the same mental outlook he always approached the game in the same way and I thought that was the most impressive to me getting through that low period where guys were bailing out on him beer spy recording me open listen I know we are not doing any good they said but I'm gonna get some good new horses in son and leader you know and maybe you should stay you know maybe you should give it another another thought or another consideration stay you know that's something that I'll never forget he never thought he was over the hill here's a guy 50 something years old and not won any races but in his mind he always knew he's good enough competitor enough I'm gonna and that's what the thing that amazed me one used to show up there he had the conferences I can ride I can ride I know I'm just not getting the chance he knew that but he never quit trying to make himself better he was watching a commercial this old lady but she had a ton of energy and she was very thin for her age and she was eating a ton of fruit and he had never eaten fruit never had it been part of his diet and decided to go ahead and try this out and all of a sudden he was able to take in a few more calories eat a little bit more by using this fruit for whatever reasons and felt better in the afternoons started riding better starting winning more races and people took note trainers and owner started using him a lot more and all of a sudden he can't fire those last few years the feet had this rebirth you know he just he was so good no matter what his age would you know he would he hung in here and at a tough level to get those mounts he didn't go somewhere else to break the record he stayed here and I mean you know what a class act I mean what what tremendous fortitude on his part to do that and to hang in there as the toughest competition probably in of a jocks room anywhere in the country you're only as good as your stock and you have to have a strength of resolve and a you know a strong sense of inner self and I think that's definitely Lafitte that you know you have the talent you know you can't let it get you down because all you you need to be is mounted on the proper stock they get to the top of the lane and zouna quite now comes to take on exchange but you just go by exchange he battles right back and over bindi and in the red cap the extreme [Applause] [Applause] [Music] and from then on she became such a good feeling she won oh so many who races and at the time you know she was the only good horse that I was writing he was exciting every time she wrong because he was a steak usually she rolling the steaks and she could have won they were race away she put a one by seven eight lengths and she only won by a half Elaine that's how good she was I'm doing my first live interview I don't want to have to interview my father you know so watching the race unfold and sure enough I see his horse ranging up into contention and I think to myself in 20 plus years of watching horse races I have never once rooted against my father and now I'm hoping anybody anything any horse any other rider please come up and beat this guy I don't want to have to interview him some shaken as it is you know nervous as hell and sure enough he gets up but he wins at ten to one and I'm thinking you've got to be kidding me this is making it so much more difficult and I was able to Maul and struggle my way through it but I think because he had given me so much and pride and pleasure and watching him ride for so long and watching him perform I wanted to be up to par when he was gonna watch me perform with Levite it's a life full of comebacks comebacks from personal tragedy but it's that blinkered kind of straight and still will discipline thing Athena I start winning races again and their style to winning state races allowance races I was riding five six seven horse everyday and I said well I think I'm gonna do it this time I think I got on I'm gonna break the record because there's no way no way they can stop me now we just got a phone call and it was like you are 50 wins away from breaking the all-time record and we were kind of shocked and I remember we thought 50 well that's gonna happen fast you know and so we the whole family started to get together and you know make plans and every day we started to count count down and well apparently pink guys decided he'll just go right ahead and pick up the record this meet as he cleans up the first three races on the Wednesday program I remember how much attention the sport of thoroughbred racing got all of a sudden when the feat was approaching bill shoemakers record and it wasn't just the horse racing world it was all of the world was was sort of tuned in waiting for the feed to do it I felt a pressure because I felt like that I mean I knew I was gonna do it I wasn't worrying about that you know I just wanna I didn't wanna disappoint anybody because so many people want to de try just to watch that and I think Wayne so they had to come back the next day you know and you make a get going every day you know and and I remember he said something about it they say I don't want to be coming over here every day say you better do it quick you know I say okay I'm trying I'm trying I think casual elected to half behind up give it a crack with the whip I think I he's about to ease across the heels for wide he gives away at too late stage a fire at the a pole bait box on the outside and a lengthen the earth awakens' I be casual looming up now I coming out of a box [Music] then Kai's youngest son jean lafitte led the celebration in the Hollywood fart winner's circle on December 9th 1999 pen CAI came through for shoemaker and equalled the record with winner number 8833 I want to congratulate the feet he's gotten to that top of that mountain but he needs one more to be up there all by himself so I'm rooting for him today shoemaker really was rooting for him to beat his record how many people in life are big enough to do that to be to be secure in yourself enough to root for somebody to beat your record that imagine imagine the the class of that man and Lafite doing it so graciously into the spreads 3/16 they go hey guys still got the head in front of Irish nip flaps and bounce about the drop-off but Wyatt want represents big danger on the outside pass the eight-ball Irish tips to the lengthen from pinkeye gentlewomen and the finding finding on the later [Music] after 33 years and more than 44,000 rides after the broken bones the heartache and the sacrifice Lafitte pink I stood alone at the top of his dangerous profession this was Rosario's little boy too big to be a jockey too small for anything else and too proud to take no for an answer I think during that moment just explained what type of human being Lafitte pinkeye is how humble he was at the moment and recognizing the milestone that he had achieved and in the great persons record that he had broken and I found it ironic that he ended up becoming extremely good friends with shoemaker and then ultimately beating his all-time record for wins and to win as many races as he did more than 9,500 in a 39 year career I mean to average that number of winners for that long I don't know that there's any athlete at any sport you can think of baseball players football players basketball players or hockey players that have competed at that level for that long I know how tough it is to win while these guys so I want to congratulate all the winners tonight for the well-deserved honor the Eclipse Award is Racing's Oscar as an action hero and leading man for nearly 40 years pin Chi won six of them he's proved to us and the world hey I still have it and if that's incredible to me how he can be that old and come out in the most dangerous for it you can imagine and he's taking every spill and broken every bone in manageable and still come out there with that desire to still win every race that he rides and that desire is what kept me going so long in fact the last few years of his career after he broke the record I mean he might not have looked as pretty as he did before but the horses were running this good for him as they ever did in his life that to win that extra little thing that they got given you know give some of our atlas was there still a fire it wasn't there just to be there he was there to prove a point he did it completely opposite of the way that I think that I did he did it with humbleness and and great skills out on the racetrack but you know I was bolstered talkative and hey how you doing you know II have sure loved to ride your horse and you know we never heard or you never heard a word from the feet pinkeye but it was the competition that drew me into the game and I think that's what keeps most riders going beyond the time that most people think they shouldn't is that will to win the desire to compete even with jeaneen and my sister and my little brother and myself I think we all realized it was about time for him to retire and ironically enough it was a broken neck that gave him the opportunity to step away from the saddle and walk away from a sport did otherwise he wasn't gonna walk away from this guy would have ridden until he was you know 80 years old given the opportunity how do you wanna retire you know this is all I have done for 40 years and I didn't see myself doing anything else I saw the team that I know how to do well I could see myself working in an office or doing anything out so you know I was I felt like like just a big hole open up and swallow me because the feeling of what am I gonna do you know he was it was it was unbelievable believe I am overwhelmed all of this I like to tell my friends for all the nice things that I have said about me I like to thank Holly we'll party for putting this all this together and make this very special day for me this give me an also an opportunity to all the racing fun for me to say goodbye and I love you I'm standing over here and I feel very sad because I live in Spore there are really love I've still had a fire inside me that I cannot put out I'm gonna miss being with my friend in need Joshua I'm gonna miss being going out there and trying to win a race every day but I'm very proud of some of the races that I have won around the country I'm very proud of my family [Applause] I'm very proud to be a Panamanian and I'm very proud to be living in this great country thank you you're proud to say that he was a thoroughbred jockey and he represented the racing game no drugs no alcohol no you know terrible stories going along just an open up fabulous athlete a great guy what he brought to the jockey colony here is leadership and he was a mentor for a lot of riders and really kept everybody at that high competitive level and he's a great example for the other jockeys he really is a great example yep they care to pay attention he led in action he never you never heard a word from Lafitte as a leader that's probably the best thing I've ever learned from him is you know sometimes it's better just to be quiet and handle your own business our or handle the situation at hand with action but the legacy I think that really stays with it it's not going to be the the record of that many wins it's gonna be how you did it and how you conducted yourself and the example that you said for some other guys somewhere in America today there's some kids got a Excise saddle strapped on a mechanical horse and he's whipping around he thinks he's the next little feet pinkeye and he may not be but that legacy of doing it with such class and dignity and being able to set such a standard personal and professionally I think is what is what I remember the most about him or what makes him so special when he was a young jockey fighting his weight and struggling to win pink I would sometimes walk away for a few days maybe even a week then he would stop turn around and go back to work I had to go back he said because quitting is the only time you lose for sure for pinkeye nothing could ever replace the intoxicating thrill of a thousand-pound racehorse beneath his knees running at breakneck speed answering to the delicate Telegraph of hand rain and bit in time the void and pink eyes life would be filled by family friends and the proud memories of what he's achieved he had turned the chaos of those first American races into a lifelong masterpiece and yet like all great artists he was never truly satisfied his friend John Russell said it best most men after climbing Mount Everest enjoy the moment and are fulfilled there are never enough Everest for Lafitte pink eye [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Andy Kwan

Views: 160,787

Rating: 4.6466303 out of 5

Keywords: Laffit Pincay, Jockey, Hall of Fame, Santa Anita Park, Hollywood Park, Del Mar, Horse Racing Legend, Panama, Retirement

Id: hX6zChewrGU

Length: 96min 38sec (5798 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 20 2018