Chris McCarron
Chris McCarron
Christopher John "Chris" McCarronis a retired American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey...
ProfessionHorse Jockey
Date of Birth27 March 1955
arm broken couple determined either horses hospital injury laying legs train
I was laying in the hospital with a couple of broken legs and a broken arm wondering, if this injury was one that would end my career, what would I want to do after I was done riding? I determined it would be either train horses or train jockeys.
capitalize education eyes golden group opportunity people pull race rider time trying wants wool
I think it's a golden opportunity for someone who wants to become a race rider to capitalize on by getting an education from a group of people who have been there, done it a long time and are not trying to pull the wool over their eyes so to speak.
pool riders skilled smaller talented truly unfair
It's unfair to the trainers to have a smaller pool of truly skilled and talented riders at their disposal.
academy allow career develop eventually facets goals historic industry interested knew opportunity program reach training truly united
This is truly a historic opportunity for all facets of the horse-racing industry. Never before has there been a program of this kind in the United States. This academy will allow jockeys -- and eventually all those interested in the horse-racing industry -- to develop career pathways that will allow them to reach training and educational goals they never knew were possible.
feather perfect
It's a perfect fit, ... We need a lot of horses, and this will be a big feather in our cap.
beneficial best country horse involved learned racing requires
It was a fascinating trip, ... I learned a lot that will be beneficial to our students. Practically every country involved in horse racing requires some licensing. We have the best racing, the best horses, and the best farms, yet we have no school.
cases incredibly mar meet remember ridden stake sure
I think Del Mar has always been an incredibly competitive and aggressively approached meet. I'm not sure why there have been more controversial cases this summer, but I vividly remember it always being an aggressively ridden meet by the riders. There's a lot at stake down here.
breeding consider expense horses investment mind raising reach starting time until
It boggles the mind when you consider the expense of raising these horses, ... from breeding them, up to the time they are born, all the way until they reach a starting gate. And then, many times, we entrust that investment to someone who is unqualified.
challenge faster horses rest select
Getting him to be faster than the rest of the horses was a real challenge because the horses all want to win. We have to select a horse that's going to win. In this case, he's got to be bay, he's got to be plain-looking, he's got to be small.
college community technical
It's going to be a full-blown community or technical college course.
moved realized vacation
One real misconception, that I realized shortly after I moved out here, was that this was a vacation for the riders,
adrenaline atmosphere attendance best brief horses pumping year
Because of the atmosphere it being a real brief meet, the attendance being the best that we see all year long the adrenaline is pumping in the riders, trainers and horses much more so than at the other meets,
except maybe number riders room takes
There are a number of riders in the jocks' room here who have what it takes to be leaders, except that they're maybe a little too quiet,
countries eventually jockey schools
This will eventually be a like lot some of the jockey schools in other countries around the world,