Chris McCarron

Family Tribute!!

Hall of fame jockey Chris McCarron became only the seventh rider in history to notch 7,000 wins.

Chris celebrates after winning the May 3 Kentucky Oaks.

1987 Kentucky Derby aboard Alysheba

Press Conference at Hollywood Park

Chris on Tiznow (nice face!)

Please feel free to email me any messages to Chris you want posted below.  Email:  Michael_McCarron@yahoo.com

6/22  Congratulations Chris. You conducted your exemplary career with class and you are going out with class. Everyone is proud of you. Mom and Dad were extremely proud of you during your active career but they would be even more proud of you for the reasons you have sited for retiring. We would love for you and your whole family to come "home" sometime during the summer so we could celebrate this momentous decision in the proper way, hotdogs and draftees at the Pub or another venue .

The best of everything to you, Judy and the girls.

Ron

6/16   Congratulations Chris.  I can't tell you how proud you have mad us over the years, and how much excitement you have brought.  Enjoy your new journey!                    -Michael

AT THE RACES

McCarron rides off a winner

By Ron Indrisano, 6/25/2002

hris McCarron went out the same way he came in - as a winner. The Boston native, one of the best jockeys ever, won his final race Sunday, capturing the Affirmed Handicap at Hollywood (Calif.) Park aboard Came Home, then rode off into retirement.

He leaves at 47 with 7,141 wins, sixth all-time. But if you want to measure McCarron by what is most important in racing - money - then he is the best of all riders. His mounts earned $264,351,579, tops on the list.

McCarron burst on the scene in 1974 as an apprentice on the Maryland circuit, and was so good he set what was then a record by riding 546 winners. It was onward and upward from there, and he eventually became a fixture in Southern California, which offers the strongest jockey colony in the world. Unlike his older brother Gregg, who was a leading apprentice at Suffolk Downs and Rockingham Park in 1971, Chris was never based in New England. But he has fond memories of his youth, and of winning the Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk in 1987 aboard Waquoit.

''I thoroughly enjoyed growing up in the Ashmont section of Dorchester,'' said McCarron, who spoke via conference call. ''I loved to play sports. I played street hockey seven or eight months out of the year. That was our favorite sport.

''I grew up in an era of tremendous sports teams. Bobby Orr was a rookie in 1966 when I was 11. I saw him change the game around as a defenseman by rushing the puck. The guy was unbelievable and he's still unbelievable. I've had a chance to meet him a couple of times.

''Then there was Yaz, and the guys on the great Celtics teams, Havlicek, Cousy, Russell, and Jones. What awesome years they were. I was very fortunate to grow up when I did.''

McCarron had already won a MassCap, with Dancing Champ in 1976, when he came to ride Waquoit, who was stabled at Suffolk, against Broad Brush, who would go on to be handicap champion in '87, and the great Angel Cordero. Waquoit, a big gray, was purchased for $15,000 and would go on to make more than $2 million. He was an outstanding horse, but it was not expected that he could handle Broad Brush. McCarron removed those doubts with an aggressive, rail-skimming ride in what may have been the best race ever run at Suffolk.

''What I recall the most was [track announcer] Jim Hannon's call,'' said McCarron. ''He lost his voice in the last few strides because it was such a thrilling race. Cordero celebrated after the finish. I said to him: `I guess you think you won it.' He said, `I think so.' And I answered, `Don't be too sure.'

''When they put up Waquoit's number on the tote board the crowd went wild. There were 15 or 20 McCarrons there, and they had all rushed down to the winner's circle. They went bonkers, they went nuts. It gave me a lot of pleasure to do it. It was just a lot of fun.''

Overall, McCarron counts John Henry, a two-time Horse of the Year, Alysheba, winner of the 1987 Kentucky Derby, and Tiznow, who won the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic twice (2000-01), as his most memorable mounts.

''I rode John Henry in the last 14 starts of his career,'' he said. ''He raced until he was 9, and had a wonderful following. Everywhere he went, the crowd would increase by 15,000-20,000. He brought me a lot of attention. Alysheba put me over the top as far as winning the Derby [he won a second with Go For Gin in 1994]. Winning a Derby gets a rider over the hump. With Tiznow, I proved, that, at 45-46 years old, I could still get the job done in a high-pressure race.''

What separates McCarron from so many others in racing is his class. He hadn't lost it physically, but he had lost it emotionally. He knew it was time to go.

''I recognized that I was beginning to lose my drive, my enthusiasm was beginning to wane,'' he said. ''I convinced myself years ago that if and when that happened I'd go ahead and quit because I would not be doing justice to my horses. I'm going to rest. I'm mentally tired.

''Trainers, owners, even the public, don't want to see a jockey on their horses who isn't in the best of moods. Trainers don't want to deal with that. I couldn't project that to trainers. I had to learn to disguise that by, quite frankly, acting. I'm a little tired of doing that. It was a little bit of a problem. I need a rest. I need one or two months off to let the fog go out of my head.

''I will not have any regrets. I'm very comfortable with this decision. As far as the game goes, I'm saturated. There's not more I can accomplish. I'm going to focus my thoughts on the projects ahead of me. I'm going to feel relief and joy.''

McCarron and his wife Judy do terrific work with the Don MacBeth Memorial Fund, which benefits disabled riders, and, as a key man in the Jockeys' Guild, he wants to do more for the little-known riders risking their lives at small tracks. Also, it's odds-on that, as an articulate expert, he will soon be a television commentator.

In addition, McCarron has three daughters (Erin, Stephanie, and Kristin) to look after, and his life will be full after retirement. It is the sport that will be emptier.

This story ran on page F9 of the Boston Globe on 6/25/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.

Hall of Famers stand out in Classic

The $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic usually is the top race of the day, and usually a top jockey wins it. In the 17 runnings of the race, it has been won by a Hall of Fame rider 16 times.

*Favorite

Boston Herald - by Ed Gray Monday, June 17, 2002

Chris McCarron's retirement announcement Saturday didn't evoke quite the measure of sadness that usually accompanies the retirement of a revered Hall of Fame athlete. McCarron certainly will be sorely missed - when he rides his last race next Sunday at Hollywood Park, the thoroughbred industry will lose one of its most popular attractions - but we will take comfort knowing that he will live happily ever after. Chris McCarron, unlike so many other legendary sports figures, has a life, one that is not solely defined by his professional career. As incredibly successful and celebrated as he has been during his 28-year career, the 47-year-old Dorchester native is not just a jockey. Already a 13-year veteran of the Hall of Fame, McCarron doesn't need to sit on a four-legged creature to be happy or successful. He already has shown he can stand on his own two feet. An articulate, intelligent man with varied interests, McCarron won't be found sitting in a rocking chair, reminiscing about the good old days when he was a star performer on thoroughbred racing's center stage. He is not going to fade away. Already an unofficial ambassador for racing, always ready to answer a call to be a spokesman for the Sport of Kings, McCarron would be a natural as a color commentator during Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup telecasts. Yet, he has proven he is capable of making much more profound contributions to society. In 1987, McCarron and his wife Judy, the proud parents of three daughters, established the Don MacBeth Memorial Fund, along with actor Tim Conway. His own financial and professional success could not blind McCarron from the glaring need to enhance the quality of the lives of disabled jockeys. Chris McCarron has been a great jockey through the years, and an even better person. He always has been the pride of Dorchester and all of New England, even though he rode his first race in Maryland and has ridden at Suffolk Downs and Rockingham Park only on rare occasions. Who among us will ever forget McCarron's sensational ride in the 1987 Massachusetts Handicap, in which he deftly guided Suffolk Downs-based Waquoit to an electric nose triumph over heavily favored Broad Brush? It didn't matter that he's been a longtime resident of Beverly Hills, he has been embraced locally as ``Dorchester's Chris McCarron'' throughout his career. The bond between provincial New Englanders and McCarron has remained strong despite the thousands of miles and 28 years that seperated them. We rejoiced when the diminutive apprentice rode 546 winners in 1974 to set an all-time record for victories by a jockey in a single year. We celebrated his Kentucky Derby triumphs aboard Alysheba (1987) and Go For Gin (1994), as well as his Preakness scores aboard Alysheba (1987) and Pine Bluff (1992), and Belmont victories aboard Danzig Connection (1986) and Touch Gold (1997). We were overjoyed when his patented left-handed encouragement spurred on Tiznow to nip Sakhee at the wire and become the first back-to-back winner of the Breeders' Cup Classic last fall at Belmont Park. Though he has scaled down the number of mounts he has ridden in recent years, McCarron will retire while he is still regarded as one of thoroughbred racing's very best jockeys. He doesn't have to retire. He has chosen to walk away, leaving a legacy of excellence and class. McCarron will retire with more than 7,100 victories (sixth all-time) and a record of more than $264 million in purses won. More important, he will retire with the respect of the entire racing industry and the unwavering loyalty of those who will always think of him as ``Dorchester's Chris McCarron.''

Article Links:

ESPN - Retirement Announcement

ESPN - Time to Say Goodbye

NMR Hall of Fame

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Chris McCarron Chat Room Archive

Boston Globe

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