The Unsung Masters of Racing

Great Jockey Agents and the Riders They Helped Make the Hall of Fame

A Column by Steve Davidowitz
November 21, 2007

When I was writing The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing in 2006 for publication this year, space restrictions forced me to give short shrift to a group of racetrack performers too often overlooked. I am talking about jockey agents, top jockey agents, the best in the business in fact.

What a jockey agent does:

* A good jockey agent is a horse talent scout, an insightful handicapper, a personal confidant and an expert reader of the bi-weekly condition book listing specific races that will be run during the next two weeks.

* A jockey agent watches races intently and studies the video replays to find horses that are ready to win their next starts. When he spots a fit horse and matches it to a race in the condition book, he usually tries to convince the trainer to use his rider on that horse in a handpicked race.

* To make his point, a jockey agent must develop trusting relationships with large and small outfits that may have 50 horses or only one or two on the grounds.

* A jockey agent is a travel agent, private consultant, professional friend, private cheerleader and unofficial staff psychiatrist.

* Great jockeys may work tirelessly to perfect their riding skills, but jockey agents are among the few people they will listen to for corrective suggestions and constructive criticism. The dangers jockeys face may be taken for granted by the grandstand crowd but not by jockey agents, who are emotionally and financially linked to their fortunes and failures. While an agent gets between 10 and 20 percent of the jockey's 10 percent share of winning purses plus a similar percentage of minor fees for unplaced mounts, the agent doesn't earn a dime if the rider fails to win races or is on the sidelines due to injury or suspension.

Considering their importance, it was a surprise to learn that there has never been any attempt to start a 'Hall of Fame for Jockey Agents', although that certainly is something the Jockeys' Guild might consider on their behalf.

Guided by insights revealed during extensive interviews with jockey agent Ron Anderson and other expert observers, the material below is intended to give horseplayers some background on the great agents of the recent past. It is also designed to encourage players to find out who are the best agents representing the top contemporary rider(s) at their favorite tracks. By discovering that a highly skilled agent is working with a promising newcomer or a young apprentice, players might find the trip to the cashier's window a whole lot shorter.

My unofficial Hall of Fame for Jockey Agents:

The following half dozen jockey agents are listed in reverse order of their accomplishments and reputation among horse trainers, jockeys and other agents. Unfortunately, most horseplayers would not know who they were if they fell over them.

6. George O'Brien: Was the agent for Hall of Famer Manny Ycaza in the 1960s and Laffit Pincay Jr. in the 1980s.

Ycaza was an aggressive jockey whose daring style was well known from Santa Anita to Saratoga. Pincay was a strong, highly versatile jockey who could finesse a race with his delicate touch or out-finish the strongest riders on the grounds. When he retired in 2003, he was the world's winningest jockey with 9,530 victories.

"O'Brien knew how to handle the aggressive Ycaza and the patient Pincay, even though they were so different," Ron Anderson said. "He instinctively knew how to line up horses that fit each rider's style best. Beyond the need to hustle trainers for business, finding the right fit is the essence of what a top jockey agent does."

5. Ron Anderson: A truly great agent in his own right, Anderson handled Hall of Fame riders Gary Stevens and Jerry Bailey before they retired in 2004 and 2005. Soon afterwards, Ron picked up the slack with Garrett Gomez who promptly dominated Southern California race meets and won numerous Grade 1 stakes and several Breeders' Cup races. Just a few weeks ago, Gomez broke Bailey's single-season North American record of 80 stakes victories, which was set while Anderson was Bailey's agent!

Anderson, by the way, is also the agent for transplanted New Yorker Richard Migliore. As a sample of this agent's wide panorama of contacts, consider the far-flung assignments he has lined up over the Thanksgiving weekend.

On Thursday, November 22nd, Garrett Gomez will be at Churchill Downs to ride Bobby Frankel's Panty Raid in the Falls City Handicap. On Friday he will be back at Hollywood Park to ride Zann in the 1 1/16-mile $400,000 Citation (G1) on the grass. On Saturday, after a late evening flight to New York, he will be aboard Bob Baffert's Midnight Lute in the $300,000 Cigar Mile (G1), among other stakes that day. Then he will be on a charter back to California to ride two Grade 1 turf performers for Todd Pletcher on Sunday: Wait a While in the $500,000 Matriarch and Twilight Meteor in the $500,000 Hollywood Derby.

"I love it," Gomez said simply of the busy weekend, which barely tops Migliore's schedule.

As for Migliore, having already flown from New York to Japan to ride Student Council in the $4.8 million Japan Cup (G1) on Saturday, November 24th (which really is Friday night in America), he will fly back to California in time to ride Augment in the Hollywood Derby.

"Ron is at his best working with riders who prepare themselves and think out a race as much as they handle the physical part of the game," said Dan Smith, former Media Relations Director at Del Mar who co-authored an autobiographical book with Bill Shoemaker. "He does push his riders to excellence, but they love him for it. You can't find a better agent in the west."

4. Lenny Goodman: Was Braulio Baeza's agent during that Hall of Famer's spectacular run atop the nation's jockeys in the 1960s. He also represented Steve Cauthen when the wunderkind of racing turned the game on its ear in 1977-78.

"Goodman was sharp as a tack," Anderson said. "He had great relationships with trainers and racing secretaries, especially in the east. He didn't care much for California, which is why he wanted no part of Cauthen's trip out there."

Under Goodman's guidance and private instructions, Baeza frequently outperformed Hall of Famers Eddie Arcaro, Bill Shoemaker and Bill Hartack in battles aboard championship caliber horses during the early 1960s.

Under Goodman's tutelage, Cauthen was the leading apprentice jockey in America and the leading rider overall in America before he turned 20 years old. He not only won five races on six different racing cards during one NY season, he also became the regular rider aboard Affirmed through the latter's exciting Triple Crown sweep in 1978.

"Lenny was strong minded and a great teacher," Cauthen once explained. "I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I had listened to him and didn't go out west. We were a great team."

3. Chick McLelland: "One of my early mentors," Anderson said. "He taught me how to really watch races when he took me under his wing for awhile." Among other things, Anderson said that McLelland pointed out subtle flaws in other riders' techniques as they left the starting gate and/or attempted to switch whips in the stretch drive. "He showed me the importance of watching the habits of other riders and that also helped me see the true talent off the horses I was looking at."

Anderson added that horseplayers would be wise to study riders in the same way. "It will help them make better judgments about which horse fits what rider and how the race is likely to be run," he said.

During a long career, McLelland represented Canadian-based Hall of Famer Sandy Hawley when he came to America and two legendary South American riders - Fernando Toro and Alvaro Pineda - during the 1960s and 1970s.

"Toro was a legendary master of the grass course and Pineda was a great talent who died in a starting gate accident," Anderson said. "McLelland was there for Pineda's family through thick and thin."

Hawley was brought to California by another agent, Harry "The Hat" Hacek, who Anderson called "one of the best and worst agents of all time."

"Nobody worked harder than Harry "The Hat." Nobody took more detailed notes about the way horses ran and trained. Nobody knew more about how to put a good horse and a jockey into a perfect spot. Harry was brilliant. But he sometimes needed to disappear for a few days without explanation to get away from the stress of the job. This was before cell phones could keep you in touch with anyone anywhere at any time."

According to Anderson and others, Hacek's periodic absences hurt him. He lost enough business that other agents took over some of his best riders.

"That was one reason why Chick McLelland got Hawley," Anderson said.

2. Vince DeGregory: Represented Hall of Famers Angel Cordero Jr. and Jorge Velazquez, among other top riders during the height of their Hall of Fame careers. He also handled Darrel McHargue, who is now a steward in Southern California. While currently semi-retired, DeGregory is representing the young apprentice Joel Rosario, who is scheduled to lose his five-pound apprentice jockey weight allowance on Tuesday, November 27th. Under DeGregory's guidance, Rosario is among the current leaders at Hollywood Park.

"Because Vince picked him out, there is no doubt in my mind that Rosario has the talent to be an effective jockey," Anderson said. "Vince has a superior eye for jockey talent. Frankly," Anderson continued, "Vince probably could have been the absolute best - and at times he was - but he did have one flaw. Every once in awhile he would believe he was the star maker, more important than his jockey, or the horse or the trainer. While he did outstanding work and I personally rank him right near the best of all time, he had a very big ego."

1. Harry Silbert: Bill Shoemaker's main man for nearly four decades probably would be the first charter member to any Hall of Fame for Jockey Agents.

"He was the one everybody looked up to," said Dan Smith, the semi-retired Media Relations Director at Del Mar Racetrack, who co-wrote a Shoemaker autobiography. "Loyalty was his thing and it was the same way with Shoe. They were a prefect match."

Silbert was also Anderson's mentor by example. "Silbert watched races like a hawk and dealt with people straight on. He set a standard that was important to follow and hard to match at the same time," Anderson said.

While jockey agents have a unique, complicated job, Anderson was able to sum up Silbert's greatness in less than 50 words: "You were always fighting for a special relationship with the best trainers that Silbert already had cemented," he said. "Even when he beat you to the punch he never did it to screw anyone. He was an honorable man in a profession that can be cut throat."

Added notes: When I was compiling this material, many more jockey agents were cited for similar skills and accomplishments. These include: John "Fats" Wiscman, agent for Hall of Famers Walter Blum and Jacinto Vasquez in the 1960s and 1970s; Scotty McLelland, Chuck's son who had Chris McCarron for several years and has been representing Alex Solis since McCarron's retirement in 2002; Fred Aimie, who was Hall of Famer Pat Day's longtime agent in Illinois and Kentucky; the aforementioned Harry Hacek, who I saw work his magic for Sandy Hawley one season at Canterbury Downs in the late 1980s (he also recruited Eddie Delahoussaye, Chris McCarron and Darrell McHargue for the west coast jockey colony); Tony Matos, who represented Angel Cordero Jr. for several years when Matos was based in New York and also handled Pincay's book in addition to highly ranked Southern California-based Victor Espinoza.

Since his retirement as a jockey, Hall of Famer Angel Cordero Jr. has become a great jockey agent working with two-time Eclipse Award winner John R. Velazquez. All of the jockey agents mentioned here would probably be good candidates for a plaque on some racetrack wall honoring their 'Hall of Fame' careers in a thankless profession.

Steve Davidowitz has written two highly acclaimed books on Thoroughbred racing---Betting Thoroughbreds and The Best and Worst of Thoroughbred Racing. He also is a regular contributor to Daily Racing Form's Simulcast Weekly and DRF Plus and his columns appear in the Bodog Racebook each week.