Julie Krone

Birthdate: July 24, 1963
Birthplace: Benton Harbor, Michigan
Residence: Burbank, California
Occupation: Commentator, Television Games Network; jockey
Statistics as a jockey: Won 3,545 races from 20,470 mounts (17.3%); career earnings, $81,108,508
Accomplishments: Winningest female rider ever with win number 1,205 (March 6, 1988); top money-earning female jockey (1986-'96); only female ever to ride in Belmont Stakes (G1); only female ever to win classic stakes (Belmont Stakes [G1]-1993, with Colonial Affair); third jockey in history to win five races in one day at Saratoga Race Course (August 20, 1993); leading rider, Atlantic City (1982-'83), Gulfstream Park (1992-'93), Belmont Park (1992); first woman to win riding titles at Monmouth Park, the Meadowlands (1987, '88, '89); leading rider at the Meadowlands (1990); rode six winners at Monmouth Park (August 19, 1987); on the cover of Sports Illustrated (May 22, 1989); Courage Award from the Nassau County Sports Commission; honored as a "Sports Legend" by the Franciscan Games; inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame
Awards: Big Sport of Turfdom (1988); ESPY Award, Womens Sports Foundation Award as "Outstanding Female Athlete of Year"; ABC-TV World News Tonight's "Person of the Week" following her win in the Belmont Stakes; named one of Glamour's ten Women of the Year, one of five Women of the Year by CBS News; "Comeback of the Year" award from American Sportscasters Association
Rode first winner: Lord Farkle, Tampa Bay Downs, February 12, 1981
Best horses ridden: Anguilla, Aptostar, Awad, Boom Town Girl, Buy the Firm, Classy Mirage, Clear Mandate, Cocney Lass, Colonial Affair, Cryptic Rascal, Da Hoss, Danish (Ire), Diablo, Dignitas, Distorted Humor, Dumaani, El Amante, Forever Silver, Gaily Gaily (Ire), Golden Circle, Gucci Romano, Halissee, Lassigny, Lion Cavern, Lite the Fuse, Maxzene, Millions, Miss Nannerl, Mr. Greeley, Norquestor, Ormsby, Peaks and Valleys, Rubiano, Sabina, Saint Ballado, Scorned Lass, Soar to the Stars, Subordinated Debt, Tactical Advantage, Tale of the Cat, Twist Afleet, Vinnie the Viper

When Julie Krone concluded her race-riding career, she went out as a winner. She rode three winners at Lone Star Park on that April 1999 afternoon and closed the book on a journey that took her from Benton Harbor, Michigan, to the Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York, where on August 7 she will be the first woman inducted into those hallowed halls.

For nearly a decade, from her first riding title at Monmouth Park in 1987 through the devastating injuries that took the fun out of riding for her, Krone was perhaps the most recognizable face in Thoroughbred racing. She made the talk-show rounds and presented the sport positively and amusingly at a time when the game did not have too much positive or amusing going for it. Her effervescence has been her trademark, along with a high-pitched voice that can snap baling wire at 20 feet. In a way, she remains the sprite of 18 who ran around Delaware Park's backstretch with her whip in hand.

Her attitude belies some of the tough years in which she was a scrambling rider at such tracks as Keystone Race Track. She endured the snubs and the trainers who would not put her on their horses because she was a woman and so small-almost exactly the size as riding great Bill Shoemaker. She never gave up and worked her way from Philadelphia to Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands and finally to the New York circuit. Along the way she refined her skills to the point that some trainers compared her light touch to Shoemaker's. "Sometimes, I don't think the horse knows that it has a jockey on it," one trainer said of Krone in the late 1980s.

For several years, she was one of the best jockeys in the country, period. Horses ran for her, including Colonial Affair, who won the 1993 Belmont Stakes (G1) with Krone on his back. She thus became the first woman to win a classic race. She had become the leading female jockey by wins in 1988, eclipsing Patricia Cooksey, who in turn had overtaken Patti Barton, one of the sport's pioneering female riders.

Krone was at the peak of her powers in 1993 and became only the third jockey (after Angel Cordero Jr. and Ron Turcotte) to win five races on a Saratoga Race Course card that August. Then, the injuries began to take their toll. During the meeting's final days, she was vying for the Saratoga riding title when she went down hard, literally shattering her ankle. She came back in nine months but had another serious fall in early 1995 at Gulfstream Park and injured both hands. Nonetheless, she came back later that year to score her 3,000th victory.

But Krone admitted that the injuries, the recuperation, and the rehabilitation had taken their toll on her both physically and mentally, and in 1999 she hung up her tack after those three wins at Lone Star. She won 3,545 races and earned more than $81-million-both records for a female jockey-since her first win at Tampa Bay Downs in February 1981.

Since her retirement, Krone has worked to build a life outside the jockeys' room, and this quest, too, has had its moments of pain. Now, she has settled in Southern California and is a commentator for Television Games Network (TVG). She was interviewed in mid-July by Thoroughbred Times correspondent Steve Schuelein outside her TVG office in Santa Monica.

Thoroughbred Times: You have had a couple of months to digest the announcement of your induction into the Racing Hall of Fame. What have your thoughts been?

Julie Krone: "I did go through a lot of changes, many of them tough times as of late. You don't retire, have your mom pass away, and get a divorce in a year's time and not have it take an effect. Then, to have this happen was such a plus. Everything is on the upswing now. I moved to California in November, bought a house in Burbank, and really feel at home here now.

"Last year, I was just giddy at the thought of being considered, and this year, when it really did happen, it was such a wonderful compliment. It's such a joyous feeling that I can't put it into words. Since the announcement, I've gotten a lot of really nice letters. It's like having a baby-it brings together a lot of people you haven't seen in a long time. Some people who helped me when I was an apprentice said, 'See, I told you you'd make it!' But it also reminded me of a lot of struggles and my persistence. I'm a Christian, and if you read the Book of Job, contrary to belief, Job was not patient, but he was persistent. In looking back at what I did accomplish, it was probably mostly due to my persistence."

As the first woman to be inducted, do you consider yourself a role model for your gender?

"It's a given I would have to be. I take that responsibility very seriously. As I have matured, I have become less of an athlete and more of a person. When I was at the Breeders' Cup last year, I looked at the intensity of the riding colony at Gulfstream Park. I led two times, and said, 'How the heck did I do that?' I was the only female to ever lead that meet."

Have you had much feedback from other women on that subject?

"The Women's Sports Foundation sent me a nice acknowledgment. I was asked to make success speeches before several groups. Selection to the Racing Hall of Fame has added so much prestige to my career. It put a frame on the picture. Not until you frame a beautiful picture does it all come together." During your career, did you find it tougher to succeed because you were a woman?

"I had an attitude I took my whole life that when you're given lemons, you make lemonade. I wasn't given many guidelines or boundaries when