NEWS
Winning by persistence
Posted: Saturday, August 05, 2000
Julie Krone, the first woman to be inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame, looks back on her career
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 I was young, which was both a blessing and a curse. It assisted me in believing there was nothing I couldn't do. Nothing was impossible. Sometimes I didn't use good judgment, but it helped me with limitless dreams. I had a real edge to me. There was a lot of internal anger, which I projected in positive ways."
Have times changed during the past 15 or 20 years? Do women have a fairer chance now to succeed as riders?
"Racing is unique because it's so individual. Remember the Steve Cauthen phenomenon? When are we going to see another bug rider like him come along? When is another girl rider going to come along like I did? There is a visible ceiling that has disappeared since I started. But you've got to be the real thing to make it in racing. You can't have teammates cover for you. It's just you and the horse and what you accomplish."
During the Racing Hall of Fame announcement on May 2 in Louisville, you cited three influential figures in your life and career who have all died recently: your mother, trainer Clarence Picou, and jockey agent and racetrack executive Chick Lang Jr. Can you go into a little more detail on how each helped you?
"My mother's wealth of equestrian knowledge was immeasurable. (Judi Krone was a dressage rider.) When I was five, she taught me how to put a headset on a horse (at the family's farm in Michigan). By the time I was 13, I could break a two-year-old. My dream was to be a jockey, and she made it a reality by taking me to the track.
"We left Michigan with $50, a Great Dane, and a camper, which she parked across the street from Churchill Downs. They told me I was too young and couldn't get a license, so she forged my birth certificate by changing July to April, and I climbed the fence. If we didn't get jobs at Churchill, we didn't have enough gas money to drive home.
"My parents were dreamers, and they did a great and terrible job raising us (Julie and a brother, Don). Otherwise, I would have not been as successful. I would not have been so obsessed with winning a race; I would not have had that same passion, that reckless abandon.
"Clarence Picou gave me my first job walking hots. I told him I wanted to be a jockey, and I later learned to gallop from him. He and his wife, Donna, let me live with them at the beginning, and now I share my house in Burbank with their granddaughter, Jessica Oldham, a producer's assistant at TVG.
"When I first moved to ride in Maryland, I just had three cardboard boxes for my luggage, and Chick-who had agreed to be my agent-picked me up at the airport. Chick was great and I lived with him, his wife Jean, their three kids, and jockey Kenny Black.
"I was later considering leaving Maryland when I was offered the chance to ride for Bud Delp. One stipulation was that I had to hire Bud's son Gerald as my agent. I explained the situation to Chick, who was very understanding. He said to go for it, that it was the best opportunity in the world."
Was it difficult making decisions when you were so young?
"I didn't have good values of right and wrong, and I did some things without using good judgment. I like to share this with people so that somebody who is now that age might read this. At Bowie, I got caught with marijuana, was suspended for three months, and was required to attend a drug program. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. The scare I got was just phenomenal.
"Things went well despite that, but maybe if I had been more focused, I would have had even more early success. After the suspension and program, I had a choice to either be successful or mess up. My older brother, Donnie, and I didn't talk for years. He gallops horses now and acts as a counselor in Maryland. As we grew older, common experiences brought us together again. Now we talk again. He's like a true big brother now."
What memories will going to Saratoga bring back?
"I look forward to going back for a cornucopia of reasons. There is a constellation of good feeling; I think of the fans, the homemade lemonade, walking up the wooden steps, hanging out with friends at different restaurants, the Travers (Stakes [G1]), the prestige of the racing, the level of the competition, coolers on picnic tables at 8 a.m., winning the Ballerina (Stakes [G1]) with Classy Mirage.
"I get there and look at the red canopies. It's so magical. I see the ghosts of racing when I look at the track, the graveyard of favorites. I got married there in 1995. And, of course, I remember 1993, when I won five races one day and a few days later went down at the quarter pole."
Those injuries nearly ended your career prematurely.
"A horse stepped on my ribs and bruised my heart. If I hadn't been wearing a vest, I would be dead. I had serious ankle injuries and also hurt my knee and hip and had a hole in my left arm. It took time, but the screws finally came out, and I returned to riding (nine months later).
"I felt great for the 1995 Gulfstream meet the following winter and was the leading rider, but in January, on Friday the 13th, I went down again and broke both my hands.
"Again, it was in the green-and-white silks of Augustin Stables and in the exact same place on the turf course as the Saratoga spill. It was too coincidental to be meaningless. That fried me, and I went into a seven-month bout with depression. I had nightmares, panic attacks, nausea, and blurred vision. Nothing worked anymore. The magic was gone, and I hated riding. I could once tell a trainer how a race was going to be run, and now I couldn't even cross the reins.
"I needed a doctor's help. It was like starting all over. You're Hall of Fame material when you get in a place that dark and get out of it. You have to recall all the skill and talent that came so early you could read horses' minds. But then I was able to come back and ride five winners in Louisiana on Fat Tuesday and go to Texas on the last day and ride three winners and to put the tack down. I kept thinking of the scene in the attic in National Velvet, where she said, 'There is a time and a place for everything.'
"My mom was so sick she was getting oxygen, but she watched me ride live for the first time. That was perfect that she could be there before she went into the hospice. Thinking back to all that when I get inducted, that's when I say, 'I deserve it, and thank you very much.' "
"There is no pain anymore (although she displayed several scars and mentioned a loss of strength in her left arm). I still try to ride (for pleasure) every day. I've always believed in the resilience of the human spirit.
"Another thing I have learned since I went into depression was the importance of talking to others. Sometimes the hardest thing to learn is sometimes you just need help from other people. Before that, I thought I never needed anybody else's help."
What do you recall about your 1993 Belmont Stakes victory on Colonial Affair, the first Triple Crown victory for a female jockey?
"My career was doing so well then, it just blended in with the rest of my career. When I saw (trainer) Scotty Schulhofer recently at Belmont, I realized what a moment in time it was. How great it was to get to live the dream!
"I felt very confident before that Belmont, gave Colonial Affair a pat on the neck, and said, 'Come on, Pappy, let's go make history.' All the publicity just blended in with all the other good times. That's what is supposed to happen to leading riders in New York. Jerry (Bailey), Mike (Smith), and I won the Triple Crown races that year."
What other victory or victories do you remember most?
"The Carter, the Forego, the Ballerina, and all the other Grade 1s; Rubiano, Lite the Fuse, Royal Mountain Inn; all the winners for Bill Mott; winning six twice at the Meadowlands; and all the five-win days. The only ones to win five in one day at Saratoga are Cordero, Turcotte, Smith, and Krone."
Do you have a favorite horse or horses?
"Like Will Rogers said, 'I never met a horse I didn't like.' I liked $5,000 claimers. People who know me and read that will believe it. Rubiano was easy to remember because he had so many human qualities. He was a type-A horse, the bad boy, full of himself. He was like a Hollywood horse, prancing and rearing. Lite the Fuse will always be linked to Mr. (trainer Dick) Dutrow, who also was a big help in my career and died too soon."
Tell us about your new career as a television analyst for TVG and Hollywood Park. How does your schedule work?
"I come here to TVG three days a week, put on makeup, do the show, talk about big races, the weekend, what happened. Friday has been a very busy day during the Hollywood Park meet. I'm here all day and then Hollywood Park (a half-hour away) at night. It's like doing a doubleheader riding at Aqueduct and the Meadowlands.
"At Hollywood Park, where I also work weekends, I have done several things: handicapping between races, a roving reporter, grabbing a trainer for quotes. One Saturday I got to do interviews in the paddock for a Fox show.
"When people on the show say you did a good job afterward, it makes you feel good, like I won a race. It feels good to still be working at the track. It's just fun being out there every day, talking to people."
Have you had any broadcast training, and what have you learned?
"I was so terrible at first; now I just put the same energy into the job every day as I did when I was a rider. I look at some of the people on the show and how natural they are and thought that's what it was like for me as a rider. I learn something each day. Somebody talks in your ear; you need time to get used to that.
"It's very challenging. Some days I couldn't speak, like I would say Pusaichi Fegasus. To be a better rider, you have to take constructive criticism. It's a lot the same in television; you're going to make mistakes, and you've got to learn to take it."
Do you feel your bubbly personality, experience as a guest on major television shows, and your background in racing have helped ease the transition?
"The most interesting twist is trying to put everything I know about racing into words. I like to apply everything I did for 20 years, but I have to learn how to say it in a short period of time. But I think my experience definitely helps. I just have to apply my energies in a new way. I'm still in racing, and a buddy with the jockeys. Life is beautiful."
Do you see this field as being your full-time future, or would you like to have time off for other things?
"Oh, yes, I like doing this."
What else do you enjoy?
"I'm going to start my psychology courses again that I began taking two years ago through Empire State College at Saratoga; I could get my Ph.D. when I'm 50. I still like to ride every day and have two horses at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center: a Palomino cow pony, Miss Piggy, and a big jumper Thoroughbred cross, Peter Rabbit. I rode up into the mountains above the Los Angeles skyline and looked over all of L.A. I rode Peter Rabbit, and Jessica rode Miss Piggy.
"My best friends since I've been in California are at the equestrian center. Otherwise, I like to do some art work, murals, and I'm still getting the house organized. I like golf, chess, and handicapping. You can never know enough about any of them."
What advice would you give a young girl today who is considering a career as a jockey?
"You can't give career advice. Being a jockey is so hard. You can't verbally inspire somebody. It has to come from inside. If you want to do something, you will learn on your own. What I've learned in life is to make lemonade from lemons, to turn adversity into positive things, when you look at things that seem bad, they're not always all bad. Be persistent, and sometimes let other people help.
"The other thing is having a higher force, having a master plan that someone else is in charge of. I've had a lot of miracles in my life. I'm a living, walking, breathing example of all the good things that can happen in life. That makes me feel very close to God."
