Hugely respected former jockey with 4,450 winners in a 29-year riding career answers the questions
Over a 29
-year riding career Richard Migliore became one of New York’s most successful jockeys, clinching numerous titles across his home state and becoming one of his sport’s most respected ambassadors.
In his first full year as a 17-year-old jockey he won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice; his tenacity in the saddle earned him the nickname ‘The Mig’, after a fighter jet. When he retired in 2010 after suffering a serious neck injury, Migliore had ridden 4,450 winners and also earned the lasting respect of his peers.
Among numerous accolades, he received the George Woolf Memorial Award in 2008, the same year he clinched his only Breeders’ Cup success on Desert Wind in the Sprint. Aged 58, Migliore now works for the New York Racing Association and Fox Sports as a racing analyst and reporter.
Which racing figure, past or present, do you most admire?
John Longden was an incredible jockey who won the Triple Crown on Count Fleet in 1943 and then became a successful trainer, winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with Majestic Prince in 1969. I’ve always been fascinated that someone could be that good at both training and riding. Usually people are better at one or the other, but that’s an incredible resume to me.
I did meet him later in life but from those I had a relationship with, Angel Cordero was an incredible rider and was someone who taught me a lot. This industry is an incredible melting pot of people who have this shared passion. I’ve been blessed to meet so many of them.
Which is your favourite venue and race anywhere in the world?
My favourite venue is Saratoga. The whole town is about racing; everybody is so into it and the fans are incredible. You play to a packed house every day. There are a lot of racetracks in North America where there is just not a high attendance and a lot of the wagering is done off-site and online as opposed to being on-site. So it’s nice to see an enthusiastic crowd every day. You are also in a beautiful setting in the foothills of the Adirondack mountains. It’s a beautiful town.
In America everyone wants to win the Kentucky Derby but I honestly think my favourite race is the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Every year I watch that race in such awe of the level of ability from the horses. It just looks fantastic. I’ve never attended but it’s one that is certainly a bucket-list item.
Who is your favourite racehorse and why?
That would be Forego, who competed in the 70s. I was already in love with horses but he was the reason I fell in love with racing. He had a very long career, he was a gelding, and I would be looking in the paper every single day as an 11-year-old boy waiting for his name to show up in the entries in May. He always came back in May after spending the winter in Camden.
I would read every story I could get my hands on to find out how he was doing in winter quarters. I remember when he won the 1976 Marlboro Cup with Bill Shoemaker aboard, catching a very good three-year-old Honest Pleasure right on the post. To this day it is still one of the top five races I’ve ever seen.
I was in the tack room with a bunch of kids – we had raced ponies that afternoon – and I declared I was going to be a jockey like Bill Shoemaker. Flash forward a few years later and Bill Shoemaker was giving me my Eclipse Award at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami. Forego started off this lifelong passion for racing.
What is your fondest memory in racing?
Amongst many, if I had to pinpoint one it would be winning the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Desert Code, six and a half down the hill at Santa Anita. I had a lot of frustration around the Breeders’ Cup. I got injured a few times when I was riding horses that went on to win Breeders’ Cups.
I broke my leg right before Artie Schiller won the Breeders’ Cup Mile. I had actually worked him during the week and called my wife afterwards to tell her, ‘Come Saturday this horse will win – he’s just too good’. In the first race that afternoon I broke my leg and couldn’t ride him. There were a few other missed opportunities so to finally get one late in my career on a horse that had meant a lot to me, and contribute a ride that helped seal the victory meant a great deal.
If you could change one thing in racing, what would it be?
I think there should be zero tolerance for any illegal drug violations. We lose so much credibility with the public when people are seemingly able to flout the rules. It erodes confidence in a sport people are wagering on.
If we were so strict and cracked down on it, it would be a lot cleaner. People would realise they couldn’t get away with things, or even just be sloppy with withdrawal times. It would restore public confidence in what we are putting out there.
I also think we have to do a better job presenting racing to the public and educating them. I feel sometimes, even in our shows, we might be talking over a casual observer’s head. We have to be very conscious of finding the balance of neither boring the avid fans, nor excluding those that are starting to get interested. If we can explain it so they are not intimidated by it, we have a better chance of turning them into true fans.
Richard Migliore was speaking to Jon Lees
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