Our questions are answered by the former jockey who stands second only to Julie Krone on the all-time list for female riders with well over 2,000 winners during a 26-year riding career.
During a 26-year riding career Patricia Cooksey – better known as Patti or ‘PJ’ – set a number of benchmarks. Now 65, she was the first female rider to compete in the Preakness Stakes, finishing sixth on Tajawa in 1985, and she is one of only three females to ride in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.
She is the sole female winner of the NYRA’s prestigious Mike Venezia Award, an accolade she received in 2004, the year in which she retired.
Cooksey ranks second behind Julie Krone in all-time wins, with a tally of 2,137. She credits the pioneering efforts of her female predecessors for enabling her success in the sport, explaining: “I don’t think I had it as rough as the women before me, like Barbara Jo Rubin, Kathy Kusner, Diane Crump, Tuesdee Testa, Patti Barton.
“I think they broke down the barriers that were there to prevent women from competing and I like to say I made the path they opened up for us a lot smoother for the women behind me.”
Since 2005, Cooksey has held a number of roles with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, where she is currently assistant director of incentives and development for the Kentucky Breeders Incentive Fund.
Which racing figure past or present do you most admire?
Pat Day was someone I admired. Being in the jocks’ room I saw him ride many races and whether he won or lost, whether it was a $1 million race or a $5,000 claiming race, his demeanour was the same.
If he got beat in a $1m race you wouldn’t know it. I loved that about him. I was quite different and would get ticked off if I got beat and really gloated if I won. I learned from him to keep it on an even keel because one meet you could be a star and the next meet you can hardly find your mount.
Which is your favourite venue, and race, anywhere in the world?
The favourite venue I competed at was a little track in Ohio, called River Downs. That was one of the safest surfaces for horses. It’s right on the Ohio river there, a beautiful track. I was leading rider there several times. It’s called Belterra Park now.
My favourite race would have to be the Kentucky Derby. That’s the reason I came to Kentucky. It has so much history to it and the fact the horses only get that one opportunity as a three-year-old to compete in it, that makes it pretty special. I rode in it in 1984 when I was the second female jockey to ride in it behind Diane Crump.
Who is your favourite racehorse and why?
I was a big fan of Ruffian, being a filly, and Zenyatta too. I loved how she ran and was very competitive against the boys. Like female riders, fillies have to be that much tougher to compete.
I got along really good with fillies when I rode them. I’d see a filly that a male jockey wouldn’t get along with, jerking on her mouth and just being stupid with her, and I’d go to the trainer and say: ‘I wanna ride that filly.’
I had a more even temperament, could calm them down and was kinder. Fillies just seem to respond more to a rider’s intuition. Lt. Lao was a mare I rode. She would go five furlongs up to a mile and quarter, she’d go turf, dirt, mud, slop, rain, she’d run on anything. I loved riding her because it felt like I had a computer on board. I’d just push a button and she’d respond. She was a real classy filly.
What is your fondest memory in racing?
In 1983 Gerard Russell shipped a horse called So Vague out to California and I went out to ride him in the Hollywood Prevue Stakes at Hollywood Park. Everyone thought we were crazy going all the way out there but we ended up winning the race.
Going to the wire there were probably about seven or eight horses right there. I came on the outside and I remember looking over and Chris McCarron on French Legionnaire looked over to me. He said, ‘Oh shit’ – just as I nailed him on the wire. Bill Shoemaker, Jorge Velazquez and all the top riders in the nation at the time were there and I beat them all. That was pretty fun.
I am the only female jockey to have won the Mike Venezia Award. I am pretty proud of that.
If you could change one thing in racing, what would it be?
We have come so far with the whipping rules, helmets, safety vests and everything. Now we have HISA coming, so hopefully we will do the medication. Racing is heading in the right direction. We keep doing what we’re doing and protecting the horses and getting rid of the bad guys.
I’d love to see more women but it’s still a tough sport. People like Hayley Turner in England and Emma-Jayne Wilson in Canada are doing wonderful.
Women are coming along, but it’s a different breed. You can’t be putting your makeup on and making sure your leggings and everything match and going out to ride in a race to get mud thrown in your face. If they’re tough enough, let’s see more women and more opportunities for women.
Patti Cooksey was speaking to Jon Lees
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