Pat Day

Pat Day
Occupation Jockey
Born October 13, 1953
Brush, Colorado, United States
Career wins 8,803
Major racing wins

Jockey Club Gold Cup (1976, 1985, 1989)
Appalachian Stakes (1991, 1993, 2000, 2002)
Apple Blossom Handicap (1985, 1991, 1995)
Arkansas Derby (1986, 1987, 1997)
Pimlico Special (1996)
Clark Handicap (1984, 1985, 1990, 2000)
Washington, D.C. International (1994)
Woodward Stakes (1989)
Blue Grass Stakes (1984, 1990, 1999, 2000)
Bourbonette Oaks (1987, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2001, 2002)
Delaware Handicap (1999, 2000)
Derby Trial Stakes (1987, 1991, 1993, 2000)
Dogwood Stakes (1998)
Debutante Stakes (1996, 1997, 2002, 2004)
Falls City Handicap (2000, 2002)
Florida Derby (1990)
Bourbon Stakes (1991, 1998, 1999)
Haskell Invitational Stakes (1999)
Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap (1998, 2003)
Hollywood Gold Cup (1989)
Jim Beam Stakes (1984, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992)
John C. Mabee Handicap (1997)
La Troienne Stakes (1986, 1990)
Del Mar Handicap (1993)
United Nations Handicap (1989, 1992, 2002)
Canadian International Stakes (1991, 1995)
Kentucky Oaks (1988, 2000)
Pocahontas Stakes (1984, 1987, 1994, 1995, 2004)
Raven Run Stakes (1999, 2001, 2003)
Rebel Stakes (1984, 1985, 1987)
Stephen Foster Handicap (1985, 1998, 2003)
Southwest Stakes (1985, 1987)
Super Derby (1988, 2003)
Turf Classic Stakes (1988, 1994, 199)

American Classics / Breeders' Cup wins:
Kentucky Derby (1992)
Preakness (1985, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996)
Belmont Stakes (1989, 1994, 2000)
Breeders' Cup Classic (1984, 1990, 1998, 1999)
Breeders' Cup Distaff (1986, 1991, 2001)
Breeders' Cup Juvenile (1994, 1997)
Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (1987, 1994)
Breeders' Cup Turf (1987)

International race wins:
Dominion Day Stakes (1987)
Canadian Triple Crown (1991)
Canadian International Stakes (1991, 1995)
Racing awards
Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey
(1984, 1986, 1987, 1991)
U.S. Champion Jockey by wins
(1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1991)
U.S. Champion Jockey by earnings (1999, 2000)
George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award (1985)
Mike Venezia Memorial Award (1995)
Big Sport of Turfdom Award (2005)
Arkansas Derby (1986, 1987, 1997)
Honours
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame (1991)
Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame (1999)
Pat Day Stakes at Churchill Downs
Significant horses
Easy Goer, Lady's Secret, Java Gold, Theatrical, Dance Smartly
Tank's Prospect, Lil E. Tee, Tabasco Cat
Vanlandingham, Unbridled, Wild Again, Favorite Trick
Sky Classic, Awesome Again, Ipi Tombe
For Melvin "Pat" Day the New Zealand artist see Melvin Day

Patrick Alan "Pat" Day (born October 13, 1953 in Brush, Colorado) is an American jockey. He is a four-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991. Day also received the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1985, given annually to a North American jockey who demonstrates the highest standards of professional and personal conduct. In 1995, he was voted the Mike Venezia Memorial Award for "extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship".

Pat Day was known for being a patient rider with gentle hands, and for not using a horse more than he had to. Because Day often arrived at the wire too late, he was given unflattering nicknames—Pat (I'll Wait All) Day,[1] and Patient Pat. He often looked too passive, and his deliberate riding style of waiting and waiting, then making a move, and waiting again, frustrated trainer D. Wayne Lukas, and many fans and bettors.[2] He also drew criticism by riding tentatively, and stopping and starting with many of his mounts.[3][4]

Day has ridden winners of U.S. Triple Crown races nine times. Day stated, "Easy Goer was the best horse I ever rode."[5]In 1999 he rode Menifee, who placed directly behind Charismatic in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. Prior to the Belmont Stakes, where Menifee failed to place in the top three and Charismatic broke down in the final furlong, their rivalry was compared to that of Affirmed and Alydar in 1978.

In 1991, Pat Day won the Canadian Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup Distaff aboard the future Hall of Fame filly Dance Smartly. He is the only jockey to have ridden at least one mount in each of the first 20 Breeders' Cups, and ranks second all-time in Breeders' Cup winners, with 12.

Day is also the all-time leading rider at Churchill Downs and Keeneland Race Course, the two largest tracks in his adopted home state of Kentucky. At the Downs, Day was often so dominant that veteran horseplayers would complain — bettors would often wager so much money on horses with Day in the saddle that the payoff odds would decline.

In 1989, he set a North American record when he won eight of nine mounts in a single day at Arlington Park.

Early in his career, he had serious substance abuse problems with both drugs and alcohol, but became a born-again Christian in the early 1980s. He has been involved with the Race Track Chaplaincy of America since his conversion, and is currently the racing industry's representative on the board of that organization.

After undergoing hip surgery that forced him to miss the Derby for the first time in 21 years, Day announced his retirement on August 3, 2005 after a 32-year career that saw him ride 8,804 winners, fourth on the all-time list, and set a North American record for prize money won, with his mounts earning nearly USD 298 million. He said he would retire and commit the rest of his life purely to spreading the Gospel.

Day and his family reside in the Lake Forest subdivision in Louisville, Kentucky.

Lil E. Tee was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who in 1992 scored one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Kentucky Derby. His jockey was Pat Day; This was Pat Day's first and only Kentucky Derby victory.

Year-end charts

Chart (2000–2004) Peak
position
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2000 1
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2001 3
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2002 4
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2003 6
National Earnings List for Jockeys 2004 12

References

Preceded by
Gary Stevens
Jockeys' Guild President
2000-2001
Succeeded by
Tomey Jean Swan
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