When you watch thoroughbred racing live or on television it’s easy to get excited about the sport. Unfortunately, accidents occur occasionally and both the horses and jockeys involved can suffer catastrophic injuries. In the case of the jockeys, catastrophic injuries end their careers and often leave them paralyzed or with severe brain injuries. The Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDFJ) is an organization that is committed to providing support to disabled jockeys. Currently, the PDFJ supports 57 jockeys who experienced severe career ending injuries.
Throughout the year, PDJF conducts various fund raising events to raise monies to help defray the expenses of disabled jockeys. Most of the events are held at racetracks across the country as part of a day of “live” racing. Earlier this week I attended the Saratoga Jockey Karaoke Contest which was organized by PDFJ and supported by the entire racing community in Saratoga Springs. Owners, trainers, breeders, racing officials, jockey agents and television personalities raised more than $100,000 for PDFJ through a combination of admission tickets, silent and live auctions as well as contributions to determine the karaoke contest winner.
Over the course of the evening there were ten karaoke performances involving individual jockeys, pairs of jockeys or jockeys and spouses. The Emcee for the evening was Tom Durkin, the recently retired “voice” of the New York Racing Association, Triple Crown races (Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes) and Breeders Cup World Championship. The judges were trainers, Graham Motion and Todd Pletcher, as well as two of the owners of this year’s Kentucky Derby Winner Always Dreaming.
Tom Durkin
2017 Saratoga Jockey Colony
2017 Kentucky Derby Winning Jockey John Velasquez
Jockeys Javier Castellano and Junior Alvarado with wives
Jockeys Dylan Davis and Tyler Gaffalione
Karaoke Winning Jockey Kendrick Carmouche
Retired Hall of Fame Jockey Ramon Dominguez
The entire Saratoga Racetrack jockey community of approximately 30 jockeys participated in the fundraiser. Songs were chosen in advance of the performances and it was clear each act was intent on winning. As you would expect, the judges were “part of the show” and went out of their way to remind the jockeys they “should keep their day jobs”. At the end of the performances the judges determined there was tie between jockeys Kendrick Carmouche and Florent Geroux.
It was a great event for an outstanding cause.