Pat Day is an accomplished jockey that is known for both his incredible talent at horseracing and his strong Christian faith. The statue honoring Day at Churchill Downs shows his moment of triumph at the Kentucky Derby in 1992: after winning the memorable race, he raised his hands up towards the sky to praise God. He is known as “Patient Pat” because he was a patient rider that tended to save a horse’s energy for the final stretch, and he would typically not use a horse more than he had to. He was also nicknamed “Baby Hands” by Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.
Day was able to achieve an impressive 8,803 wins over his career, and he retired in 2005 with the fourth most wins of all time and as the all-time leading jockey in money earned. He won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey four times and was a finalist again in 2001. He was the leading horse jockey in race wins in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990, and 1991, and a tough competitor in the big races as well, with five Preakness Stakes wins, three Belmont Stakes wins, and one Kentucky derby win under his belt. He was also a victor of 12 Breeder’s Cups and the inaugural $3 million Breeders’ Cup Classic in 1984.
Demographic Profile
- Born: October 13, 1953
- Place of Birth: Brush, Colorado, United States
- Residence: Colorado
- Nationality: American
- Height: 1.5m (4 ft 11in)
- Weight: 105 lbs. (47.6 kg)
Racing Career
Mounts | 40,305 |
Earnings | $297,934,732 |
Wins | 8,803 |
Debuted | 1973 |
Retired | August 4, 2005 |
First Win | July 29, 1973, on Forblunged at Prescott Downs, Ariz. |
Leading Rider | Churchill Downs and Keeneland Racecourse |
Major Races
- 12 Breeders’ Cup wins: The second-most victories in Breeders’ Cup history with 12 wins over 112 rides.
- 4 Breeders’ Cup Classic: Wild Again (1984), Unbridled (1990), Awesome Again (1990), and Cat Thief (1999).
- 3 Breeders’ Cup Distaff: Unbridled Elaine (2001), Dance Smartly (1991), and Lady’s Secret (1986)
- 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf: Theatrical (1987)
- 2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile: Timber Country (1994) and Favorite Trick (1997)
- 2 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies: Epitome (1987) and Flanders (1994)
- 9 Triple Crown victories:
- 1 Kentucky Derby: Lil E. Tee (1992)
- 5 Preakness Stakes: Tank’s Prospect (1985), Summer Squall (1990), Tabasco Cat (1994), Timber Country (1995), and Louis Quatorze (1996)
- 3 Belmont Stakes: Easy Goer (1989), Tabasco Cat (1994), and Commendable (2000)
- The all-time leading rider at Churchill Downs and Keeneland Racecourse, the two largest tracks in his adopted home state of Kentucky
- Churchill Downs: 2,481 victories, including 155 stakes race wins, and earned 15 riding titles at the spring meeting plus 19 at the fall meeting.
- Keeneland: 918 wins, including 95 in stakes races, and earned 22 leading rider titles.
Historical Achievements, Honors Received, Recognitions
1984
- Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey
- He set a Churchill Downs record for the most wins on a single card when he won seven of eight races on June 20, 1984. The record was tied in 2008 by Julien Leparoux.
1985
- George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, given annually to the North American jockey who demonstrates the highest professional and personal conduct standards.
1986
- Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey
1987
- Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey
1989
- He set a North American record at Arlington Park when he won eight of nine mounts in one day.
1991
- Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey 1991
- Inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
1995
- Presented with the Mike Venezia Memorial Award, which honors “extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship”.
2000-2001
- Served as the President of the Jockey‘s Guild
2001
- He scored his 8,000th career victory aboard Camden Park on May 31, 2001, at Churchill Downs, joining legendary jockeys Laffit Pincay, Jr. and Bill Shoemaker.
2002
- He passed Chris McCarron as the all-time leader in earnings, reaching $264,580,968 with his win in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap at Saratoga on August 10, 2002.
2004
- Ranked 11th nationally in money won with $7,963,343.
2005
- He received the Big Sport of Turfdom Award in acknowledgment of how he worked with the media to enhance coverage of the sport.
2006
- A statue of him celebrating his win in the Kentucky Derby was unveiled at Churchill Downs.
2015
- Churchill Downs renamed the Derby Trial the Pat Day Mile in his honor.
Characteristics
Whenever Pat Day was interviewed, sportswriters were guaranteed to hear some gospels, bible verses, and about how God had blessed him. As Ken Boehm, the chaplain at Churchill Downs, put it, “ People think that he was a jockey by profession, but he was a jockey by the God-given talents God gave him. By profession, he was a missionary in the racing world.”
However, it wasn’t always this way: before Day turned to religion and became a born-again Christian in 1984, the early years of his racing career were turbulent as he struggled with substance abuse. Day said that he felt a void in his heart that he thought drugs and alcohol could fill. “I thought it could be found in the sordid lifestyle of alcohol and drugs and carrying on,” Day said. He was almost an overnight success as a jockey, and his newfound fame and fortune also made him arrogant; he described himself in that period as “not a real nice guy.” An incident in Florida made him realize that his behavior “wasn’t how his parents had raised him”, and he gave up his vices and devoted himself to Christianity.
Statue/Sculpture
Pat Day’s contributions and dedication to the Churchill Downs racetrack earned him a statue, which was unveiled at Churchill Downs in 2006. The five-foot tall bronze statue shows Day posed with his arms raised in triumph towards the sky, and it was inspired by his memorable victory in the 1992 Kentucky Derby (gr. I) aboard Lil E. Tee.
Day’s statue is located in the garden facing the paddock, next to the likeness of Aristidies (the first winner of the Kentucky Derby). Louisville artist Raymond Graf created the statue along with 15 replicas – smaller versions of the life-sized bronze statue that were all sold for charity except one, which was gifted to Day. The money raised was donated to the Racetrack Chaplaincy of America.
Personal Life
Day spent his youth in a stable, taking care of horses on his family farm back in Colorado. His father managed an auto body shop and owned a five-acre farm. He grew up on the western slope, working in Eagle Valley’s ranching community as he dreamed of becoming a pro rodeo cowboy. He was also a state champion wrestler while attending Eagle Valley High School, weighing in between 93 and 95 lbs. After graduating in 1971, Day followed his dream and spent two years on the rodeo circuit. However, at 4’11” and just 100 lbs., he eventually decided to pursue a horse racing career instead and became a jockey.
In 1973, a friend of Day’s helped him get a job at Riverside Thoroughbred Farm in southern California, and his jockey career began in earnest. He won his first race in July 1973 aboard Foreblunged at Prescott Downs in Arizona, and the rest is history.
Day struggled with substance abuse in the early years of his career until one fateful day in 1984. He had checked into a motel in Florida the day before a race at Hialeah Park and had some time to kill, so he turned on the TV and saw the preacher Jimmy Swaggart asking sinners to step forward and be saved. It was a powerful experience for Day, and he said it felt like a veil had been lifted from his eyes. From that moment on, he devoted himself to Christianity and felt repulsed by alcohol and drugs. Of course, his newfound faith came with its own challenges: Day nearly gave up horseracing to escape gambling and live as a Christian. However, he reconciled his faith and his career by using his God-given talents as a jockey to spread the word about Christianity and exhort his fans to goodness.
Pat Day married Sheila Johnson on June 30, 1979, and they had a daughter, Irene Elizabeth. They built their home in Louisville in 1991. His wife and daughter currently work in the ministry. Sheila started a Christian service that aimed to empower single mothers called Mom’s Closet Resource Center in 2003, located in Middletown. This later became the Single Parent Resource Center in 2019.
In 2005, Day underwent hip surgery that forced him to miss the Kentucky Derby for the first time in 21 years. He retired from racing on August 3, 2005, and devoted himself to the Kentucky Race Track Chaplaincy, helping to establish a chapel at Churchill Downs that services backstretch workers. After he retired, he partnered with WinStar Farms president Elliott Walden, trainer Bill Million, and jockey Larry Melancon to spearhead hiring a permanent year-around chaplain Today, he continues to preach, and he travels the nation sharing his faith and how it’s intertwined with his career.
Personal Tragedy
Like any other successful jockey, Pat also experienced lows in his jockey career; he went winless with 14 starters during his first Churchill Downs meet in 1980, placing second six times. He was even rejected by eventual Derby winner War Emblem (2002) because he did not want to bump Victor Espinoza.
Notable Horses Mounted
Easy Goer, Awesome Again, Azeri, Cat Thief, Dance Smartly, Favorite Trick, Heavenly Prize, Lil E. Tee, Java Gold, Lady’s Secret, Louis Quatorze, Paradise Creek, Seeking the Gold, Sky Classic, Summer Squall, Tabasco Cat, Tank’s Prospect, Theatrical, Timber Country, Unbridled, Wild Again