| Gary L. Stevens |
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| 1963 births | |
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| people from idaho | |
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Gary Lynn Stevens (born March 6 , 1963 in Caldwell, Idaho ) is an American Thoroughbred Horse Racing Jockey . Although forced to wear a hip brace for nineteen months due to a degenerative disease of the hip, Perthes Syndrome , at age 7, Stevens began working for his horse trainer father, Ron, as a groom at age 8. By the time he was 14, he was riding American Quarter Horse s. Stevens dropped out of high school, after an all-star Wrestling season, to become a full-time jockey. He began his career in 1979 at Les Bois Park in Boise, Idaho , and in his first start had a winner Thoroughbred . From there he soon became a leading rider in Washington . He then moved down the coast into California , becoming part of the leading competitive jockey groups there. In 1993, Gary Stevens became the youngest jockey to surpass $100 million in earnings. Stevens has been in the winner's circle at the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes three times, and twice at the Preakness Stakes . He won the Santa Anita Derby a record nine times, and he's won eight Breeder's Cup races, making him the fourth-leading money winner in Breeder's Cup history so far. His mounts have collected over $221 million with 4,888 winners. ADVERTISING CONTROVERSY Gary Stevens was also one of the first of five top jockeys to wear advertising patches in the Kentucky Derby , starting in 2004. They sued on First Amendment grounds, to be allowed to wear ad patches during the race. The ruling was issued on April 21, 2004, by U.S. District Judge John Heyburn in Louisville . The patches, worth approximately $30,000 apiece, were legal in other Triple Crown states of New York and Maryland , but were argued by The Kentucky Horse Racing Authority that they might lead to corruption and violated racing tradition. The other jockeys included Jerry Bailey , John Velazquez , Jose Santos , and Shane Sellers . AWARDS Gary Stevens won numerous awards and prizes in the horse racing industry including the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1996 that honors a rider whose career and personal conduct exemplifies the very best example of participants in the sport of thoroughbred racing. He also portrayed Woolf (1910-1946) in the 2003 movie '' Seabiscuit ''. In 1999, he was voted the Mike Venezia Memorial Award for "extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship". In 1997, Stevens entered the National Museum Of Racing And Hall Of Fame . In 1998, he was voted the Eclipse Award For Outstanding Jockey in the United States. THE PERFECT RIDE In 2002, Gary wrote a book about his life called ''The Perfect Ride''. Hall of Fame sportscaster Jack Whitaker had this to say about Stevens' book: "A Perfect Ride is a great read, not only for horse racing fans, but for anyone interested in how the American dream really works." RETIREMENT |
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