| Shane Sellers |
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Shane Sellers (born September 24 , 1966 in Erath, Louisiana ) is a retired American Thoroughbred Horse Racing Jockey . At age eleven, he began working around horses and in 1983 rode his first winner at Evangeline Downs . Sellers won several national riding championships and was a leading rider at Arlington Park . Over his career, he rode in the Kentucky Derby 13 times, with his best finish a third with Wild Gale in 1993. The two took third again that year in the Belmont Stakes . He rode 29 Thoroughbred s in the Breeders Cup races, with two wins in 1997 and 1998, however one of his most exciting wins had to be his ride of Skip Away over the great Cigar in the Jockey Club Gold Cup in 1996. During his career Shane Sellers won more than 4,000 races and earned purses worth more than $130 million. ADVERTISING CONTROVERSY Shane Sellers 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 , Gary Stevens , and Jose Santos . RETIREMENT A serious knee injury in December of 2000 kept Sellers out of racing for a year and a half. His experience led him to become an outspoken critic of the lack of proper Health Insurance being provided to jockeys. He returned to the track in 2002, racing until his retirement in late December, 2004. JOCKEY Sellers, along with fellow jockey , it told the story of their problems resulting from racing injuries and the effects of constant Crash Diet ing to maintain racing weight. In 2005, Shane Sellers appeared on CNN to speak out about the serious health problems many jockeys experience as a result of problem. As an owner and trainer today, he lobbies racing authorities and others involved in the sport to raise jockey weight limits. EXTERNAL LINKS
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