Jockey Colony
Calder's jockey colony is reflective of the diversity of Miami. With the Calder oval serving as a launching pad for jockeys coming from Latin America and the Caribbean, many jockeys have gained valuable riding experience before success at other racetracks across the country. Top jockeys who started their careers at Calder include Javier and Abel Castellano (Venezuela), Eibar Coa (Venezuela), Rene Douglas (Panama), Shaun Bridgmohan (Jamaica), Edgar Prado (Peru), Pedro Rodriguez (Cuba), Alex Solis (Panama), José Ferrer (Puerto Rico), Jorge Chavez (Peru), Jose Santos (Chile), Cornelio Velasquez (Panama), Manoel Cruz (Brazil), Jacinto Vasquez (Panama-retired) and Eddie Castro (Panama) among others. In addition, Stewart Elliott of Smarty Jones fame and Gary Boulanger (retired) are a few Canadians who led the ranks at Calder early in their careers.
Winners of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey that hailed from Calder when they won – Rosemary Homeister (1992), Phil Teator (1997), Shaun Bridgemohan (1998) and Eddie Castro (2003). Jockeys whose careers started at Calder and went on to Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey : Jerry Bailey (2000–2003; 1995–1997), Jorge Chavez (1999), Mike E. Smith (1993), Jose Santos (1988).
On December 28, 1978, jockey Niconar "Nick" Navarro was killed by a direct lightning strike after completing the second race at Calder Race Course. According to Jon Roberts, in American Desperado:
- At Calder, I had a jockey named Nick Navarro who worked for me. He was one of the good guys. He wouldn't hold horses or charge them or run them on dope. He was very skilled, and when I ran my horses clean, I used Nick.
- One day in 1977 he ran a race for me at Calder. I walked up to him after he finished. He put his hand up to wave, and there was a powerful explosion. A bolt of lightning came out of the sky and hit him.
Multiple news outlets report: the remaining eight races at the track that day were cancelled.
Read more about this topic: Calder Race Course
Famous quotes containing the words jockey and/or colony:
“Radio news is bearable. This is due to the fact that while the news is being broadcast the disc jockey is not allowed to talk.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1951)
““Tall tales” were told of the sociability of the Texans, one even going so far as to picture a member of the Austin colony forcing a stranger at the point of a gun to visit him.”
—Administration in the State of Texa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)