Christopher John "Chris" McCarron (b. March 27, 1955,
Boston, Massachusetts) is an
American thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame retired
jockey. He is currently working as a racing analyst for
TVG Network.
He was introduced to the sport of thoroughbred racing by his older brother, jockey Gregg McCarron. Chris McCarron began riding professionally in 1974 at
East Coast racetracks where he won the 1974
Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey in the United States.
He moved to race in
California in 1977, a year he scored his first of three wins in the
Kentucky Oaks. In 1980 won the
Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey as best overall jockey and that same year his peers voted him the prestigious
George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. In 1991, he was voted the
Mike Venezia Memorial Award for "extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship".
McCarron won nine
Breeders' Cup races, including five
Breeders' Cup Classics, and rode six winners in the
U.S. Triple Crown Races.
In 1989 Chris McCarron was inducted into the
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. After twenty-eight years in racing he retired in June 2002. He finished as thoroughbred racing's all-time leader in purse earnings with more than $264 million in winnings.
In 2003, McCarron served as a technical advisor, racing designer and
actor in the 2003 film
Seabiscuit. That same year he was hired by
Magna Entertainment Corp. to serve as Vice President and General Manager of
Santa Anita Park. After...
Read More