.gif)
Richard Migliore (jockey)
Encyclopedia
Richard Migliore is a retired American
jockey
whose mounts have ranged from Fourstardave
to Wando
to Funny Cide
to Kip Deville
to Hidden Lake to Desert Code.
Called "The Mig," which is a type of Russia
n fighter jet, for his tenacious style of riding, he lives with his wife, Carmela, and children in Millbrook, New York
, but works wherever the race horses are.
He's always loved animals, especially horses, ever since he was a child growing up in a crowded home in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
. When he was 11, his family moved into a bigger house where outdoors there was room for bike riding...and for horses. On one of his endless bike rides, he turned down an unexplored lane that ended in a dressage
horse farm. It was a whole new world. Called Hunting Hollow Farm, it was managed by the respected Hugh Cassidy. Cassidy gave The Mig his first chance to work with horses and his first riding lessons. He loved it, but in dressage he found too much restraint. He wanted to open up and see how fast the horses could run. Before he was 13 years old, he and a few friends bought ponies to start a pony-ride business. The pony rides turned into pony racing on the athletic fields of the Brentwood
schools. They broke the ponies themselves, and rode them, charging a $5 entry fee for others who raced. It was a bonanza. All the other kids were trained in equestrian style riding—they couldn't break, they couldn't rate, they couldn't decide when to turn it on, they didn't stand a chance. But the day Richard saw Willie Shoemaker
win the Marlboro Cup up on the great Forego
on TV, was the day he decided to be a "real" jockey. The way "The Shoe" rode Forego to beat Honest Pleasure
was the way he rode his best pony Sally to beat all the other kids. He felt like a kindred spirit.
The trainer, Stephen A. DiMauro
, gave him his first job at a track and taught how to ride a race horse. Migliore, he grew to be only 5'4” and weigh 112 pounds.
His first mount was on September 29, 1980 and his first win was less than a month later aboard Good Grip at Meadowlands Racetrack
. During 1981 which was his breakout year, he won the Eclipse Award
as the leading apprentice jockey
at the age of 17.
On May 30, 1988, Migliore suffered a near-fatal neck injury when he was thrown from Madam Alydar at Belmont Park
. His accident was so spectacular it was featured on the television series Rescue 911
in 1992. In July 1999, he seriously fractured his right arm in another spill at Belmont and was out of the races for six months.
Two days before the Breeders' Cup
run at Lone Star Park
in Texas
, his horse, Paulina, fell on him. He rode in the Sprint
anyway, mounted on Bwana Charlie, and in the Mile
on Artie Schiller. As he said, "My desire superseded my logic." Later he found he had a broken wrist, broken ribs and a broken pelvis, Sidelined for two months, he took up yoga
which he now loves. As he says, "It even keeps my weight down."
Richard Migliore was the recipient of the Eddie Arcaro
Award from the New York Turf Writers Association as outstanding jockey in 1981 and 1985. He won the 2003 Mike Venezia Memorial Award
from the New York Racing Association
for "extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship." This award is based on the votes of fellow jockeys, turf writers and an online vote by fans, and is given in memory of Mike Venezia
, who was killed on October 13, 1988 in a spill at Belmont Park. In that same year, he was honored at the 2003 Thurman Munson
Awards Dinner by the Association for the Help of Retarded Children. In 2005, he was awarded his second consecutive NYTB Jockey of the Year title, riding the New York-bred winners of 58 races and winning $2,246,398.
In 2005, he won the Aqueduct Racetrack
spring meet, as well as on February 4, 2005, his 4,000th career race. His won twice that day, once on Hurricane Erica and the second time on Benjamin Baby. Richard Migliore is the 18th active jockey to reach that milestone and the 43rd in history to win as many races.
In October, 2006, Migliore announced his move to the California tracks after a career spent on the East Coast. On November 15, he rode his first mount at Hollywood Park Racetrack.
On February 23, 2008 it was announced that Migliore won the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award
in a vote of his peers from coast to coast. The Woolf Award is one of the most coveted trophies in all of racing, honoring riders whose careers and personal character earn esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred racing.
In the summer of 2008, Migliore announced he would be returning to the East Coast for the prestigious Saratoga meet. At the end of the Saratoga meet, Migliore further announced that he would be relocating back to NY. He has long been a fan favorite and a favorite of his peers and those within the industry.
On October 25, 2008, at Santa Anita Park racetrack, in Arcadia, CA, Richard Migliore won his first Breeders' Cup World Championship (the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint
, also the first time this race had been run) when he rode Desert Code to victory.
On May 4, 2010 he underwent an operation in which two plates and 8 screws were inserted into his neck due to a fall from his mount, Honest Wildcat, at Aqueduct on January 23, 2010. During an emotional press conference not only for Migliore, but for almost everyone in attendance at Belmont Racetrack before the draw for the Belmont Stakes, "The Mig" announced his retirement. He leaves the jockey colony as the winner of 4,450 races including 362 stakes and 25 Grade 1 events.
"It's no big surprise why we're here, my career as a jockey is over," he said, "It's not by choice. I was in the doctor's office on Wednesday of last week and he assured me that I would never ride another thoroughbred again. He works on many NFL players and said if you have a level two fusion, you have to retire. I have a level four fusion."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jockey
Jockey
A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...
whose mounts have ranged from Fourstardave
Fourstardave
Fourstardave was an American Thoroughbred racehorse.Fans called him "The Sultan of Saratoga" because he'd won at least one race at Saratoga Race Course each year from 1987 to 1994. He died of a heart attack in October 2002 at the age of 17 on the Belmont Park track yet is buried in Claire Court at...
to Wando
Wando (horse)
Wando is a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Canadian Triple Crown in 2003. The chestnut stallion, raced with moderate success as a four-year-old then was retired on the 12th of May 2005 to stand at stud at Lane's End Farm near Lexington, Kentucky.Of Wando's 23 starts, he won 11, placed in 2,...
to Funny Cide
Funny Cide
Funny Cide is a Thoroughbred race horse who won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes in 2003. He is the first New York-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby and the first gelding to win since Clyde Van Dusen in 1929.-Bloodlines:...
to Kip Deville
Kip Deville
Kip Deville was an American Thoroughbred racehorse whose most important win came at age four in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Mile. Bred in Oklahoma by Dr...
to Hidden Lake to Desert Code.
Called "The Mig," which is a type of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n fighter jet, for his tenacious style of riding, he lives with his wife, Carmela, and children in Millbrook, New York
Millbrook, New York
Millbrook is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. It is often said to be a "low-key version of the Hamptons" and one of the wealthiest towns in New York State. Millbrook's estimated town population was 1,551 in 2008. Millbrook is located in the Hudson Valley, an hour and thirty...
, but works wherever the race horses are.
He's always loved animals, especially horses, ever since he was a child growing up in a crowded home in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
Sheepshead Bay is a bay separating the mainland of Brooklyn, New York City from the eastern portion of Coney Island, the latter originally a barrier island but now effectively an extension of the mainland with peninsulas both east and west...
. When he was 11, his family moved into a bigger house where outdoors there was room for bike riding...and for horses. On one of his endless bike rides, he turned down an unexplored lane that ended in a dressage
Dressage
Dressage is a competitive equestrian sport, defined by the International Equestrian Federation as "the highest expression of horse training." Competitions are held at all levels from amateur to the World Equestrian Games...
horse farm. It was a whole new world. Called Hunting Hollow Farm, it was managed by the respected Hugh Cassidy. Cassidy gave The Mig his first chance to work with horses and his first riding lessons. He loved it, but in dressage he found too much restraint. He wanted to open up and see how fast the horses could run. Before he was 13 years old, he and a few friends bought ponies to start a pony-ride business. The pony rides turned into pony racing on the athletic fields of the Brentwood
Brentwood, New York
Brentwood is a hamlet of the Town of Islip in Suffolk County, New York. According to the 2000 Census, the population of Brentwood is 53,917.The colony was established on March 21, 1851, on 750 acres of land on Long Island, New York, by Josiah Warren and Stephen Pearl Andrews...
schools. They broke the ponies themselves, and rode them, charging a $5 entry fee for others who raced. It was a bonanza. All the other kids were trained in equestrian style riding—they couldn't break, they couldn't rate, they couldn't decide when to turn it on, they didn't stand a chance. But the day Richard saw Willie Shoemaker
Willie Shoemaker
William Lee Shoemaker was an American jockey.Referred to as "Bill", "Willie," and "The Shoe", William Lee Shoemaker was born in the town of Fabens, Texas. At 2.5 pounds , Shoemaker was so small at birth that he was not expected to survive the night...
win the Marlboro Cup up on the great Forego
Forego
Forego was an American Thoroughbred racehorse that won eight Eclipse Awards including Horse of the Year, Champion Handicap Horse and Champion Sprinter....
on TV, was the day he decided to be a "real" jockey. The way "The Shoe" rode Forego to beat Honest Pleasure
Honest Pleasure
Honest Pleasure was an American thoroughbred stallion racehorse. Bred in Florida by Waldemar Farms, he was sired by leading American sire What A Pleasure, out of the mare Tularia, whose sire, Tulyar, was owned and bred by The Aga Khan IV and was a stakes winner in Ireland and England.Guided by...
was the way he rode his best pony Sally to beat all the other kids. He felt like a kindred spirit.
The trainer, Stephen A. DiMauro
Stephen A. DiMauro
Stephen A. "Steve" DiMauro is a retired jockey, Champion trainer and successful breeder and owner in American Thoroughbred horse racing....
, gave him his first job at a track and taught how to ride a race horse. Migliore, he grew to be only 5'4” and weigh 112 pounds.
His first mount was on September 29, 1980 and his first win was less than a month later aboard Good Grip at Meadowlands Racetrack
Meadowlands Racetrack
The Meadowlands Racetrack is a horse racing track at the MetLife Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States.The track hosts both thoroughbred racing and harness racing...
. During 1981 which was his breakout year, he won the Eclipse Award
Eclipse Award
The Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...
as the leading apprentice jockey
Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey
The Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey is an American thoroughbred horse racing honor. Created in 1971, it is part of the Eclipse Awards program and is awarded annually to a jockey undergoing their apprenticeship....
at the age of 17.
On May 30, 1988, Migliore suffered a near-fatal neck injury when he was thrown from Madam Alydar at Belmont Park
Belmont Park
Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...
. His accident was so spectacular it was featured on the television series Rescue 911
Rescue 911
Rescue 911 is an informational reality-based television series, hosted by William Shatner. Originally intended to be only a set of three TV specials, Rescue 911 was picked up by CBS for the 1989 fall season after two specials aired on April 18, 1989 and May 9, 1989...
in 1992. In July 1999, he seriously fractured his right arm in another spill at Belmont and was out of the races for six months.
Two days before the Breeders' Cup
Breeders' Cup
The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Thoroughbred horse races, most but not all Grade I, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, it expanded to two days. The location...
run at Lone Star Park
Lone Star Park
Lone Star Park is a horse racing track located in Grand Prairie, Texas.-History:Lone Star Park opened in 1997. The track offers separate meets for Thoroughbred racing and Quarter Horse racing. In October 2002, Magna Entertainment Corp. , based in Aurora, Ontario, leased the facility and acquired...
in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, his horse, Paulina, fell on him. He rode in the Sprint
Breeders' Cup Sprint
The Breeders' Cup Sprint is an American Weight for Age Grade I Thoroughbred horse race for three year olds & up. Run on dirt over a distance of 6 Furlongs , the race has been held annually since 1984 at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World...
anyway, mounted on Bwana Charlie, and in the Mile
Breeders' Cup Mile
The Breeders' Cup Mile is a Grade 1 Weight for Age stakes race for thoroughbred racehorses three years old and up, run on a grass course. It has been conducted annually as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships since the event's inception in 1984...
on Artie Schiller. As he said, "My desire superseded my logic." Later he found he had a broken wrist, broken ribs and a broken pelvis, Sidelined for two months, he took up yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
which he now loves. As he says, "It even keeps my weight down."
Richard Migliore was the recipient of the Eddie Arcaro
Eddie Arcaro
George Edward Arcaro , known professionally as Eddie Arcaro, was an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey who won more American classic races than any other jockey in history and is the only rider to have won the U.S. Triple Crown twice...
Award from the New York Turf Writers Association as outstanding jockey in 1981 and 1985. He won the 2003 Mike Venezia Memorial Award
Mike Venezia Memorial Award
Mike Venezia Memorial Award is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor given annually by the New York Racing Association to honor a jockeys who exemplifies extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship...
from the New York Racing Association
New York Racing Association
The New York Racing Association, Inc. is the not-for-profit corporation that operates the three largest thoroughbred horse-racing tracks in the state of New York. It runs Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, Queens, Belmont Park in Elmont, Long Island , and Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga...
for "extraordinary sportsmanship and citizenship." This award is based on the votes of fellow jockeys, turf writers and an online vote by fans, and is given in memory of Mike Venezia
Mike Venezia
Michael Joseph Venezia was an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey who was killed in a racing accident....
, who was killed on October 13, 1988 in a spill at Belmont Park. In that same year, he was honored at the 2003 Thurman Munson
Thurman Munson
Thurman Lee Munson was an American Major League Baseball catcher. He played his entire 11-year career for the New York Yankees...
Awards Dinner by the Association for the Help of Retarded Children. In 2005, he was awarded his second consecutive NYTB Jockey of the Year title, riding the New York-bred winners of 58 races and winning $2,246,398.
In 2005, he won the Aqueduct Racetrack
Aqueduct Racetrack
Aqueduct Racetrack is a thoroughbred horse-racing facility and racino in Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Its racing meets usually are from late October/early November through April.-History:...
spring meet, as well as on February 4, 2005, his 4,000th career race. His won twice that day, once on Hurricane Erica and the second time on Benjamin Baby. Richard Migliore is the 18th active jockey to reach that milestone and the 43rd in history to win as many races.
In October, 2006, Migliore announced his move to the California tracks after a career spent on the East Coast. On November 15, he rode his first mount at Hollywood Park Racetrack.
On February 23, 2008 it was announced that Migliore won the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award
George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award
The George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award has been presented by Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, annually since 1950 to the thoroughbred horse racing jockey in North America who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack.The award was created...
in a vote of his peers from coast to coast. The Woolf Award is one of the most coveted trophies in all of racing, honoring riders whose careers and personal character earn esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred racing.
In the summer of 2008, Migliore announced he would be returning to the East Coast for the prestigious Saratoga meet. At the end of the Saratoga meet, Migliore further announced that he would be relocating back to NY. He has long been a fan favorite and a favorite of his peers and those within the industry.
On October 25, 2008, at Santa Anita Park racetrack, in Arcadia, CA, Richard Migliore won his first Breeders' Cup World Championship (the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint
Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint
The Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint is a Weight for Age stakes race for thoroughbred racehorses three years old and up. As its name implies, it is a part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, the de facto year-end championship for North American thoroughbred racing...
, also the first time this race had been run) when he rode Desert Code to victory.
On May 4, 2010 he underwent an operation in which two plates and 8 screws were inserted into his neck due to a fall from his mount, Honest Wildcat, at Aqueduct on January 23, 2010. During an emotional press conference not only for Migliore, but for almost everyone in attendance at Belmont Racetrack before the draw for the Belmont Stakes, "The Mig" announced his retirement. He leaves the jockey colony as the winner of 4,450 races including 362 stakes and 25 Grade 1 events.
"It's no big surprise why we're here, my career as a jockey is over," he said, "It's not by choice. I was in the doctor's office on Wednesday of last week and he assured me that I would never ride another thoroughbred again. He works on many NFL players and said if you have a level two fusion, you have to retire. I have a level four fusion."