GOLDEN GLIMPSES #338

November 14, 2000

By ED GOLDEN

AGENT IS THE MAN BEHIND MONEY RIDER McCARRON

Chris McCarron is not called a "money rider" for nothing.

The Hall of Fame jockey, who will be 45 next March 27, is the all-time leader in money earned, with nearly $250 million since he won his first race, on Feb. 9, 1974.

He added $2,438,800 when he rode Tiznow to a neck victory in the Breeders� Cup Classic, but it probably wouldn�t have happened if it hadn�t been for McCarron�s agent of nearly two decades, Scotty McClellan.

If, as the saying goes, behind every good man, there�s a good woman, then behind every successful jockey there�s an agent with the eye of the tiger. McClellan�s knowledge, tact and diligence, in addition to a bit of luck, resulted in his biggest payday in 29 years as an agent on Nov. 4. McCarron won the Classic, while Scotty�s other client, Alex Solis, captured his first Breeders� Cup race, winning aboard Kona Gold in the Sprint, worth $520,000. McCarron also was second on Tout Charmant in the Filly and Mare Turf, good for $242,000.

The grand total in purse money came to $3,200,800. Based on the standard jockey�s fee of 10 percent, that adds up to $320,080, with McClellan receiving the customary agent�s fee of 25 percent of the rider�s 10 percent, or $80,020, not a bad day�s pay, and a good year�s salary for most folks.

Ironically, Solis was Tiznow�s first rider, but through twists and turns that are common in racing, McCarron eventually landed the mount.

McClellan explained how.

"Tiznow was Alex�s mount in the beginning," Scotty said. "He had worked the colt prior to his debut and rode him in his first three starts, breaking his maiden by 8 1/2 lengths at Hollywood Park on May 31. In Tiznow�s first few races, he was just a big, clumsy horse and wasn�t experienced enough to know what it was all about. He got caught in traffic and was squeezed between horses in his first two races.

"When he broke his maiden, I was really high on him. He looked like he could be any kind of horse and he was still eligible for a Cal-bred race, but (trainer) Jay (Robbins) said, �well, that would be all right, but the owners are looking at the Affirmed (Handicap, a Grade III event) for his next start. I already had Dixie Union for that race with Alex, and I had won five stakes with that horse, so I couldn�t take off him.

"I was still puzzled as to why they would step Tiznow into stakes company when he had all his conditions left, even though in my judgement, he looked like he could be a great horse.

"But Robbins and his owners stuck to their plan and, of course, coming down the stretch in the Affirmed, who beats me (Solis and Dixie Union) but Tiznow (by a neck), with (Victor) Espinoza up. Espinoza rode Tiznow back in the Swaps (finishing second to Captain Steve), but when Tiznow ran in the Pacific Classic (on Aug. 26), Espinoza had a commitment on Early Pioneer for Vladimir Cerin, because Espinoza had won the Hollywood Gold Cup on that horse (Early Pioneer suffered an injury just before the Classic and missed the race, leaving Espinoza without a mount).

"Alex was riding Dixie Union in the Travers on Aug. 26 for (Richard) Mandella, so that�s how I ended up getting Chris on Tiznow."

But there�s more to the story.

"Chris had worked Tiznow while Alex still had the mount, after the horse broke his maiden," McClellan said. "Jay was stuck for a rider to work the horse back then, and he asked me if Chris would do it. I asked Chris if he would do Alex a favor and work Tiznow, explaining that he could be a nice horse down the road. Chris worked him and the rest, as they say, is history."

Eventually, McCarron got the mount on Tiznow permanently, starting with the Pacific Classic, where he ran second to Skimming. Tiznow followed that with an easy victory in the Super Derby before winning the Goodwood Handicap. He capped what should be a Horse of the Year campaign with a courageous triumph in the $4,296,040 million Breeders� Cup Classic, the second richest race ever run.

If Chris McCarron is a money rider, then Scotty McClellan is a money agent.

THE HOMESTRETCH: It�s a moot point, because Fusaichi Pegasus has been retired to stud, but if he had continued to race, the feeling persists that trainer Neil Drysdale would have replaced regular rider Kent Desormeaux with another jockey . . . Trainer Julio Canani holds Desormeaux blameless for Ladies Din�s eighth-place finish in the Breeders� Cup Mile, despite the fact that the horse encountered traffic in deep stretch. "Kent didn�t do anything wrong," Canani said. "The horse couldn�t handle the track. He was slipping all over it." Canani plans to run Ladies Din next in the Citation Handicap on Nov. 25 . . . Another Citation candidate is Manndar, the Beau Greely trainee who was eighth in the Turf. "Manndar acted like he needed the race," said Greely, who is pointing last-place Sprint finisher Five Star Day to the Dec. 10 Vernon O. Underwood Stakes . . . Spanish Fern, euthanized a day after she was pulled up with a fractured pelvis after the start of the Filly and Mare Turf, was not insured by her owners, Juddmonte Farms. The winner of the Grade I Yellow Ribbon Stakes in 1999 earned $748,368 from six wins in 20 career starts for trainer Bobby Frankel . . . Frankel lost another top filly, Honest Lady, who has been retired although not injured. She was a fast-flying second at 31-1 to Sprint champion Kona Gold, beaten just a half-length in her final start. Frankel expects to start Super Quercus in the Citation and Happyanunoit in the Nov. 26 Matriarch.

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