Jockey legend has a lovely day

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs spent Saturday honoring recently retired Hall of Fame jockey Pat Day – naming a race after him, announcing plans to build a statue in his likeness and even hosting a dinner roast.

But even with all the hoopla and praise directed his way, it would be hard, in Day’s mind, to top how he started his day at the track: as an official witness to a wedding in the winners’ circle.

“Isn’t that an awesome beginning for a great day,” Day said, attaching to his lapel a flower given him by the bride, Anne Ferrante of Buckhead, Ga. “Unbelievable!”

Ferrante, 54, and her new husband, 61-year-old Conrad Arthur Nichols, knew the track was going to honor Day on Saturday but certainly did not expect him to serve as a witness at their wedding, more than 2 1/2 hours before the first race.

But track chaplain Ken Boehm, who performed the ceremony, asked Day to participate, and Day happily agreed.

“What a treat,” Nichols said. “Our friends and family won’t believe it until they see the photos.”

Day, 52, retired in August after 32 years as a jockey. His 8,803 career wins include 918 at Keeneland in Lexington and 2,481 at Churchill Downs, tops at both tracks. He won the Preakness Stakes five times, the Belmont Stakes three times and recorded 12 Breeders’ Cup wins.

The Brush, Colo., native, who now calls Louisville home, rode 22 times in the Kentucky Derby – more than anyone except Bill Shoemaker – and won in 1992 aboard long shot Lil E. Tee. He also won four Eclipse Awards as the nation’s best jockey and retired as thoroughbred racing’s career money leader, having won purses totaling $297,941,912.

Churchill Downs announced plans Saturday to put Day – or, at least, his likeness – on a pedestal, as the track is commissioning a life-size bronze statue of the jockey that will be located in the paddock where Day mounted thousands of horses during his career.