MIGLIORE ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT AFTER 30-YEAR CAREER

**To watch video of jockey Richard Migliore’s retirement announcement on Wednesday at Belmont Park, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc_6Qe6ZsSc**

 

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

 

Contact: Jenny Kellner

(718) 659-2351

 

MIGLIORE ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT AFTER 30-YEAR CAREER

 

ELMONT, N.Y. – Jockey Richard Migliore, a fixture on The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) circuit for three decades, today announced his retirement after doctors told him he could no longer ride.

 

Migliore, 46, initially injured his neck in a spill at Aqueduct Racetrack on January 23, and last month underwent surgery to fuse several vertebrae in his neck and spine. Although he had hoped to make a comeback, Migliore said he was informed last week he would never be able to ride safely again.

 

“My career as a jockey is over but not by choice,” Migliore said during an emotional news conference at Belmont Park prior to the draw of Saturday’s 142^nd running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes. “I still held out hope until last Wednesday. Racing and horses have been so good to me, it was hard to let go.”

 

Migliore, who grew up on Long Island, got a job on a horse farm near his home and decided to be a jockey at age 12. He began riding in 1980, and in 1981 won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top apprentice with 298 victories. Twice the leading rider in New York – in 1981 and 1985 – Migliore won or tied as leading rider at 10 different NYRA meets, most recently taking the 2005 Aqueduct Spring Meet.

 

“The Mig,” as he was known, never won a Triple Crown race, but throughout the course of his career rode 4,450 winners of more than $160 million. Some of his biggest victories came later in his career, taking his first Breeders’ Cup race in 2008 aboard Turf Sprint winner Desert Code, and last year capturing the Grade 1 Gazelle and Grade 1 Test aboard Flashing. In all, he won 362 stakes, including 25 Grade 1 races.

 

“I’m so fortunate to start my career here at Belmont Park, the Taj Mahal of American racing, and to finish it on the big stage in New York,” said Migliore. “I’m very appreciative of the opportunities I was given and all the people that let me ride their great horses.”

 

Thanking his wife, Carmela, and acknowledging the support of his four children, Joseph, Philip, Luciano, and Gabrielle, Migliore said he has yet not made any decision on his future.

 

“Everything good in my life has come from horses,” he said. “And the biggest thing is I feel gratitude that I was able to live my dream.”

 

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