On June 6th I am hoping to see the jockey in blue and gold with a Z come in 1st! I am awfully excited about our chances of getting a Triple Crown Winner this year. I touched on jockey silks a bit in The Emperor’s New Clothes but that post addressed the uniform of the jockey and the tack for the horse. The silk is actually a representation of the owner.
Owners have been registering their silks since medieval times. In New York, owners register their colours thru The Jockey Club, established in 1894. Owners from other states may register thru New York as well. The Belmont Stakes, the final piece of the Triple Crown, is a New York race. Owners may choose from 38 jacket designs with 19 sleeve designs. The design may only be registered in 1 person’s name. The front and back must be identical. The Jockey Club offers a maximum of 4 colors per silk, with a max of 2 colors on the jacket and 2 on the sleeves, but they will not offer navy blue because it looks a lot like black. They allow a tasteful emblem or up to 3 initials on 4 of the jacket designs and just 1 initial on 1 of the other jacket designs. Despite being called silks they are usually made with lycra or polyester now. They are lightweight and fitted to be aerodynamic. My favorite jacket design is the shamrock pattern. Silks Illustration
Owners can be very superstitious about the colors they choose. Some colors seem to be luckier than others. Another superstition leads the jockeys to toss their silks on the floor and stomp on them when they are new so the garment hits the ground in hopes they won’t fall and hit the ground themselves while wearing it.
In the top photo we see jockey Jerry D. Bailey wearing green and pink silks. These are the colours of Prince Khalid Ibn Abdullah, owner of Juddmonte Farms. Bailey is most famous for riding the great Cigar. Bailey won 7 Eclipse Awards before he retired in 2006 but he went on to be a horse racing commentator and analyst. Juddmonte Farms has earned many awards including 10 Eclipse Awards. Cigar was National Museum of Racing Hall of Famer and American Horse of the Decade for the 1990s. Sadly, he died last October.
11 horses have won the Triple Crown. These were; Sir Barton, Gallant Fox, Omaha, War Admiral, Whirlaway, Count Fleet, Assault, Citation, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed. The prettiest silks of these horses owners were those of Meadow Farms owner Penny Chenery, who owned Secretariat. These silks were a blue and white checkered jacket with blue and white striped sleeves. Both Whirlaway and Citation jockeys wore Calumet Farm’s red jacket with a blue collar and blue hat and 2 blue stripes on each sleeve. The jockeys of 2 more on this list wore white jackets with red polka dots. The horses they rode were Gallant Fox and Omaha. These silks belonged to Belair Stud in Maryland that raced from 1923 to 1953.
American Pharoah’s jockey wears the colours of Zayat Stables,LCC. owned by Ahmed Zayat and located in Hackensack, Maryland. The jockey silk is blue with 3 gold balls in a sash formation and a gold Z on one shoulder and on the hat cover. Zayat has been racing since 2005. He has had 19 Breeders’ Cup contenders, 13 GI winners, and 6 Eclipse Award winners.
35 horses have won the 1st two jewels of the Triple Crown with 23 stopping there and 11 winning it all. Will American Pharoah be next?
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