When Julie Krone was using, it was at all times on to the subsequent race, on to the subsequent day, on to the subsequent monitor, permitting valuable little time to have fun her accomplishments, regardless of how unprecedented they had been.
“If you find yourself youthful,” Krone mentioned in 2014, “you’re so within the second.”
Krone is now 60 years previous, a spouse to BloodHorse columnist Jay Hovdey, and a caring mom to Lorelei. She has had time to place perspective on all of it.
“I went by means of all these completely different phases. Now I take a look at it that it’s actually cool. I actually did that,” she mentioned.
The native of Benton Harbor, Mich., who determined to pursue a profession as a jockey after studying the autobiography of Steve Cauthen, made so many breakthroughs after she debuted at Tampa Bay Downs on Jan. 30, 1981. Fittingly, the 4-foot-10, 105-pound Krone rode Tiny Star in her first race, by no means imagining how large a star she would grow to be.
She emerged as the primary lady to win a Triple Crown race, reaching that aboard Colonial Affair within the Belmont Stakes in 1993, the primary to be inducted into the Racing Corridor of Fame (2000), and the primary to take a Breeders’ Cup race when Halfbridled triumphed within the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita Park in 2003.
John Forbes, who was primarily based at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., instantly noticed how gifted Krone was. He was one in every of her early supporters when others had been skeptical. “One factor you need to have is an affinity to speak with a horse, and that’s what she had,” mentioned Forbes, who died in February 2021.
Krone had ridden bareback since she was 5. She cared about her mounts and made it her enterprise to grasp them.
“When she was on the again of a horse, she was in her personal world,” Forbes mentioned.
Nonetheless, it was not simple for Krone to advance in a sport lengthy dominated by males. There have been instances when she would tuck her hair below her helmet, trying to influence an proprietor to offer her a chance. There have been races when she felt as if the complete jockey colony was using towards her. There have been cases when she left the monitor having been bloodied by the whip of one other rider who resented her mere presence on the monitor.
Her response? She responded the way in which most males would have, utilizing her fists to say her proper to compete.
“We separated Krone greater than as soon as,” Forbes mentioned.
Ultimately, she earned the respect of her friends and the world at giant. There have been appearances on “The Tonight Present with Jay Leno” and “The Late Present with David Letterman.” She continued to carry welcome consideration to the game she liked when she gained an ESPY Award as Feminine Athlete of the Yr in 1993.
Via 3,704 victories and greater than $90 million in earnings, it was at all times concerning the horse for Krone. She as soon as mentioned of the joys of competing: “You danger life and limb to have a relationship with a Thoroughbred. You go down the stretch and push on his neck and really feel his want to win is identical as yours. If you nail any individual on the wire, you say, ‘That is the best factor on the earth.’ ”
As a lot as she relished her using profession, Krone has embraced the every day challenges of motherhood.
“It’s so exhausting if you happen to do it proper,” she mentioned. “It’s additionally essentially the most rewarding factor ever.”
Observe: This story was initially revealed in 2014 and has been up to date.
Enjoyable Info About Julie Krone
- Her full identify is Julieann Louise Krone.
- She made cowl of Sports activities Illustrated on Could 22, 1989, one in every of eight jockeys to achieve that distinction.
- Her autobiography is entitled “Driving for My Life.”
- She was honored with the Wilma Rudolph Braveness Award by the Girls’s Sports activities Basis.
- Krone is a member of the Cowgirl Corridor of Fame.
