Pat Day by, Hans Capper 8/04/05
 
U.S. society, of which the sports world is a proportional microcosm, is so screwed up that we end up canonizing dubious personalities like Muhammed Ali while overlooking more moral men with similar-level achievement like Larry Holmes.  It is with the effect of a man shouting into an empty canyon, then, that we come today to lionize recent retiree Patrick Day, one of the finest jockeys to mount a thoroughbred horse.
 
Pat is known by racetrack aficionados as "Wait All" Day for his penchant for refusing to ask a horse -- either front-runner or closer -- for its best effort until the last possible moment.  He is the all-time purse money winner and only 700 wins shy of Laffit Pincay, Jr.'s all-time wins record.  But, as with all statistics, they only tell a small part of the story.  Day was a prodigal drug addict who became a born-again Christian.  He never failed to mention his devotion to Jesus and the Lord after his conversion and he rode with the same furor after he kicked drugs as before.
 
If you ever want to see exactly why Day was the best, you only need look at the inaugural Breeders Cup Classic of 1984.  Day, not yet a racing superstar then, had the mount on 31-1 longshot Wild Again, a minor stakes winning son of Icecapade, the latter of which did his best running on the grass.  The race shaped up as a two-horse affair between heavy favorite Slew o' Gold, one of the first great sons of Seattle Slew, who had dominated Grade I competition in the East, and the popular Preakness winner Gate Dancer, who wore a distinctive hood over his ears.  Slew O' Gold was ridden by New York racing immortal Angel Cordero, Jr. while Gate Dancer was ridden by the great Pincay.  The back story was magical because Wild Again's owner had seemingly thrown more than $100,000 away by supplementing his longshot steed to the Classic after failing to nominate him earlier and betting heavily on the longshot the day of the race.
 
Day put Wild Again on the lead, stalked all the way by the imposing Slew o' Gold.  As they turned for home, Slew o' Gold moved up to look Wild Again in the eye as Gate Dancer ranged up on the outside.  To knowledgeable racing fans, here is where the over matched Wild Again was supposed to be swallowed up by the favorites and become just another forgotten tote-board bomb which didn't detonate.  But "Patient" Pat had other ideas.  In typical fashion, he had nursed Wild Again's speed and he had plenty left for a roughly run, stretch long, three-horse slug out which is among the most thrilling in the last 25 years of the sport.  With every stride it seemed Wild Again wanted to quit, succumb to the bigger, stronger, faster Slew o' Gold and Gate Dancer, who were bumping him repeatedly toward the rail like a pinball.  Cordero worked furiously on Slew o' Gold and Pincay was all over Gate Dancer, but even those two all-time greats were dwarfed by Day.  Seemingly at one with his mount, he willed Wild Again to the wire in front by a nose.  Gate Dancer finished second with Slew o' Gold third, but the latter two's order of finish was reversed because the stewards ruled Gate Dancer had impeded Slew o' Gold (who in turn impeded the winner). 
 
Of course there was the Kentucky Derby win aboard another bomb, Lil E. Tee, and bucketsful of other big money and well ridden wins, but on that fall day in 1984, Day set the tone for another 20 years of excellence which comprises one of the most deservingly acclaimed careers in the history of American sport.