Chris McCarron Quotations

One real misconception, that I realized shortly after I moved out here, was that this was a vacation for the riders,

One of the things I'm most pleased about is that, so far, everyone we asked to come on the board accepted--it's a who's who of racing,

Because of the atmosphere it being a real brief meet, the attendance being the best that we see all year long the adrenaline is pumping in the riders, trainers and horses much more so than at the other meets,

Getting him to be faster than the rest of the horses was a real challenge because the horses all want to win. We have to select a horse that's going to win. In this case, he's got to be bay, he's got to be plain-looking, he's got to be small.

The purses are so great, everybody's riding like there's no tomorrow. But I think that makes for great racing. I think the fans get to see the riders at their best.

When Horse Power approached me about joining their team I jumped at the offer because they are doing with new horse owners what I am doing with new riders?educating and guiding them through the intricacies of the most exhilarating and exciting business in the world. A lot can go wrong for the novice rider and novice owner. I believe a proper education and the right advisors can make the entire experience more positive.

I was laying in the hospital with a couple of broken legs and a broken arm wondering, if this injury was one that would end my career, what would I want to do after I was done riding? I determined it would be either train horses or train jockeys.

I think it's a golden opportunity for someone who wants to become a race rider to capitalize on by getting an education from a group of people who have been there, done it a long time and are not trying to pull the wool over their eyes so to speak.

It boggles the mind when you consider the expense of raising these horses, ... from breeding them, up to the time they are born, all the way until they reach a starting gate. And then, many times, we entrust that investment to someone who is unqualified.

I think Del Mar has always been an incredibly competitive and aggressively approached meet. I'm not sure why there have been more controversial cases this summer, but I vividly remember it always being an aggressively ridden meet by the riders. There's a lot at stake down here.

With the two-year associate's degree, it's good in case some of these guys find out, once they start riding daily that they don't like it, they'll have other options.

This will eventually be a like lot some of the jockey schools in other countries around the world,

There are a number of riders in the jocks' room here who have what it takes to be leaders, except that they're maybe a little too quiet,

You cannot name another professional sport in which the athletes have not had coaches teaching them for much of their life,

This is truly a historic opportunity for all facets of the horse-racing industry. Never before has there been a program of this kind in the United States. This academy will allow jockeys -- and eventually all those interested in the horse-racing industry -- to develop career pathways that will allow them to reach training and educational goals they never knew were possible.

It's a perfect fit, ... We need a lot of horses, and this will be a big feather in our cap.

It's going to be a full-blown community or technical college course.

It's unfair to the trainers to have a smaller pool of truly skilled and talented riders at their disposal.

It was a fascinating trip, ... I learned a lot that will be beneficial to our students. Practically every country involved in horse racing requires some licensing. We have the best racing, the best horses, and the best farms, yet we have no school.

The irony of the situation is that we have the best racing in the world and jockeys come here from all over the world and try to emulate and mimic the style of American riders,

All of these other countries have schools. You look at the riders from Panama , and Peru , and Ireland , and these guys are starting at an advantage. We're the country with the best racing, but we don't have a school for jockeys. Riders here have to learn from their competition.