Jerry Bailey Rides Again

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Seven months after calling it quits, Jerry Bailey was back in the saddle again.

The jockey legend surprised a group of onlookers Friday morning at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, when he showed up to take a crack at the latest thoroughbred to call the Spa City home.

This one, as yet un-named, is of the electronic variety. They call it a racing simulator, and as far as anyone knows, it may be the first of its kind in the world.

A day earlier, the interactive race horse was debuted for the media. The idea was that anyone who wanted a chance to see and feel and hear what a jockey experiences during a race was welcomed to go for a ride. Not even the mighty George Plimpton - who weaved his first-person accounts of playing football, hockey and basketball into books like 'Paper Lion' - had attempted such a thing.

With a price tag of about $125,000 and electronically hooked up to a video screen to simulate all the sights and sounds of an actual race, this was as close as possible to the real thing.

At the precise moment riders like Prado, Castellano and Velazquez were readying for battle against one another at the Saratoga Race Course across the street, here at the museum, the jockeys were still in the jockey room, framed by rows of colorful silks and forever immortalized in lifesize figures. With the massive electronic tote board flashing post time and tracking the ever-changing odds, the racing simulator was ready for its first rider.

There are three levels of speed that the rider can choose.
The first two - Warmup and Apprentice - link with the 50-inch video screen to navigate a path across the Oklahoma Training Track, which sits just off Union Avenue, just down the road from the museum.

The third level - called The Jockey - 'races' at a speed of up to 30 miles an hour and takes to the track in an actual race that was filmed with a jockey helmet cam at Hollywood Park.

The person chosen for the initial ride was Jim Tedisco. The assemblyman from Schenectady helped secure a sizeable grant for the simulator, and his efforts were being rewarded with first crack at the electronic thoroughbred. While Tedisco was sizing up the beast, real-life jockey Mike Smith was mounting a horse of his own.

This one was a smaller-sized non-electronic model, called an Equisizer that runs purely on extreme human endurance. After Smith demonstrated the agility and strength that secured the Kentucky Derby atop 50-to-1 long shot Giacomo in 2005, it was the assemblyman's turn to mount the electronic race simulator. He chose the Jockey mode.

'It's a heckuva ride,' offered Tedisco afterwards, stretching his legs and reasonably pleased about the way he handled the two-minute race. There was one small problem however. The thing was broken.

Blame was quickly assigned to some sort of a temporary glitch having to do with electricity and power. But what everyone knew and no one was saying was this: Never, ever let the politicians near the toys.

Less than 24 hours later, the glitch was fixed and the racing simulator ready for riding.

Jerry Bailey, who won 641 races at the racecourse across Union Avenue, was in town for the weekend to broadcast the races on ESPN. A group of museum visitors saw him climb up the podium where the horse was waiting. Just like the old days, they cheered him on.

One foot went in the stirrups. The other went up and over the top of the saddle. His eyes focused with intensity. The veins in his neck bulged with anticipation. Crouching low over the horse's back, Bailey shifted his weight forward just as the startling clamor of bells signaled the opening of the gates. The announcer's voice melted with the moving images. Bailey was back in the race. A roar went up from the crowd.

Just in that moment it was impossible to know whether the voices were coming from the racing simulator or from the happy group of onlookers, simulating the old days and cheering him on.

Words and pictures by Thomas Dimopoulos,
"Bailey tests out new simulator," The Saratogian, Aug. 06, 2006.