A DIFFERENT HORSEPOWER JOCKEY FOGELSONGER TRANSFERRED LOVE OF CARS TO THOROUGHBREDS.Byline: Rich Hammond Rich Hammond Los Angeles Daily News sports writer. Instrumental in bringing the Los Angeles Kings hockey organization closer to the fans. He is the atypical "what a guy" to Kings fans everywhere. Rich Hammond on himself. Staff Writer ARCADIA - Ryan Fogelsonger always felt comfortable around cars. He excelled at fixing them and driving them, particularly in his job as a pizza deliveryman. But horses? They were as foreign to Fogelsonger as driving on the left side of the road. ``The first time I was around a horse, I was scared to death,'' Fogelsonger said. ``I was about 15 years old and at a friend's farm. He wanted me to feed the horse but I said, 'No way.' I didn't even want to get close to it.'' Seven years later, Fogelsonger is one of the country's top young jockeys and probably horse racing's most unlikely emerging star. Fogelsonger's career is only 19 months old, but he's already a fixture on the competitive Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, circuit. On Saturday at Santa Anita Santa Anita may refer to:
n. 1. A red Madeira wine, wanting the high aroma of the white sorts, and, when old, resembling tawny port. in the Juvenile Fillies race. Not bad for a 22-year-old who, four-plus years ago, was working as a carpenter and looking into opening a body shop. The fortuitous twist in Fogelsonger's life came in the summer of 1999, after his high school graduation. Rejected by the University of Maryland's admissions board and unsure of his career plans, he played a pickup basketball game one afternoon. That's where Henry Colon, an exercise rider and the neighbor of Fogelsonger's girlfriend, spotted Fogelsonger. Colon looked at the 5-foot-3 youngster and offered him the chance to gallop horses at nearby Laurel Park Laurel Park can refer to:
Despite his earlier skittishness skit·tish adj. 1. Moving quickly and lightly; lively. 2. Restlessly active or nervous; restive. 3. Undependably variable; mercurial or fickle. 4. Shy; bashful. around horses, and the fact he was nothing more than a casual horse racing follower, Fogelsonger agreed. ``The first time, he took me out on the backstretch back·stretch n. The part of an oval racecourse farthest from the spectators and opposite the homestretch. and put me on a pony,'' Fogelsonger said. ``He said, 'Are you scared?' And I said, 'No, surprisingly not.' '' One month later, Fogelsonger was off to South Carolina South Carolina, state of the SE United States. It is bordered by North Carolina (N), the Atlantic Ocean (SE), and Georgia (SW). Facts and Figures Area, 31,055 sq mi (80,432 sq km). Pop. (2000) 4,012,012, a 15. for the start of two-plus years of jockey training that sometimes made him question his choice. ``In South Carolina I was (riding) 2-year-olds for seven months,'' Fogelsonger said. ``We probably broke 15 or 20 a day, which meant falling off 15 or 20 times a day. ``One day, about two or three weeks in, I had a really bad fall and I thought I had broken my back. With the older guys, it's never, 'Are you OK?' It's just, 'Get back up there.' I was in bed that night with tears in my eyes In My Eyes was a Boston straight edge band that spearheaded the 1997 youth crew revival along with Ten Yard Fight, Bane, The Trust, Fastbreak and Floorpunch. The band and its members were a part of the hot bed that was the Boston music scene in the late 90's and early 2000's. , thinking I had made a mistake.'' But Fogelsonger stuck with it, and in March 2002 made his debut at Laurel. He needed two months to record his first victory but, aided by the 5-pound weight allowance for apprentice jockeys, quickly became one of the track's best. Fogelsonger won an Eclipse Award as the country's top apprentice jockey, and then this summer, at the urging of Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron, moved to Pasadena and started riding in one of the sport's most competitive areas. ``I had to make a choice,'' Fogelsonger said. ``I could have stayed in Maryland for a couple more years and probably done pretty well, but my name was pretty well known at the time and I figured if there was ever a time to make the jump, that was it.'' Fogelsonger won aboard his first Del Mar mount and entered Wednesday's card in ninth place in the jockey standings for the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita. ``It's been pretty awesome so far,'' Fogelsonger said. ``It's a pretty easy sport to fall in love with.'' Rich Hammond, (818) 713-3611 rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): box Box: BREEDERS' CUP ENTRIES |
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