Borel Tells Agent He Has Retired

Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel, 49, best known for being a three-time winner of the GI Kentucky Derby, has informed agent Larry Melancon that he has retired from riding.

Borel did not give Melancon any reason for the decision and did not return numerous phone calls made to him yesterday by the TDN.

“I spoke with him and he said it was time,” his former agent Jerry Hissam said. “It was just time.”

Borel's retirement came so abruptly that he had already been named on mounts for the Thursday, Friday and Saturday cards at Oaklawn, which left trainers scrambling for replacement riders.

“The day I'm going to have fear, when I look at horse and go to get on and have fear, I quit,” Borel said in a 2012 interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal. “When I lose the feeling of winning and have the fear of any horse I'm going to quit because there's not a horse I am scared of.”

Borel has not enjoyed nearly the success of late that he did in the heyday of his career. He is 17th in the current Oaklawn standings with just seven winners from 79 mounts. He had 32 winners from 330 mounts last year and has not ridden a graded stakes winner since the 2014 GII Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, which he won with El Kabeir (Scat Daddy).

Borel ranks 27th among jockeys in North American racing history with 5,146 victories and entered the Hall of Fame in 2013. He got there largely based on his success in the Derby.

Borel won three of four Derbies contested between 2007 and 2010, beginning with Street Sense (Street Cry {Ire}) in 2007. He followed that with perhaps the most improbable Derby win in history when guiding Mine That Bird (Birdstone) to a 50-1 victory in 2009. A year later, he won the Derby with Super Saver (Maria's Mon). He won riding titles at Churchill Downs in 1999, 2006, 2009, and 2010. He was also the regular rider of Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro) and won the 2009 GI Preakness with her.

Many of his wins came after he hugged the rail, his preferred style, which earned him the nickname Calvin “Bo-Rail.”

Borel last rode on the March 26 card at Oaklawn. His last win came on March 18 aboard Thrylos (Corinthian) in a $7,500 claimer at Oaklawn. Borel won his first race on Jan. 14, 1983 at Delta Downs.

“The words most used by anyone who knew him are 'hard working,'” said Hal Wiggins, the original trainer of Rachel Alexandra. “He was the first jock you'd see on the backstretch in the morning ready to work and he never turned work down. He is a great horseman and a really fine, experienced rider. We started together at Delta Downs and made our way together to Kentucky and then had Rachel Alexandra.

Wiggins added, “This news did come out of the blue, but he was slowing down a little bit, so I think it was inevitable. Of course, I don't think any of us knew exactly when it was going to happen. When I think about it I'm not surprised that he made this decision. He's ridden for so long because he started very young. He's got a lot of years there and it does take its toll on your health.”