Chris Antley
 

Fill me in if someone would on what happened to this guy. This morning around 3am on ESPN Classic I caught the tail end of a special on him, they were discussing his death and how it was, wasn't a suicide. Just curious as to how good he was, and the details surronding his untimely death.

Oh boy...by any standards a "special" jock...as good as any when sober. He had his demons...drug addiction and died an addict's death! Sad story as drugs and violent death always are!

Gary Stevens's book really talked about the relationship between those two. There were some real suspicions around the death, but Stevens was never able to satisfy his concerns about what really happened.

If memory serves me, Chris Antley was found beaten to death in his home. He was a good rider when he was right and made a fortune as day trader, but apparently was in with the wrong crowd and trusted 1 too many people!

I don't think they really know how he died. I believe he was found in his home. He had suffered some type of blow to the head. I think the authorities ruled that he fell and hit his head. Others believe it was some type of foul play.
With regard to how good of a jockey he was, I think he was a good jockey. I don't think he was in the Top 5 or anything like that. He wasn't in the leaugue of guys like Gary Stevens, Jerry Bailey, Pat Day, McCarron, Valenzuela, Pincay, Delahoussaye, etc.
He was probably comparable to a guy like Kent Desormeaux.

Chris Antley (January 6, 1966-December 2, 2000) was a successful American jockey.

He was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida but grew up in Elloree, South Carolina. He left school at 16 to ride horses professionally in Baltimore, Maryland. Less that two weeks after his debut he one his first race, and by the age of 18 he won his first race on Viya Con Dinero. Soon, he left Maryland to race in New York and New Jersey and by the age of 18 he was the number 1 jokey in the United States with 469 wins.

In the late 1980's Antley spent time in a substance abuse clinic, but still had record breaking seasons in 1987 (9 different horses to wins on Halloween) and in 1989 when he won at least one race a day for 64-days straight.

In 1990 Antley moved to California and was successful throughout the 1990s until 1997 when he temporarily retired to deal with weight and drug problems.

In 1999 he returned to ride the D. Wayne Lukas trained Charismatic, winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes that year.

In December 2000 Antley was found dead on the floor of his Pasadena home. The cause of death was severe blunt force trauma and was invetigated by police as a homicide. Later, blood toxicology reports showed he had four different drugs and the homicide investigation was dropped.

Oh, when Chris Antley was even mildly focused he was as good as any rider in the game. He was no worse than third behind Bailey and Stevens ( two great riders in their respective primes ). The guy could flat out ride.

Sadly he was a VERY troubled person who was never able to deal with his problems effectively. I will always believe that the press he got when he supposedly came back clean, and won the Derby with Charismatic, did him more harm than good.

Chris A was the wifeys Favorite Jockey after his Derby win. She was really upset when it all went down and it still bothers her still today. I remember him riding a Horse that Dogwood Stable owned that paid $25 bucks to win. I was just getting started into racing and I had $20 to win on him. I wish he was still around not for me but for them kids he left behind. My friend was killed in a boating accident when he won 2/3 of the Triple. In that same year me and wife lost our baby in the 6th month of Pregancy one tough year when he died. It still brings back bad times for me. RIP my baby Cassidy Nichole Steen, my buddy Charles Jefferson Graves and Chris Antly.

Chris Antley
 

There is a book about Chris Antley called Three Strides Before The Wire by Elizabeth Mitchell. A very good read, but as you would expect, very sad.

His life was very sad, an addiction was a big problem, but I think he had a chemical imbalance in his head. What a talent.

If memory serves me, Chris Antley was found beaten to death in his home. He was a good rider when he was right and made a fortune as day trader, but apparently was in with the wrong crowd and trusted 1 too many people!

This is all correct. Especially the last point. I used to party with this man and he was a great person, unfortnately the demons won.

I disagree Rupert, in my opinion he was as good as anyone I have ever seen ride, right up there with Bailey during his prime, when he rode for Mott almost exclusively (or at least it seemed). Cordero as well in his prime.

In his prime, I thought Antley was as good as anyone I ever saw. Two Ky Derbies, won a title at Saratoga back when nobody beat Cordero and won 9 races in one day. What I remember most is his record of riding a winner on 65 (or so) consecutive race cards in New York. Very stylish rider with no weaknesses on the track.

cordero at toga
 

Antley does get credit for taking down Angel's reign but if you really do remember back to 1980 when a young kid named Richard Migliore was taking down Angel and was ahead of him with a week left, to only, yet again, go down in a spill and miss the last 4 days of racing. In which Angel rallied back to win the meet by one win.

Seems like everything mig does is shadowed by an injury.

I really don't know that much about Chris Antley, but am anxious to learn more about him. I'll check out the books someone suggested. Thanks for the info.

I loved the antman. Easily one of the top jockeys of the last 20yrs.

I agree Exceller. I had the honor to watch this guy ride just about every day for the time he rode at Saratoga. He was amazing. One day I saw him all the races in one Pick 6 sequence, I think I had 5 of 6 that day. He was bringing in mules. I also had the chance to see the side of him that inevitably killed him. He hung out with the shadiest guys you will ever wanna see. These guys took advantage of him and it got even worse when he moved to California.
Sad that he couldnt beat the demons. He was a great human being. Many of his last few days were spent helping a young man (fan of Antleys) through cancer treatment and watching him die in the hospital.

I will never forget watching him hold up charismatic's leg until help arrived.

So the implication is he got smacked owing money for his habit?

I think there are many people of enormous talent who live very well in the high-adreneline parts of their lives, but can't handle the day-to-day times and turn to drugs. It's so hard to look at these people gifted with such incredible talent and think, "Why isn't that enough?" But maybe part of what makes them so good at what they do is what makes them unable to handle the quieter parts of life.

Reminds me of Robert Downey, Jr., who is as good an actor as any one working, but can't seem to keep his life together.