Jose Santos retired today
 

the doctors advised him against riding due to the spill he took earlier this year when he broke his back.

http://sports.yahoo.com/rah/news;_yl...v=ap&type=lgns

congrats on a great career

-bt-

Thanks for all the thrills Mr Santos. Your spot in the HOF is well deserved.
Jose, Funny Cide...green patures for FC and both of you in my heart always.

The '03 Preakness is one of my favorite moments since becoming a race fan. Santos opening his hand in joy and in response to the buzzer allegation is my favorite celebration easily.

When are they going to make a jockey out of him?

Hell Santos hit Funnycide about a 1,000 times when he was going to win easy. I think he's the one that ruined Funnycide.

Santos rode a few nice winner's

oh and thanks Pillow
made my day

a guilty laugh at that pic, poor kid!

sorry to see that santos has to give up the saddle, altho i'm not surprised. hell of an injury to attempt to comeback from...

Good luck to one of my longtime favs, Jose Santos. "The pinniest pinhead of all. The pinhead of all pinheads"

Ha ha, couldn't resist that quote from P.G. Johnson in Joe McGinniss' book "The Big Horse". Its a great read.

Suzanne

Thanks for the memories and enjoy the retirement Jose.

Enjoy your retirement!

The one Santos ride I will never forget was his 1988 United Nations Handicap at Atlantic City Racecourse on Manila. Some how or another he got through a hole on the hedge that I don't think anyone else could have gotten thorugh. It was truly amazing!


My second favorite Santos memory was a picture of his wife (ugh I mean him and his wife), in the SI swimsuit edition in 2003.


Thanks for all of the memories.

Someone explain horse physiology or recovery to me in more detail. I have never understood this argument. The horse expanded energy in the Preakness regardless. So if Santos wraps up in mid stretch, that makes all the difference in the world in a race 3 weeks later?? I can't understand that. If I run a hard mile or jog an easy mile...24 hours later I feel exactly the same. I don't see how a half second slower when running that hard and fast makes one hill of beans difference in a race 3 weeks later or 5 weeks later whatever the case may be. If he were running a race 1 hour later I can see it...but to me several weeks seems to me like ample recovery time that those couple tenths of a second slower would make no difference whatsoever in his next race.

it's called selective memory.

his huge work a few days before the 12f test of champions is what cost him the tc. he was rank early in that race, and expended valuable energy that he needed in the stretch by fighting his jockey. a nice, slow work was what he needed, not one that put speed into him.

as for after, i think the lack of time away from the track and from training contributed to his up and down ways. but then again, he wasn't a picture of uniformity before the tc races. he had his good days, and his bad days. luckily for him and his connections, he linked two good days together in the span of a a couple of weeks, and came away a dual classic winner.

Jose kept beating the horse when he was already giving all he had and leading by 2 lenghts. I must assume that you have never seen the whelts on a horse after a race and if you were beat endlessly for giving all you had would you still give it a maximum effort the next time? Why beat the horse when going to win and he is not stopping? Watch the Funnycide's Preakness win and judge it for yourself.

hes a good rider and thats too bad ..but that pick is funny

I'll remember Jose most for a couple of memorable rides on the awesome Manila. He won the 1986 Turf Classic at Belmont, and then won the BC Turf at Santa Anita, defeating the 1/2 favorite Dancing Brave. In both races, Santos got him up in the final strides to win photos. I still remember Durkin's call in the BC Turf. "A masterful ride by a master..."

I thnk I saw the whip move 3 times at the most
a tap at the 1/4 pole and then is was working the reins but not the whip so much.
The video quality is so-so.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWncMnDunLE

Oh yeah, that's it, Santos ruined the horse. He hit him at least 1000 times. LMAO.

Eric