Gaffalione aboard Patch in the 2017 Kentucky Derby [Ty Mattheu photo]
Watching 21-year-old Tyler Gaffalione in a smartly cut blue suit adjusting his tie and carefully patting down a preppy haircut (short on the sides, “waterfall” in the front), you might place him in a fraternity house preparing for a formal. Instead, he was in the jockeys’ quarters at Churchill Downs, having ridden in the 2017 Kentucky Derby.
There’s a first time for every Derby rider fortunate enough to make it to this career pinnacle. In Gaffalione’s case, there may be more promise for many more Derbys and potential wins than for any rider in recent years. He was apprentice of the year in 2015, but even that honor pales in comparison with what he’s done since: His mounts earned nearly $6.5 million in 2016—28th best in the country among all jockeys. Last year, he rode right by those earnings to surpass more than $11 million in purses, placing him 12th among all U.S. riders. His earnings were primarily at Gulfstream Park in Florida, rather than Santa Anita in California or New York racetracks, which have larger purses.
There was, apparently, no learning curve for Gaffalione. After riding his first winner in September 2014 at Gulfstream, he won both the spring and summer riding titles at the track in 2015.
If anything exceeds his talent as a reinsman, it might be his modesty. Gaffalione is quick to give credit to those around him; he is invariably polite, and he possesses a “gee- whiz” demeanor lacking in most young men his age and certainly most young millionaires. (Jockeys earn 10 percent of purse money.) He is, in short, the young man you’d want to take your daughter to the fantasy formal mentioned before.
So, what was the day like for a young rider reaching the 12th race of the day at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May? First, the events, the feelings and the moments before the race.
Gaffalione had to make two trips to Churchill Downs on Derby Day before a third one around the oval at the track. “I had to take a picture for NBC,” he said, downplaying that the “picture” was a film in which he introduced himself and the name of his mount for millions of Derby TV viewers.
His answers to questions about what the day meant for him were what you might expect from a newcomer to the Derby—“It’s unbelievable.” “It’s a dream come true.” [spoken twice] “It’s an amazing opportunity.”
He smiled broadly as he talked about his one and only trip to Churchill Downs prior to that day. “It was the day they had the Spendthrift Stallion Stakes, and I rode a horse called Sister Nation. I think I was last,” he said. His horse actually finished fifth of 12 starters in the October 2016 race.
He deflects questions about how he came to earn a Derby mount to give credit to others, especially his agent, Matt Muzikar. “He’s an excellent agent,” Gaffalione said. “He knows exactly what he’s doing.”
Gaffalione was one of a handful of riders offered a choice between two Derby mounts. He had ridden Fast and Accurate for trainer Todd Pletcher to a win in the Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park, one of the Derby qualifying races with points awarded toward eligibility for the big race. “Then, we were approached by [Thoroughbred trainer] Mike Maker to go to Fair Grounds [in New Orleans],” Gaffalione said. Maker wanted him to ride Patch, Gaffalione’s eventual Derby mount, in the Louisiana Derby, another Derby prep.
The horse’s name—derived from that of Patch’s sire, Union Rags—was given to him shortly after he was foaled. It was an ironic choice, as the colt later would lose his left eye in a racetrack accident. Although Patch finished second in the Louisiana Derby, Gaffalione and his agent liked the way the horse ran. “He had a rough trip ‘through the fence’ that day,” according to Gaffalione, referring to the bumping and jostling that can occur with a horse in tight quarters down on the rail.
Talent is the ticket for riding in major Derby prep races and the Derby itself, but for Gaffalione, it might seem preordained. His dad and his granddad were jockeys, with racing a major part of family life. Gaffalione’s brother, Garrett, got his name from the late legendary jockey Garrett Gomez, and Tyler idolized Gomez and retired Hall-of-Famer Jerry Bailey growing up. He patterns himself after both. “Even though everyone says he [Bailey] didn’t have the prettiest style, I loved it,” Gaffalione said. Gomez provided Gaffalione a study in versatility needed to win in all kinds of races and on all kinds of horses. “He was great on closers; he was great on the lead. He could do anything.”
Gaffalione’s first “rides” as a boy were on the back of a bike, pretending it was a horse and using a tree branch as a riding crop. Real horses followed soon after, and he first galloped horses at age 10. Dad and Granddad may have sensed precocity as, when Tyler was 12, he got his own Equicizer, a mechanical horse jockeys use to train and stay in shape that replicates the action of a live horse. Young Gaffalione rode as many as 15 pretend races daily.
Talk of riding styles took Gaffalione from genial to thoughtful and even grave as he looked toward not only the “greatest two minutes in sports,” but also the biggest two minutes so far in his professional life.
“You don’t want to take it too lightly, but you don’t want to get overanxious,” he said. He took into the race advice his father had given him: “Don’t get caught up in the moment, but enjoy it.”
Tyler Gaffalione [Gulfstream Park/Coglianese photo]
In the Derby, Gaffalione hustled Patch out of the gate, starting from the farthest outside post position, the 20th, and then methodically and unhurriedly (not overanxiously) moved him down into rare space in mid-pack as the horses charged past the grandstand for the first time. Gaffalione’s placing Patch in a safe position amid traffic and calming him to conserve energy gave the horse an opportunity that could have been lost. Many experts will tell you that half the horses in a Derby field lose the race early, with nerves made worse by riders asking for too much too soon in a 1 1⁄4-mile race.
Reflecting afterward back in the jockeys’ quarters, Gaffalione said matter-of-factly that the Derby was “like a normal horse race. As soon as the gate opened, everything calmed down.” The last few minutes preceding it, however, were another matter. He’d already heard from other riders of high emotion at the playing of “My Old Kentucky Home” for reasons that defy any specific explanation. Gaffalione was no exception, and it was a shock. “It hits you. I had to pull my goggles down,” he admitted with a smile, too embarrassed to add that he wanted to hide tears.
“My whole life I’ve dreamed of being in that spot at that moment, and I’ve finally made it after all these years of hard work and dedication,” he said.
Another moment unique to Gaffalione’s experience was the introduction of starters and jockeys as they made their way to the starting gate. Patch received the loudest cheersas the sentimental crowd favorite because of his one eye, but his pairing with a young jockey may have added to it.
As for the race itself, Gaffalione simply said he “didn’t have time to feel anything.” He remembered the back doors to the starting gate being barely closed before the front ones clanged open. From then, it was a ride with traffic, tactics and strategy taking the place of thoughts of horse racing immortality and the prestige of the race.
No, he didn’t win the race or finish in the top three—he and Patch finished 14th—but not because of any mistake Gaffalione may have made as a jockey. He summed up his day expressing “no disappointment at all. I’m just so thankful to have been a part of it.” Patch would later finish third in the Belmont Stakes with John Velazquez aboard.
Thoughts of the 2018 Derby were in Gaffalione’s head even before his hair was dry from a post-race shower. “It was way more than I could have expected,” he said. “I could have never dreamed of that kind of environment. It was like nothing else.”
With the biggest day, to date, of his riding life not yet over, he said with a wry smile, “I’m already counting down the days till next year’s race.”