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Southieboy
10-22-2006, 04:13 PM
Silks maker: Local woman dressing ESPN for Breeders' Cup
http://www.sentinelnews.com/articles/2006/10/21/news/news08.txt (http://www.sentinelnews.com/articles/2006/10/21/news/news08.txt)

By Walt Reichert/Sentinel-News Editor
Jeanne Brown is in a race and the finish line is just ahead.

Brown, of Shelbyville, is a silks maker. For 40 years she has made the silks, helmet covers and leggings for the pint-sized athletes and the b l i n kers for the thundering horses they ride. She has dressed everybody from jockey Pat Day to Preakness and Belmont winner Afleet Alex.

Her current project is supplying the silks for the ESPN commentators that will be coming in to Churchill Downs for the Breeders' Cup Nov. 4.

Brown is used to last-minute work -- horse owners frequently call needing a set of silks next day -- but this work is a little different. Unlike the 90-pound-wonder, one-size-fits-all jockeys, some of the commentators Brown will have to dress require extra, extra large silks.

"One of those guys is an ex-football player and he is big," Brown said. "I've never done extra large silks before."

The commentators will be wearing jockey silks representing famous thoroughbred farms, including Claiborne, Dogwood, and Lanes End. Some like Claiborne's silks will be easy -- they are solid black. Others, like Ridgewood Farms in Iowa, will be a little more complicated; the silks are yellow with red flames. Still, Brown said she, her daughter Bobbie Tooke and three seamstress helpers who live in Oklahoma will have the silks ready in time for the ESPN announcers to make a splash on live television.

"Oh yeah, we'll make it," Brown said.

Born racing

Brown grew up on a thoroughbred farm in Seattle and for awhile was a jockey herself. She once met actor John Wayne after a race in California. At 13 years of age she taught herself to sew. When one of the horses needed a set of b l i n kers she would sew them.

"People saw what I made and they wanted them," Brown said. "That's how I got into it."

Brown's workshop in Shelbyville is an airy basement room filled with the tools of her trade - a closet full of bolts of nylon (Real silk went out with World War II.), shelves filled with colorful helmet covers, shelves with spools of threads and sewing machines, button makers and a horse head that models the b l i n kers. Unlike jockeys silks, b l i n kers have to be sized to fit the horse.

A set of silks will take from two to six hours to make depending upon complexity of design. Owners frequently call from a race track saying they need silks immediately because their horse is in a race the next day.

"They keep sets of silks but they often send their horses off without them," Brown said. "It's a forgetful thing."

But Brown always accommodates their last-minute needs, sending the silks off via UPS nearly every day.

As of late last week, Brown had finished several sets of silks for the ESPN assignment, but the big guy's silks would have to be done again. She got the size right but the green and gold were on the wrong place.

"We got the colors wrong," Brown said. "I guess we'll use this one for a Halloween costume."

kenwoodallpromos
10-22-2006, 06:18 PM
"The commentators will be wearing jockey silks representing famous thoroughbred farms"
I goess they are identifying with other than gamblers this year! After all, it is the Breeder's Cup and not the Bettor's Cup!LOL!!