Any truth to this do jockeys really fly by helicopter to catch another race?

[kyle2227]

I was at the otb the other day and this guy whos there a lot who I hang out with there sometimes said that some jockeys will run in an early race at one track and then will get in a helicopter and fly to another track thats somewhat close by to run in a later race? I was just wondering if they really do that? thanks

[cj]

Yes, they do it for big races especially. It is very easy to do on the east coast.

[njcurveball]

Or perhaps not as easy as you think.

Back when ACRC was running the United Nations/Caesars there were 4 or 5 jocks scheduled to come from NY for the race. Unfortunately for them, there was a storm in the New york area that afternoon.

The amazing thing with that was that Billy Mott called the racing secretary and asked who the leading rider was. At the time it was Tyrone Carter. Mott said to put him up on the horse. Needless to say the horse suffered because of it.

[shanta]

Harness drivers did this often going between Meadowlands and Yonkers on big race nights. Campbell, Pierce,Jackie Mo etc etc.

Was cool to see then fly in and land in big lot in back of Yonkers oval. Lot of the times after the races they would take the cash with them too! :)

[saratoga guy]

From 2005:

[Jerry] Bailey certainly had a busy day on Sunday, even before riding Roman Ruler to the Haskell win.

Bailey rode First Samurai to win the third race at Saratoga before flying down to Monmouth.

“It took quite some time,” he said. “We were supposed to fly into Monmouth County [Executive Airport in Wall Township], but there was a problem over there, so we wound up flying to Teterboro. From there, I got a helicopter that got me here.”

http://hub.gmnews.com/news/2005/0811/Sports/040.html

[JustRalph]

It is about to get much easier too..........VLJ's are coming on line as we speak...........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Light_Jet

see this link for one of the first companies to "take off"

http://www.dayjet.com/News/PressReleases.aspx

[samyn on the green]

There is a helicopter landing area in the center of the training course at Belmont Park. Helicopters land there for big race days. Trump landed there this year for the Belmont Stakes.

[46zilzal]

Once while in the stands at at 49er game, Oakland was home in the midst of the World Series at the same time. Many in the stands had their televisions and radios on.

After the national anthem finished and the team started out on the field, I thought I heard it again as Lou Rawls had done his rendition at Candlestick. Lo and behold he was over at Oakland cranking it out again for their game about 4 minutes later.

At the 85 Breeder's Cup at the Big A, several people, including Lord Derby, (Teleprompter was his) landed in the infield and made their way to the stands.