Young Jockey Hopes to Get on the Fast Track Again

In 1990, John Atherton was selling popcorn at an Oxnard department store and dreaming of a career as a police officer. Then came a chance meeting with a cement contractor who said he should think about horse racing.

It was a June day when Red Tucker wandered into the Sears store at The Esplanade mall to buy some tools. The popcorn stand, located near the wrenches and saws, was too much to resist.

“I was shopping and craving popcorn. I was standing in line and I kept looking at this kid behind the counter. By the time I got up there, I’d been studying him so long, I said, ‘How much do you weigh?’

“And he said, ‘What’s it to you, mister?’ ” Tucker recalled with a chuckle.

“He was the spitting image of Chris McCarron,” Tucker said, referring to one of the nation’s top jockeys. “I told him he was the right size for a jockey, and I gave him the business card of a jockey school, the Paradise Ranch in Castaic.”

Seven years later, after confidence-bolstering early success, the 25-year-old Ventura High School graduate is facing a struggle common to young jockeys.

Atherton--known in racing circles as “The Popcorn Kid”--is facing the toughest decision of his short career: Continue racing at Santa Anita Park in Southern California, one of the nation’s premier racing venues where competition is fierce, or move to one of the newer tracks popping up around the country, where less-experienced jockeys are offered a better choice of horses and a chance to prove themselves.

“I hope this is a breakthrough year for me,” said Atherton, who grew up in Oak View and now lives near the track in Arcadia. “I’m in a bad slump right now and I hope I can get back to my 1994-95 level.”

Three years ago, Atherton was Southern California’s winningest rookie jockey, or “bug” as they are called, riding to nearly $700,000 in purse money. Most young jockeys get 10% of the purse, and 5% for second- and third-place money, with a minimum of $45 per ride. Atherton took in almost $70,000 that year.

In 1995, he won 50 races.

But things have slowed a bit, and the 5-foot, 115-pound Atherton said life as a jockey has not been easy.

“I’ve been told not to worry about it,” he said. “Horses are down, the crowds are down and it’s making it tough on everyone.”

But fewer horses and fewer races have made life especially difficult for Atherton and his wife, Trudi, who have four children, April, 7, Alissa, 4, Jonathan, 2, and Summer, 3 months.

“The horses aren’t here in California like they used to be, and there aren’t as many races each day,” said Tucker, Atherton’s mentor and owner of L & H Concrete in Oxnard. “Santa Anita used to do nine races. Now there are just eight. The track is home to five or six of the best riders in the country and there are only eight races per day.”

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Tucker said there is no doubt that Atherton has had to struggle.

“Right now, it’s tough riding with the Laffit Pincays and the Chris McCarrons,” said the 58-year-old Bakersfield resident, who owns several racehorses.

“Johnny is a great gate rider. He can get the horse out of the gate real well. He’s like [Bill] Shoemaker in that way,” said Tucker, who wants Atherton to relocate to racetracks like Lone Star Park near Houston or Emerald Downs in Seattle to make a living while gaining additional experience.

Atherton, who learned to ride at 18, began wrestling in his sophomore year at Ventura High and two years later was named Athlete of the Year. His goal was to be a police officer.

Then along came Tucker to plant an idea in a young man’s head.

Atherton didn’t act on the advice right away, and in fact, misplaced the business card. But the idea took hold.

A few weeks later, he was looking through the Daily Racing Form, the newspaper of the horse racing world, and saw an ad for the ranch. He called and began a regimen that eventually landed him at Santa Anita.

Atherton and Tucker did not meet again until several months later. Tucker recalls walking through the Paradise Ranch stables where he kept his horses, and spotting a familiar face. “Johnny was putting tack on one of my horses,” he said with a laugh. “I said, ‘I know you.’ And we’ve been great friends ever since.”

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In 1991, Atherton met Trudi, who worked at Santa Anita as a “pony girl,” one of the women who ride alongside the jockeys from the paddock to the track. Trudi had been riding since she was 18 months old and graduated from Paradise Ranch’s jockey training school in 1986.

They married the following year, and celebrate their five-year anniversary today.

They have tried moving before, to Arizona in 1992, and lived for a brief time in Texas in 1995. But they always returned to Santa Anita.

“You’re riding with the top jockeys in the world here. It’s one horse that makes you. The most difficult thing is watching other people ride” the winning horses, said Trudi, whose grandfather, Johnny Longden, was the world’s winningest rider until Bill Shoemaker broke his record in 1970.

Longden has also been supportive of the young rider.

“He’s a good rider. I don’t know why he doesn’t do better,” said the 90-year-old legend, who lives in Banning. “You’ve got to be dedicated to your job and get out there and show people what you can do.”

Atherton says his races have dropped about 50% this year, and he and his wife are concerned.

The young jockey is looking at all his options to make sure he can continue to support his family. If horse racing doesn’t pick up, he might even try once more for a career in law enforcement.

“If things keep dying the way they’re dying, we’ve got to find something else,” said Trudi, 27.