José Adeón Santos León (born April 26, 1961, in Concepción, Chile) is a retired Chilean
thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
.
Career
Jose Santos first raced horses at the Club Hípico de Concepción in his native Chile, following in the footsteps of his father and three of his seven brothers, and in Colombia before moving to the United States in 1984. There he was the top money-winning jockey four years in a row, from 1986 through 1989, winning the 1988 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in the United States; Santos was at the top of the sport during those years. He won seven
Breeders' Cup
The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, ...
Lemon Drop Kid
Lemon Drop Kid (foaled May 26, 1996) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Best known for winning the 1999 Belmont Stakes, he was also the champion older horse of 2000 after winning the Brooklyn, Suburban, Whitney Handicaps and the ...
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American thoroughbred horse race held on Armed Forces Day which is also the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs () o ...
with
Funny Cide
Funny Cide (foaled April 20, 2000) is a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. He is the first New York-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby. He was an immensely popular horse and remai ...
but missed winning the
Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
The Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, often shortened to Triple Crown, is a series of horse races for Thoroughbreds, often restricted to three-year-olds. Winning all three of these Thoroughbred horse races is considered the greatest accomplis ...
after finishing third in the Belmont Stakes. More recently, Santos has said that Funny Cide was not the greatest horse he ever rode but certainly was his personal favorite.
In 1999, Santos won the coveted
George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award
The George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award has been presented by Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, annually since 1950 to the thoroughbred horse racing jockey in North America who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional condu ...
(since 1950, presented annually to the thoroughbred horseracing jockey in North America who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct both on and off the racetrack); the Award has long been considered a very high honor, for the winning jockey is selected by his peers. Santos also won the 2003
ESPY Awards
An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...
as the foremost jockey in the United States. He has long been a favorite of aficionados of the sport and is one of the best-liked and most respected jockeys in it.
Santos and his first wife, Maria, who was from Roslyn Heights, were divorced in 1994; they had two children during the marriage. Daughter Sophia Santos was graduated from Roslyn High School in 2005, then briefly attended the
Fashion Institute of Technology
The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. ...
. Son Jose Ricardo Santos was a graduated from the same high school in 2007 and now serves in the
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
.
In 2011 Jose Santos' biography, ''Above It All: The Turbulent Life of Jose Santos'', was authored by award-winning author Bill Heller.
Libel lawsuit
In 2004, José Santos and Sackatoga Stable, owners of thoroughbred Funny Cide, filed a $48 million libel suit against ''
The Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami.
Advertising controversy
José Santos was also one of the first of five top jockeys (the others were
Jerry Bailey
Jerry D. Bailey (born August 29, 1957 in Dallas, Texas) is an NBC Sports thoroughbred racing analyst and a retired American Hall of Fame jockey.
Early years
Bailey was born in Dallas but raised in El Paso. He had a pony as a child and became ...
,
John Velazquez
John R. Velazquez (born November 24, 1971) is a Puerto Rican jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. He began his career in Puerto Rico and moved to New York in 1990. In 2004 and 2005 he was the United States Champion Jockey by earnings and both ye ...
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents the government from making laws that regulate an establishment of religion, or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, or abridge the freedom of speech, the ...
, to be allowed to wear such patches during the race. The ruling was issued on April 21, 2004, by U.S. District Judge John Heyburn in
Louisville
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border.
...
.
The jockeys in question had been offered substantial endorsement contracts to wear the ad patches, with payments, in some cases, of $30,000 apiece. Wearing this advertising was legal in the other
Triple Crown
Triple Crown may refer to:
Sports Horse racing
* Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
* Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States)
** Triple Crown Trophy
** Triple Crown Productions
* Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
* Tri ...
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, but the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority had maintained that such advertising violated racing tradition and might lead to corruption.
Retirement
On February 1, 2007, Santos, then 45 years old, was involved in a three-horse racing accident at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York. He suffered five broken vertebrae, a broken sternum, and several broken ribs.
Santos initially planned to return to riding by late 2007. However, he did not fully recover from his spinal injuries. Advised by his doctors that it would be far too dangerous for him to return to riding and that he would likely end up paralyzed should he have another accident, Santos, along with his current wife, Rita, and the support of his children, decided to retire.
One week before his induction into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Santos announced his retirement in several press conferences at the
Saratoga Race Course
Saratoga Race Course is a Thoroughbred horse racing track located on Union Avenue in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States. Opened in 1863, it is often considered to be the oldest major sporting venue of any kind in the country, but is actu ...
. The first was held in the press box at the racecourse. With his usual smile, though later showing other emotion, Santos informed the press that he would retire. He received a standing ovation from all in attendance, with most members of the press waiting to personally shake his hand and wish him well. Another press conference was held in the jockey's room and was televised on the Saratoga Race Course television station. With all of his fellow jockeys in attendance, it was an emotional scene not only Santos but for many other jockeys. Here as well, Santos received a touching standing ovation from his peers and friends of many years. Almost every jockey in attendance, many from all over the United States, waited until the end to greet Santos, some with a handshake and even more with an embracing hug.
A much moved José Santos said:
One week later, when Santos was formally inducted into the Hall of Fame, he received an unprecedented three standing ovations from the crowd. It was one of the best attended Hall of Fame ceremonies in years. Family and friends accompanied Santos to the induction ceremonies at Saratoga, including his second wife, Rita, from whom he is currently separated, and his two eldest children, José Ricardo and Sophia, from his first marriage to Maria.
Lifetime statistics: 25,928 mounts, 4,083 wins, and earnings of $188,561,787, ranking him eleventh in the all-time jockey rankings.