Chris Antley and Charismatic changed that laid-back attitude, bursting into the sports world's consciousness in spectacular fashion and capturing the nation's heart in a wonderful way. Wednesday, Chris Antley returned to Louisville for Saturday's Derby, and again he will be far from the spotlight. Thoroughbred aficionados will be fawning over trainers named Lukas and Baffert, horses named Fusaichi Pegasus and Captain Steve, and perhaps a jockey named Jorge Chavez. No, Antley has not forgotten the riding skills that took him from South Carolina to the top of his profession. Almost everyone can identify and sympathize.
Jockeys face a more difficult challenge than most in that department.
The combination clicked. Chris Antley, a jockey who learned his trade in Elloree, and Charismatic, a thoroughbred his owner and trainer offered to anyone for a song, made beautiful music together this time a year ago. For five glorious weeks, they basked in adulation. Antley, who set all sorts of riding records in his younger days, had fought the weight problem to get there. He went through a torturous regimen to get back into the 115-pound range.