![]() ![]() In the 1950's, Samuel Boulmetis, then a hall of fame jockey at the peak of his career, bought a horse farm in rural Burlington County. Black got into this game in the first place. Through the intercession of family and his third wife, Kiely, he went through rehab and has been sober for nearly 10 years. But by the late 1980's, he was scrounging mounts from sympathetic trainers. He had come in fourth in the 1981 Kentucky Derby on Classic Go-Go and piloted My Juliet to the 1976 sprint championship at Aqueduct against the winner of the Derby and the Belmont Stakes, Bold Forbes. He went through hundreds of thousands of dollars and two marriages. ''Sometimes the racing got in the way of the parties,'' said Mr. The money from winning races was good, and nights were open for partying. Through the 1980's, he fought against addiction to drugs and alcohol. Black's biggest setback came from early success. Then there are the thousands of stitches and bad eyesight.īut Mr. He has had a broken collarbone, and he has smashed his nose several times. He has had broken bones in his arms, legs, wrists, ribs and ankles. And he is doing it with demons of many types hounding him. Black is not only at it daily, but beating competitors less than half his age. Even in contactless baseball, over 40 is usually limited to pitchers and designated hitters. Most football players are well out of the game by their middle 30's. Michael Jordan is being called crazy for thinking about a basketball comeback at age 38. Black's uncle and the man who got him into racing in the first place. ''There are guys out there racing in their late 40's, but not riding six, seven horses a day like Tony,'' said Samuel Boulmetis Sr., the top steward at Monmouth Park, who also happens to be Mr. ![]() Black travels the 45 miles from his home in Westmont, in Camden County, every day and is the top-winning rider for the spring-summer meet here at Delaware Park. About 28,000 races and more than 4,300 trips to the winner's circle later, he's still riding them today.Īpproaching his 50th birthday, Mr. It was a 52-to-1 long shot named Stand By Me. He rode his first winner at Liberty Bell Race Track in Philadelphia in 1970. ![]() Jocks' rooms - the places where jockeys wait around between their mounts - are where Mr. Black apologized, ''but I guess it's home for us.'' It's a 90-degree day, so the air-conditioning is blasting inside the spare quarters decorated in Early Rumpus Room - a beat-up pool table, a few worn couches, strewn cups on battered tables. TONY BLACK looks out from the jocks' room onto the shaded paddock area at Delaware Park Racetrack. ![]()
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