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Wednesday, May 03, 2000 By Pohla Smith, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Julie Krone never cried during her 19 years as a jockey. Not when she got into fistfights with male jockeys less than thrilled to be losing to a tiny woman. Not when she fell. Not when she lost. Not when she became the first woman to win a Triple Crown race.
"I couldn't," she said yesterday. To cry might remind potential clients that she was a "girl rider" in a man's sport. To cry might make her acknowledge it herself.
But yesterday, when she stood before the turf media at Churchill Downs to talk about her election to the National Museum of Racing/Hall of Fame, Krone cried. Not so much because she became the first woman, jockey or trainer, elected to the Hall, but because her mother, Judi, wasn't there to see it. Judi died right before Christmas after she had fought cancer for many years in the same tough-minded way she taught Julie to plow through barriers -- "My mom always said, 'when a door is closed, a window opens somewhere.'"
Two humans and three horses are elected to the Hall of Fame each year by a panel of about 100 racing media. Neil Drysdale, handler of Kentucky Derby favorite Fusaichi Pegasus and War Chant, was elected in the trainer category, and his champion, A.P. Indy, was elected in the contemporary male horse category.
The other two elected were Winning Colors, just the third filly to win the Kentucky Derby, in the contemporary female category, and Needles, who rallied from 16th place to win the 1956 Derby, in the horse of yesteryear category. Induction ceremonies are Aug. 7 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Krone said the tears started flowing as she tried to organize her thoughts while aboard a flight from her new home in Los Angeles. Her trip to Louisville yesterday completed a circle -- one that began the summer she was 15, when they drove to Churchill because it seemed the logical place to launch a career as a jockey.
When they learned Julie was a year too young to ride legally, her mother went to a store, falsified her daughter's birth certificate and photocopied it. The pattern was set, though the career didn't really get going until the following summer, after she finished the 11th grade and quit school. Her dad, a school teacher, was not happy, but Krone is taking college courses now.
During her career, Krone, 36, was irritated when people made a big deal about her sex. Why?
"It just gets in the way," she said. "While it's happening you don't notice. Now I stand back and honestly say, 'How could I have done this?'"
Besides her historic Triple Crown triumph aboard Colonial Affair in the 1993 Belmont Stakes, "this" included 3,545 race victories and purse earnings of more than $81 million. Both totals are records for women riders.
NOTES -- Ifitstobeitsuptome and Snuck In were removed from Derby consideration by their owners. ... Captain Steve, trained by Bob Baffert for Mike Pegram, worked 5/8ths of a mile in 592/5 seconds yesterday; Baffert announced blinkers will be off for the race. ... Santa Anita Derby winner The Deputy worked 5/8ths of a mile in a minute flat under race rider Chris McCarron.
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