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By Betsy Parker
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Gregg Ryan broke into the record books Sunday with a victory at the Virginia Fall Races, his 148th win.
The score put the Middleburg jockey ahead of Hall of Fame champion Rigan McKinney, who for some 70 years held the record for wins by an amateur jockey.
The 48-year-old Ryan - an insurance executive who rides races “for the love of the sport,” he said, rather than as his profession - has logged more than 2,000 mounts in a 27-year career.
He won at Glenwood Park Oct. 5 on his own Dynantonia, a 6-year-old son of Dynaformer.
Notable as the feat is, some in the steeplechase fraternity call the record into question, noting that, from mid-lOOO-^, Ryan actually rode — and won — races as a professional. He rode as an amateur before that, and after.
In his defense, Ryan points out that officials of the National Steeplechase Association “forced” him to turn pro in 1990 when many owners (100 in *91 and *92, 104 in *93) used Ryan as their jockey of choice rather than selecting to use the services of another professional.
Officials said it gave Ryan “unfair advantage" to ride, basically, for free — obviously an attraction to many cash-strapped owners — instead of charging like a professional. He loved the sport, and thusly turned pro as instructed.
Still, “I had a day job,” Ryan explained. “I rode, even when I was a ‘pro,’ as a weekend warrior.”
Hardly his fault, it follows that his skill level made him such a hot commodity on the circuit. When riding as a pro, Ryan gave up rides in many rich amateur races such as the Iroquois (which has since opened to professionals) and the Maryland Hunt Cup (which has not.)
An iqjury in 1994 put Ryan on the shelf— and in traction — for nearly six months. When he resumed riding late that year, he curtailed his “outside mounts” for the most part, returning to ride mostly his own horses, and quietly reclaimed the amateur status.
“Not to get nasty about it, but if I'm not a 'Teal’ amateur, I don't know who is," Ryan said Monday. “I’ve always had a job outside the horse industry. I get on a few horses every morning (for exercise], then change clothes and go to the office.”
Ryan is president of Lee and Mason Financial Services, a company that insures financial institutions nationwide.
Professional jockeys are paid by the mount, a riding fee plus a percentage of wjnnings.
Some jockeys compete as “amateurs” but many are, in fact, employed full-time in the horse industry, as exercise riders, or assistant trainers. That they don’t charge a racing fee on weekends calls the entire amateur designation into question, Ryan said.
The derisive industry term for it is “sham-ateur.”
“But that’s an argument for another day," said Steeplechase Times editor Joe Clancy. “Gregg’s record is valid, and it is amazing. He’s one of the sport’s greats.”
“As a former jump jockey myself, I can’t imagine that Gregg is still racing,” said Sean Clancy, Times publisher and champion jockey in 1998. “I stopped when I was 37. To do what he’s done week in and week out, it’s just incredible.”
Ryan was a varsity college wrestler at St. Lawrence, but took up jump racing in 1981, winning his first race under rules later that season. His best season was 1993, with 13 wins.
Like Ryan, McKinney was something of a legend as an amateur jockey, winning 147 races from 1929-1940. McKinney rode in major races on the circuit, with wins in the American Grand National, Broad Hollow, Meadow Brook, Harbor Hill and other major stakes of the time.
Ryan is 16th on the all-time leading rider list for U.S. jump jockeys; the overall leader is Joe Aitcheson, with 440 wins from 1956-79. The only active jockey anywhere in the vicinity is Chip Miller with 205.
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