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Sir Gordon Richards was the most successful jockey - flat or jumps - there's ever been: champion jockey for 26 years. He set a record of 269 winners in the season 55 years before I broke it. That was my greatest achievement.

As a young boy I won a few dollars in 1972 when Riva Ridge won the Kentucky Derby. I had overheard someone say he was going to win, and I guess that made an impression on me.

The horse I bet on was so slow, the jockey kept a diary of the trip.

I hope to be remembered as a very good jockey.

When I was in high school, my uncle, who went to the races quite a bit, got me interested. Then when I went to college at Southern Illinois University, just a few hours from Louisville, we used to go to the Kentucky Derby, and I got to see Secretariat and Riva Ridge win.

I'm actually an equestrian, and I showed in the American Paint Horse Association and competed for top 20 in the nation.

I've had a passion for horses since I was very young - I used to sit on the floor in front of the races on television and pretend to be a jockey - and I first began reading the racing form on the set of 'The Partridge Family.'

The National is about however long it takes to run that race - eight minutes of fame - but champion jockey is about racing 365 days a year. I actually wouldn't swap any of my winners for the National.

I don't remember my first race, but I do recall various school sports days where I became way too competitive. We were seven or eight years old, and I had a very stern conversation with my relay team-mates about how crucial it was for us to win.

I don't remember the first time I won. I remember the first time I lost, and it sucked. It was go-karts; I was, like, 6 years old.