Mark Guidry’s sentimental journey back to Chicago has ended. He went out a winner.
Guidry, the Chicago thoroughbred circuit’s most accomplished jockey from 1990 through 2000, came from Churchill Downs to Arlington Park this summer to bid farewel1.
“This is like a second home,” he said. “Trainers and owners in Chicago gave me so many opportunities to ride good horses. The fans were always good to me. It’s time to retire, but it wouldn’t have been right for me to retire without saying goodbye to the people of Chicago.”
Guidry, 48, was born and raised in Louisiana Bayou country. He left his fans smiling when he said goodbye. He rode the longest shot in the Sept. 8 Arlington Matron, Solo Survivor at odds of 16-1, to a come-from-behind victory for Barrington owner Richard Glantz and trainer Jimmy DiVito. It was the third straight year and the fourth time in his career Guidry was aboard the winner of the Arlington meeting’s most prestigious main course race for fillies and mares.
Now Guidry is going back to Kentucky, where he has been based for most of the last six years, to end his riding career during the November Churchill Downs meeting. Then he will begin studying to become a steward.
“It’s time to start a new adventure,” Guidry said. “If I had any doubts I’d stay riding. I don’t have any. To be competitive in this game you have to have that drive 24/7. It’s not fair to my fans, the people I ride for and to myself not to come out with that drive every day.
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“When I came to Chicago, becoming a steward wasn’t in my wildest dreams. But more than 5,000 wins in my career wasn’t in my dreams either. I’ve really been blessed.”
Guidry worked as a bricklayer, electrician, carpenter, hammer mechanic and roustabout on an oil rig before attaining modest success as a jockey at minor tracks in Louisiana. He first came to Illinois in 1987 and his success at Fairmount Park was his ticket to the Chicago circuit.
His career took off during the first month of the 1989 Chicago season. Competing seven days a week and riding two programs on Fridays, he was atop the jockey standings at both Sportsman’s Park and Balmoral Park.
Then Guidry suddenly disappeared. An investigation by the Sportsman’s stewards resulted in a suspension for alleged possession of cocaine.
“It all came tumbling down,” Guidry recalled. “It was at a time in my life when I had to do something to reach any kind of goals. I was 29 and drugs and alcohol were holding me back.”
Guidry completed a chemical dependency program under the auspices of the Louisiana Alcohol and Drug Abuse Center and in May 1989 he was restored to good standing in Illinois.
“When I first got into recovery somebody told me, ‘You don’t have to speak for it because your actions are going to speak for themselves,’ and that probably was the best advice anyone could have given me at that time,” Guidry said.
On and off the track, Guidry’s actions spoke for themselves. He went on to win nine jockey titles at now-defunct Sportsman’s, seven at Hawthorne Race Course and two at Arlington, and he set single-season track records by winning 134 races at Sportsman’s in 1992 and 137 at Hawthorne in 1995.
With the quality of Chicago racing declining, Guidry left midway through the 2001 Arlington meeting.
“I tried to give myself the opportunity to win a Kentucky Derby or a Breeders’ Cup race,” he said. “It never materialized but I was fortunate to ride for a lot of important people, which made my riding skills a whole lot better. And I won some big races.”
Most notable among them: the 2005 Santa Anita Derby on 30-1 long shot Buzzards Bay and the 2006 Kentucky Oaks on 47-1 long shot Lemons Forever.
But the high point in Guidry’s career came in 2006 when he was the recipient of one of racing’s most prestigious awards, the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, presented annually to the rider “whose career and character reflect positively on themselves and the sport of racing.”
“It ranks way above any other accomplishments I’ve had,” Guidry said. “An individual has to open up his heart and make the right choices. I made some bad mistakes, but I tried to learn from them and do the right things instead of blaming other people.
“I think my experience can help me as a steward. This isn’t a perfect world. Everybody makes mistakes. Hopefully, the riders will have enough respect for me and enough insight to realize if they do have a problem, they can come to me and I can get them the help they need.”
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