4,000 WHAT?

                                                                                                                         By Chris Kotulak

Cliff Berry recently rode his 4,000^th thoroughbred win at Remington Park.  And as the $500 promotion that RP fixed to his wins leading up to win 4,000, it was, as promised, A Berry Big Win!

Beyond the popular and cleverly-named promotion, 4,000 career wins is genuinely a milestone win for a thoroughbred jockey – only 65 jockeys have done it.  Cliff quipped in a post race interview that it took him awhile to hit his best stride, “I guess you can say I’m a slow learner,” he said.  Actually, 4,000 career wins at age 50 seems about right.  Sure, some jockeys have gotten there sooner in their career, but M. Clifton Berry was never a flashy rider who splashed onto the seen and began riding G1 stakes horses from coast-to-coast.  Rather, he was a slow and steadily building flame that has burned consistently for roughly twenty-five years at Remington Park and across the Mid-South.  In his early days he rode year-round at RP, riding quarter horses during the off season of the thoroughbred meets.  Cliff became accepted as a very capable rider with a very pleasing demeanor; both characteristics, and plenty of luck, are what most riders need in order to win a few thousand wins throughout a career.  Most riders don’t even come close to reaching that mark.

 Berry is the all-time leading rider at Remington Park, winning his first RP riding title with the 1996 spring meeting; he then won the title again in: 1998, 1999, 2000 fall/winter, 2001 fall/winter, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010 and last year’ 2011 meet with 68 wins.  In 2011 Berry was inducted into the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame. He is also the all-time leading rider at Lone Star Park and won the riding title at Oaklawn Park in 2011 and 2012. He is credited with his first career win June 3, 1981 at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, Louisiana.

Cliff’s success has come from within, though he will give plenty credit to his former agent, Richard McNaugton (who passed away suddenly in 2011), credit to not having experienced a major injury-related setback and credit to his wife Kim.  Cliff is a well-rounded, modest, family-man, in a sport and industry that can tear at a rider and cause them to become less a man than they might, or should be.  He also can play the guitar and has a singing voice to be proud of.  There’s a lot to like about the guy and a lot of guys (and gals) like him a lot.

4,000 is a lofty number; it sounds big, it is big!  But what does becoming just the 65^th rider in North America to reach 4,000 really mean?  What does it feel like?  I’m sure for Cliff it feels pretty good.  And I’d guess it also means it looks pretty good in the bank.  Cliff Berry’s mounts have earned him over 56-million dollars throughout his career.  Jockeys make roughly 10% of their mount's earnings (but must pay their agent roughly 20% and have additional expenses), so I’d guess his bank account feels pretty good.

But for someone who doesn’t ride racehorses for a living (99.9 % of us), I’ve thought of a few parallels to help us understand his accomplishment. I think riding a few thousand winners is similar to a baseball player having few thousand hits.  A baseball player who typically starts each game might get about 4 at-bats per-game; and they may play up to 6 games per week.  That equates to roughly 700 at-bats per-season if his team makes it into the playoffs.  If a season lasted the entire year, a player might easily have 900 at-bats per-year.  Now then, a top jockey typically rides the majority of races on a race card and rides at least 200 race cards per-year.  So while the numbers don’t balance entirely, in general, jockeys and baseball players have a loosely similar average of hitting and winning opportunities.  Of course batters don’t always get a hit and jockeys don’t always ride a winner.  But obviously wins and hits have an equal significance.  And stakes wins could surely equate to homeruns.

I think you can drive home a similar analogy on the golf course; simply put, birdies = wins.  Of course golfers don’t birdie every hole they play; jockeys don’t win every race they ride.  Top jockeys usually make par; top jockeys usually finish in the money.  Golfers make bogeys and double-bogeys, end up in sand traps - and sometimes in the water hazard; jockeys finish out of the money, get into traffic jams - and sometimes finish last.  Additionally, I think it’s fair to say that when a golfer scores an eagle, it is equivalent to a jockey winning a big stakes race.  It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does it means a lot.   

Cliff takes a cake to the face after his 4,000th win

Beyond a big number, Cliff Berry has earned big status.  But what makes his big number even bigger and better is that despite his success, Cliff remains a humble man.  As it should be with all athletes (but isn’t), his skill speaks for itself - his numbers are only part of the story.