Caribbean people do you miss horse racing back home, the excitement, the clippity clop of those running feet? There was Santa Rosa Park in Trinidad & Tobago, St. Georges in Grenada, Garrison Savannah in Barbados and Caymanas Park in Jamaica.

Back in the day, it was like a ritual every Saturday afternoon when radio announcers gave the play by play of the races. This was often music to the ears of horse racing fans, especially when their horse prevailed.

Many people may recall a reggae group called the Pioneers, which paid homage to a favorite horse called Long Shot who died at a race. The very catchy lyrics reminisced about the loss of Long Shot and the impact on die-hard fans. Since a long shot means taking a chance but not likely to win, this song became very popular in Jamaica during the late 1960s when a lot of people would either go to the races or listen on the radio.

Song lyrics: What a weepin and wailin dung a Caymanas Park, Long Shot kick the bucket Get up! get up! in the first race and them pull up the pace Long Shot kick the bucket.

Many horse racing fans may be familiar with one of todays young up-and-coming famous jockeys from the Caribbean, Rajiv Maragh, who is an Indo-Jamaican (family originally from India). He is the son of a jockey who rode in Jamaica and relocated to Florida. So quite naturally, he followed in his fathers footsteps and with the proper training became a jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing.

It did my heart proud when I watched this son of the Caribbean ride at the Kentucky Derby 2017. How did he get there? How does a jockey get to the Kentucky Derby?

In the same way, our track-and-field athletes spend a lot of time preparing to compete on the world stage similarly young people who aspire to become jockeys or trainers (in the horse racing business) work to perfect their art in order to display their talent on the worlds stage or be hired as a trainer in other countries where they could enjoy sustained success.

Maraghs journey to the top was not easy in this dangerous sport. His road to success had many detours. The familiar phrase coming up the rough side of the mountain quite aptly describes Maraghs experience exactly.

He suffered many injuries. During an interview after the Derby race, he mentioned a terrible accident during a race in October 2014 that resulted in a broken arm. Following that injury, a life-threatening accident occurred in July 2015 during a race at Belmont Park in New York.

An article in USA Today gave details of this horrific accident. According to the author, a horse, Mini Muffin, ridden by Ruben Silvera, veered into the path of YourCreditIsGood. Maragh, who was the jockey, became unseated as his horse fell on top of him. He suffered four collapsed vertebrae, nine fractures to his spine, a broken rib and a collapsed lung. It was a tedious journey back to health.

Maragh was thankful to God that he survived as the doctors could not guarantee that he was going to fully recover.

Being a jockey is who I am and what I love. It really means the world to me so when I was down and out, I had a lot of time to reflect on my life and think about whether or not I wanted to continue in this profession, Maragh said.

All roads led back to the fact that I just wanted to be a jockey. Thats what my passion is for, and I enjoy it every day. Its hard to describe what it means other than its just a natural part of my life and livelihood, he added.

This was his year, Maraghs great comeback after such a horrific accident. He was victorious on his horse, Irish War Cry, taking first place during the Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct in April. (The pair would place 10th in the 20-horse field at the Kentucky Derby in May. The horse did not race in the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown.)

As I watched the horse getting closer and closer to the finish line at the Belmont Stakes in New York, my body became tensed. The other horses were right behind him. Admittedly, feeling a little disappointed, I watched Irish War Cry come in second in that June 10 race but.. I was still very proud of Maragh.

After coming back from those injuries, this finish could only be described as phenomenal. Fantastic!

We wish Maragh the best in all of his future endeavors.

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Caribbean jockey in the big shows has hearts racing - The Philadelphia Tribune