Bailey rides off with Jockey Championship

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Jerry Bailey won the International Jockey Championship in a tiebreaker with Kieren Fallon before a crowd of 15,128 at Lone Star Park on Thursday. As part of a special wager tied to the three-race competition, Bailey paid $14.40 to win, $13.80 to place, and $7.40 to show. Frankie Dettori was third.

Bailey and Fallon each earned 24 points in the competition, but because Bailey's mount finished in front of Fallon's in the final leg of the competition, Bailey was declared the winner. The Jockey Championship was made up of the sixth, seventh, and ninth races, and the nine riders competing earned points for their finishes in the races. Bailey won two of the races; Fallon won the other and finished second in the races won by Bailey.

Bailey's win in the Jockey Championship, which was moved to the fall this year to align with the Breeders' Cup, was his second. He won the competition in 2001, when it was held in June.

"I don't think you could make a movie any better of something like this," said Bailey. "To come home and be able to win the championship here in Dallas, where I was born, on a special weekend like this, it's indescribable."

Fallon struck first in the Championship when he guided Carolyn Frances ($23.40) to a nose win over Marfa's Taxes, ridden by Jose Santos, in a one-mile turf starter run over a yielding course. Bailey countered with a picture-perfect stalking trip aboard Proven Cure ($23.40) in the seventh, a starter run over six furlongs. Bailey then went into the final leg of the competition with the favorite, Promise of War ($4.60), who split horses in deep stretch to win a 1 1/16-mile turf starter.

Fallon paid $13.40 to place and $9 to show, and Dettori paid $4.80. The 1-5 exacta of Bailey and Fallon returned $138.60, and the 1-5-4 trifecta completed by Dettori returned $726.60.

Handle on the 11-race card on Thursday was $3,159,639.