Borel hires new jockey agent

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Three-time Kentucky Derby-winning rider Calvin Borel has hired retired jockey Larry Melancon as his new agent and will be back in the saddle at Churchill and Kentucky Downs after spending most of the last two months at his new residence in Florida.

Borel, who turns 49 in November, has won more than 5,100 races in his Hall of Fame career, although only 21 this year. Since June 27, closing day of the Churchill spring meet, he has accepted just four mounts, all in stakes, winning one. He and his wife, Lisa, have moved nearer the Wellington, Fla., area known for polo and show horses.

Melancon, who won more than 2,800 races in a career that ended in 2010, worked most recently as an exercise rider and assistant to trainer Al Stall Jr. He replaces Jerry Hissam, who is home in Hot Springs, Ark., where Hissam has not ruled out a reunion with Borel for the 2016 Oaklawn Park meet. Hissam and Borel were a team for nearly 25 years.