Hovdey: In ’78, Cauthen just mingled with the stars

So now Victor Espinoza is going to be a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars.” Didn’t see that one coming, but no one should be surprised. Since winning the Belmont Stakes aboard American Pharoah in June, Espinoza has flashed his Triple Crown grin far and wide – red carpets, awards shows, business confabs, charity flings, two appearances on “The Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon, both times in jockey drag.

I stopped watching DWTS years ago (not that I ever started) when they bounced ESPN’s Kenny Mayne after performing his “demented” cha-cha. People can be so cruel. Hats off to Espinoza for putting himself on the line for the team, and thank goodness he won’t have to tango wearing white pants and Zayat silks, as he has in just about every other mainstream TV appearance. The man does have a wardrobe.

Steve Cauthen has been there, although he didn’t do quite that. In the aftermath of Affirmed’s Triple Crown in 1978, there was heightened interest in the teenage jockey – even in those analog, three-network days – that rivaled the Espinoza bandwagon.

Unlike Espinoza, however, Cauthen was already a national celebrity by the time he and Affirmed turned back Alydar once and for all in the Belmont Stakes. Cauthen was the 1977 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. He led North America in both races and purses won. He won 1977 Eclipse Awards in both the jockey and apprentice jockey categories. He was on the cover of a 1977 issue of Time magazine – along with Peter Frampton, Colleen McCullough, and Wallace “Famous” Amos – as one of “The Hot New Rich.”

He was also riding like there was no tomorrow. In 1977, Cauthen had 2,075 mounts, tops in the land. The closest to him was Wayne Catalano, who rode 1,706.

“I’d come out to California to ride every Sunday, then go back and ride six days in New York and sometimes Meadowlands at night,” Cauthen said. “There were a few Steve Cauthen Days here and there at different tracks, but mostly I was riding nonstop.”

Being associated with a Triple Crown winner kicked Cauthen’s profile into even higher gear. It didn’t hurt that he had just turned 18.

“Mainly, I did quite a few commercials,” Cauthen said this week from his farm in northern Kentucky. “I did Trident Sugarless Gum, American Express. I’m sure I turned down a lot of things, but there weren’t as many things out there as there are today. There was nothing like ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ although I did do a ‘Hollywood Squares.’ ”

Do tell.

“It was like a sports night for the show,” Cauthen recalled. “John McEnroe was there, and Martina Navratilova. I only have a vague recollection of the experience. But what I do remember was meeting Donna Summer, who was doing something in the next studio. She was a big deal at the time.”

This was, of course, before disco was declared dead. Cauthen also cut an album that contained both kinds of music – country and western. He had fun, and it’s not awful. But he knew the real deal when he heard it.

“It was early in the Saratoga meet, after Affirmed won the Triple Crown,” he said. “Linda Ronstadt was doing a concert on the lawn at Saratoga. I was there with my brother Doug, and somebody recognized me. They said come on backstage.”

Ah, when stars collide. At the time, Ronstadt was on her “Living in the U.S.A.” tour with covers of “Just One Look” and “Ooh Baby Baby.” Cauthen learned that she also enjoyed riding her Arabian back home, so they had something to talk about besides his singing career.

“She said, ‘I’d like to meet your horse,’ ” Cauthen recalled. “I thought twice about it and then thought, ‘What the heck? It’s Linda Ronstadt.’ So, we went back to the barn, she patted him on the nose, and he was fine. By then, he’d met more people than I had.”

If that was an echo you just heard, you heard right. For all his athletic prowess, American Pharoah has cultivated a reputation as a kind, approachable superstar who does not turn a hair when exposed to the modern whirlpool of fan and media attention. Likewise Affirmed, the American Pharoah of his day.

“He was a very personable horse,” Cauthen said. “If you saw him on a normal morning, you’d think he was a laid-back pony horse, that’s how relaxed he was. He had catlike reactions, but most of the time when he walked around he’d stop and let people take photos, then take a few steps and pose for another.

“The great ones are like that,” Cauthen added. “They do things so easily. Their races don’t take as much out of them, which lets them recover quickly.”

As for jockeys, they need to pace themselves. Espinoza is a gym rat who is accustomed to a three-hour workout nearly every day. To prepare for “Dancing With the Stars,” he has replaced some gym time with intense practice sessions on the dance floor. We’ll find out Sept. 14 if it pays off.

“I think it’s great,” Cauthen said. “I just hope he’s a better dancer than me.”