Krone teaming up with jockey Ferrin Peterson at Aqueduct
ELMONT, N.Y. – Julie Krone, who enjoyed much success on the New York Racing Association circuit in her Hall of Fame riding career, was on the Belmont backstretch Thursday morning in a new role. Krone is the agent for jockey Ferrin Peterson, who after a successful summer riding at Monmouth Park, will join the NYRA colony Friday when racing begins at Aqueduct.
In an example of the lack of uniformity in racing protocols, jockeys are not permitted to be in the barn area at Belmont to get on horses. At Monmouth, Peterson was permitted to be in the barn area, while Krone and other agents were not.
“Part of our success this summer at Monmouth was the fact she was at the barn every day, all the time working,” Krone said. “People, after a while they see you ride, they’re around you enough and they give you a chance. You’re definitely up against the protocols. It would definitely help if you could walk around with your jockey and get on horses, and they could get to know them, especially with babies running. It’s part of a jockey’s life to develop a horse.”
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Peterson, 28, was the second-leading rider at the Monmouth Park meet with 42 winners, nine fewer than Paco Lopez. She began the meet as an apprentice, but in early September became a journeyman.
Peterson is coming to New York after Krone was told that jockeys who did not ride at Gulfstream Park West last year or at Gulfstream Park during the championship meet were not going to be allowed to ride at those tracks this year. Krone is hopeful that some of the New Jersey trainers who used her at Monmouth – such as Kelly Breen, Tim Hills, and Wayne Potts – will ride her at Aqueduct while Peterson gets familiar with some of the New York horsemen.
Of Petersons’s successful summer, Krone said: “It was so fun to watch her improve, never have the same problems twice. She won four races twice, which was cool. It’s good to have some momentum coming in here, that’s for sure.”