With the passing of Davy Jones its been cited in several news articles that in his youth he was a jockey and then went onto the fame and success of The Monkees, solo music and other acting related work.
However - as the Courier-Journal pointed out in the reprint of a 1994 article Davy Jones, at age 49, actually exercised a horse at Churchill Downs. Complete with photo in link
For the first time in 120 years at Churchill Downs, that happened yesterday, when the world’s most famous “Monkee” – Davy Jones – galloped the 3-year-old filly Love Dancing for trainer Burk Kessinger.
Jones, a schoolgirl heartthrob in the 1960s when he was front man for the Monkees, is in Louisville performing in “Grease!” at the Kentucky Center for the Arts. But he has been around race horses almost as long as he has been in show business – nearly 40 years. For years, Jones held an amateur steeplechase jockey’s license in his native England and someday wants to train race horses.
Jones, 49, said he would rather ride a horse than perform. So his good fortune, in addition to cashing a number of bets at Churchill Friday, was meeting exercise rider Deborah Keene, who also works as a receptionist in the horsemen’s lounge. Keene invited Jones to ride for her boss. She informed Kessinger he had a new jockey.
So there was Jones at 6:45 a.m. yesterday in the Churchill track kitchen, looking quite the race-tracker with his jodhpurs and boots and carrying a riding helmet. With Keene accompanying him on a pony, Jones took Love Dancing to the track, dashing around at a good clip under the twin spires.
“It’s a thrill,” the 5-foot-4, 128-pound Jones said before leaving to prepare for his two performances yesterday. “It’s always been in my blood to do this kind of thing. But these guys do it every day, so their morning is almost like me going to the theater at night.”
2-years later Davy, who left home at age 14 and was apprenticed to a racing stable at Newmarket, England, would ride “Digpast” in the 4.20 of The Peach Amateur Riders Handicap at Lingfield Park in Surrey, England.
Getty image: 6 Feb 1996 with jockey Davy Jones up on Digpast
Getty image: 6 Feb 1996 - Jones greeting a racing fan
Rest in peace taking that Last Train to Clarksville
Oh sob!
