NTWA | National Turf Writers Association

NTWA HONOREES

Mr. Fitz Award - For Typifying the Spirit of Racing

2007 Honoree - Calvin Borel (Jockey)
by Marty McGee

Calvin Borel became a jockey in 1983, but only now, nearly a quarter-century later, has he become the proverbial overnight sensation.

Few jockeys, if any, had a more productive or memorable year in 2007 than Borel, whose ride aboard Street Sense on May 5 will go down forever as one of the best in Kentucky Derby history. It was the Derby that catapulted Borel not only to easily his best year ever—his mount earnings after just eight months, more than $7.5 million, already surpassed the annual total for any of his 24 previous years of riding—but also to experiences that a modest, hard-working guy from deep in the Bayou country could never have even dreamed about.

Just two days after his Derby win, Borel and his fiancée, Lisa Funk, attended a white-tie dinner at the White House, where they met President George W. Bush and Queen Elizabeth II of England. On and off the racetrack, Borel went on to experience numerous other firsts, including an uncanny Saratoga Race Course meet where he won three Grade 1 races, including the Travers Stakes on Street Sense and the Alabama Stakes on Lady Joanne.

All the while, Borel impressed the media and fans alike with an aw-shucks demeanor and tireless work ethic. The 40-year-old jockey would politely explain that the racetrack lifestyle was pretty much all he had ever known, and Derby or no Derby, there was no way he was about to change.

Surely it was this refreshing persona that led members of the National Turf Writers Association to vote Borel with its prestigious Mr. Fitz Award for 2007. The Mr. Fitz Award is named for the legendary Racing Hall of Fame trainer James “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons, and the award goes to someone who typifies the spirit of racing, just as the eminently lovable Mr. Fitz did. Awarded annually since 1981, previous winners include men and women from various walks of racetrack life, including riding legends such as Bill Shoemaker (1982), Laffit Pincay Jr. (1987), Pat Day (2000), and Chris McCarron (2002).

Borel long has been extremely popular with horsemen and fans on his home circuits, which mainly have included racetracks in Kentucky, Arkansas, and his native Louisiana. He grew up wanting to be a jockey while riding horses and working long hours with his parents and four older brothers on their spacious farm in the south-central Louisiana town of St. Martinville. Calvin is 12 years younger than his next-youngest brother, trainer Cecil Borel, and thus was called “Boo,” as in “boo-boo,” as in mistake. Hang around the jockeys’ room or paddock on any given racing day, and “Boo” is what he is still called by many people.

Everyday racing fans also have long known him as “Bo-rail” for his penchant for keeping his mounts close to the inside rail. Derby lore will always note the way Borel cleverly kept Street Sense hugging the rail at a critical juncture in the 133rd Run for the Roses, and after the colt sped from 19th to third while saving ground throughout the final turn, Borel deftly angled him out for the stretch drive, where he glided past Hard Spun and into the history books.

Having ridden in nearly 30,000 races, and with more than 4,300 wins to his credit, Borel had clung to the fence countless times. This time, however, his life was changed forever, as only a Kentucky Derby victory will do. Borel returned to the infield winner’s circle at Churchill Downs with a joy so tangible that many people were taken aback—in a very good kind of way—and many of his closest friends and family members could be seen openly weeping.

For Borel, the Derby victory culminated a lifetime of dedication to the animals and people that make racing the spectacular sport it is. With the world having marveled at his Derby ride and subsequent outbursts of unbridled elation, he was sought out by high-profile media outlets and popular shows, including “The Tonight Show,” an invitation that Borel’s agent of 17 years, Jerry Hissam, promptly turned down on the premise that “that’s not how Calvin got to where he’s gotten.”

Indeed, it is his blue-collar style with which so many fans have closely identified. Sticking with a personal and professional style noticeably lacking in glitz and glamour, Borel ultimately got a mount on a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender and rode it to the very top of his profession, affording hope to an untold number of people who also are willing, if only given the chance, to spill blood, sweat and tears toward their own once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

His brother, Cecil, theorized before the Derby that Calvin had never gotten the recognition than other jockeys of similar ability because “those other boys are from someplace else,” he told Daily Racing Form. “I don’t really know why Calvin’s never gotten the kind of publicity they have. I guess it’s because we’re coon-asses, country boys. That’s the only way I know how to put it.”

Yet as people previously unfamiliar with Borel got to know more about him following the Derby, it became apparent that it was his soul-baring, unvarnished ways—unavoidably traceable to his Louisiana roots—that was most endearing about him. It was his almost naïve love of his career and his sport, and the animals that make it go, that made some people stop and wonder, “Where has this guy been all these years?”

Oh, he’s been around. He’s been making friends, riding winners, doing his job and, truth be told, typifying the spirit of racing in a most understated way. And that’s day after day, year after year.

Finally, on one glorious May afternoon, the entire racing world took notice of Calvin Borel. Soon thereafter, they took notice of where he came from and what he stood for, and they liked what they saw. Mr. Fitz scarcely could have been more proud.