Before becoming one of history’s greatest professional jockeys atop a racing horse, Pat Day learned his winning ways on a wrestling mat. At Eagle Valley High School in Colorado, he posted a career record of 77-7, with four of those losses coming during his freshman season. As a sophomore and a senior, he finished as the state’s runner-up and capped his wrestling career with a state championship as a junior.

Raised in a small ranching community, Day dreamed of becoming a professional rodeo performer. After two years on the circuit, however, his small stature convinced him to become a jockey. He rode his first winner in 1973 at Prescott Downs in Arizona and continued racing for more than three decades.

Six times he led the country in victories, with a best of 484 in 1983, and he won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top jockey four times between 1984 and 1991. He also received the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in 1985 and the Mike Venezia Award in 1995.

In 1991 -- the same year he was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame -- Day held the record for Stakes won with 60. That year he also won the Canadian Triple Crown on Dance Smartly.

Day won the 1992 Kentucky Derby aboard Lil E. Tee and was a Derby runner-up four times. He remains the all-time leading rider at Churchill Downs with 2,841 victories, once winning seven races in one day. He won the Preakness five times, the Belmont three times, the Travers three times, the Washington International and 12 Breeder’s Cup races.

In 2002, Day became the all-time earnings leader, winning an estimated $298,000,000 through racing.

After a 32-year riding career, he retired from the sport in 2005. He had won 8,804 races, fourth on the all-time list.