Shane Sellers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shane Sellers (born September 24, 1966 in Erath, Louisiana) is a retired American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. At age eleven, he began working around horses and in 1983 rode his first winner at Evangeline Downs. Among his notable wins that followed were the:
- Secretariat Stakes (1996)
- Jockey Club Gold Cup (1996)
- Woodbine Mile (1996)
- Blue Grass Stakes (1996, 1997, 2004 )
- Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (1997)
- Massachusetts Handicap (1997)
- Suburban Handicap (1997)
- Breeders' Cup Turf (1998
- Florida Derby (1998 & 1999)
A serious knee injury in December of 2000 kept Sellers out of racing for a year and a half. His experience led him to become an outspoken critic of the lack of proper health insurance being provided to jockeys. He returned to the track in 2002, racing until his retirement in late 2004. During his career Shane Sellers won more than 4,000 races and earned purses worth more than $130 million.
Sellers, along with fellow jockey Randy Romero, was featured in the 2004 HBO documentary film titled Jockey. [1] Directed by Kate Davis, it told the story of their problems resulting from racing injuries and the effects of constant crash dieting to maintain racing weight. In 2005, Shane Sellers appeared on CNN to speak out about the serious health problems many jockeys experience as a result of problem. As an owner and trainer today, he lobbies racing authorities and others involved in the sport to raise jockey weight limits.
