Kentucky Derby: The jockey who is too tall
At 5-foot-7, Edwin Maldonado is slightly too tall for his chosen profession, yet here he is making his Kentucky Derby debut.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Long before he earned his first Kentucky Derby ride on Pavlovian at age 43, Edwin Maldonado had to overcome an unusual problem for a jockey. At 5-foot-7, he’s slightly too tall for his chosen profession.
“When I first started, you don’t know how to control your weight and it was very hard,” he said. “You do all the wrong things. You starve yourself.
Drinking too much soda, sugar. But now I know what I can eat and can’t eat. It’s second nature.
” But in a sport where the riders need to weigh in at around 110-115 pounds with enough strength to control a 1,200-pound animal, nothing can kill a career quicker than height. But as Maldonado journeyed from small tracks in Texas, Louisiana and Canada before establishing himself on the high-profile Southern California circuit, he developed a skill that came in handy for the specific situation trainer Doug O’Neill encountered with Pavlovian. [ Kentucky Derby odds ] If you need a rider who can get a horse to start quickly, Maldonado is your guy.
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