Cocaine Puts Antley at Career Crossroads

Jockey Chris Antley, at Laurel, Md. Saturday to ride the favorite in the Federico Tesio Stakes, is at the crossroads of his career -- and his life.

He is America’s best rider under the age of 25, and he has the potential to move to the very top of the racing game.

He also has the potential to self-destruct -- to become the most noted cocaine casualty in his profession.

Drug tests taken at the New York tracks have turned up two “positives” on Antley -- once for marijuana a year ago, and then for cocaine in November. If it happens again, his license will be revoked for a minimum of a year. “One more time,” says his agent, Drew Mollica, “and it’s professional suicide.”

Antley knows that. But will the realization make him change his life? Many people in racing have their doubts, for they look upon Antley as a kid spoiled by his sudden success.

Antley burst into prominence in New Jersey, where his success made him the country’s top race-winning rider in 1985; he had little trouble making the transition to the tough New York circuit, and in 1987 his mounts earned more than $8 million. Last year, he started getting his first real national attention, as the jockey for the Kentucky Derby favorite Private Terms.

Antley celebrated this whirlwind success -- and his first taste of money -- by partaking of life in the fast lane. His most visible outward symbol was his car, a huge white Mercedes 560SEC.

It couldn’t have surprised many people that cocaine was a part of the lifestyle he had chosen. “I started experimenting off and on with cocaine 2 1/2 years ago,” Antley said. “It never seemed to be a problem for me.”

The jockey had seen a good first-hand lesson for thinking that cocaine could be a problem. His brother, Bryan, wrecked his own chances for a career as a jockey because of his drug use.

Why would an athlete with the talent to earn money, fame and success take a chance of throwing everything away so recklessly?

To this question, Antley answered, “Just because you’re making big money doesn’t mean everything is perfect with your life. People don’t know your family problems, your individual circumstances. I was unhappy, I wasn’t content,” he said.

When Antley tested positive for cocaine at Aqueduct last fall, his life fell apart. He didn’t want to leave his house, didn’t even want to turn on a radio or television to face up to his disgrace. “I was shattered,” he said. “I came to the point where I just about wanted to die.”

Antley entered the prescribed 30-day rehabilitation program, then started to go to three-a-week meetings with a support group. He made changes in his lifestyle. He gave up his old nightlife. He even bought a Blazer 4X4 to help eradicate his life-in-the-fast lane image. He said, “I have no temptation whatsoever to use cocaine. I have a hatred for what it caused me. I look down on it now.”

For the time being, at least, his life and career are back on track. Antley resumed riding Jan. 25, and he said, “Walking out of the jockeys’ room that day I was more nervous than I was before the Derby. But I got a lot of support from everyone, even the fans; I didn’t hear anything negative.”

Antley promptly showed that he was as sharp as ever, and despite the time he had missed he ran away with the riding title at the Aqueduct winter meeting, winning a remarkable 27 percent of his starts. He has a chance for success in this year’s 3-year-old stakes with A.M. Swinger, the colt he rides at Laurel this afternoon.

And he has done all of this by the age of 23. The only thing that can keep Chris Antley from reaching the acme of his profession is Chris Antley.