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Local Stories - Team Kentucky
Pat Day
Celebrated Jockey, To Kick Off Dean Kutz 5K Race for Organ Donation in Honor of his Friend and Fellow Jockey
When Pat Day kicks off the Dean Kutz 5K Race during the U.S. Transplant Games, his thoughts will be on a different kind of thoroughbred.
As participants cross the starting line, he’ll know that the transplant athletes among the runners have all been given a second chance to stay in the race because of the generosity of another. The 5K participants, who include transplant recipients, organ donors and members of the Louisville community, are participating to celebrate the miracle of transplantation and to mark the generosity of the donors and their families. One such person was Dean Kutz, celebrated jockey, whose sister, Kathy, lovingly donated one of her kidneys to him, making it possible for Kutz to return to the races and do what he loved the most. When cancer sidelined Kutz, he retired as a jockey but stayed close to horse racing by raising and breaking thoroughbred horses until he died in September of 2004.
Pat Day, friend and colleague of Dean Kutz, had his own distinguished career as a jockey. It included riding for 21 years straight in the Kentucky Derby, 8,803 career victories, record earnings and the North American record for wins in a day when he won eight races out of nine in at Arlington Park in 1989. Pat has won nine Triple Crowns, five Preaknesses, three Belmont Stakes and a Canadian Triple Crown.
Pat is looking forward to officiating over Saturday’s race at 4 th Street Live! with Dean’s sister and kidney donor, Kathy, at his side. “Dean was an inspiration to all who knew him and it is only fitting that this race is dedicated to his memory. It was a privilege to have him for a friend,” recalls Pat, “and I’m honored to be involved with the race on Dean’s behalf.”
