Jockey Cliff Berry

BORN: 8/23/62, Joplin, Missouri  RESIDES: Jones, Oklahoma  FAMILY: Kim, wife; Baylin, Cale sons

“Last year was a good one for me. I won 175 races including the Super Derby with Going Ballistic. The important thing was I made it through 2007 without an injury,” Berry remarked on a recent morning.

This past autumn Berry won his twelfth riding title at Remington Park.

'There have been several years that I won more than 200 races so you can see that horse racing has been very good to me,” the jockey assured.

At Oaklawn in 2007, Berry rode in 182 races, notched 18 wins, 23 seconds and 35 thirds. His mounts earned $467,660.“I have been coming to Oaklawn, off and on, for 10, maybe 12 years,” he said.

In 2006 at Oaklawn, Berry finished fifth in the final jockey standings. He won with 34 of his 222 mounts as his horses earned $686,275.

His Spa highlight was riding That Tat to triumph in the $50,000 Hot Springs Handicap.A hard-working jockey, Berry rode both thoroughbreds and quarter horses early in his career.

Now he confines himself to thoroughbreds."I started galloping horses for my father when I was in high school," he remembers. "My father, Bob Berry, dealt in horses, not only thoroughbreds, but other breeds. I rode my first race at Midway Downs in Stroud, Oklahoma."He says

Bobby Burress, a trainer now at Oaklawn, helped him with some of the basics of horse backing.One of his first early career stakes wins he remembers came at Remington in 1991 when he won the Oklahoma Breeders' Handicap on Northern Grain.

“In 2006, my thrill was winning the Oklahoma Derby on Mr.Pursuit,” recalled Berry. The $273,000 event was worth $163,800 to Nr, Pursuit’s owner, Ilona Whetstone of Nicholasville, KY.

He says one of the most difficult things for some riders to learn is patience. Berry prefers the Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma area, so presently makes a circuit of Oaklawn, Lone Star and Remington.

When he first rode at Oaklawn, he was known as Cliff. “My complete name is Monte Clifton,” Berry said.” But I grew up as Cliff. I began riding as Cliff. When simulcasting came along, there were hundreds of jocks riding around the country. To keep the riders separated, a decision was made that each jock would be carried by complete name.”