Zimmerman grateful to mount a comeback at Fair Grounds

Jockey Ramsey Zimmerman knew that coming back to Fair Grounds this winter

would not be easy.

"If it was up to me, I would have crawled back to some little track where

nobody knew anything about me, but my wife wouldn't let me," Zimmerman said

Sunday morning at Fair Grounds, shortly after attending Mass with Jenny and

their 11-month old daughter Race Hannah.

"She said I was too good a rider to do that. She believed in me, and after

what I put her through last summer, I had to do whatever she wanted. She stuck

by me and went through all this with me. I owe her everything for that."

What Zimmerman was referring to, of course, was a very dark day last May when

he was arrested in Des Moines, Iowa, and charged with four felonies, including

possession and intent to deliver crack cocaine and heroin. Police had found the

Chicagoland native in an unresponsive state while operating a motor vehicle.

"What happened was -- I messed up big-time," Zimmerman said. "After a year

and a half of sobriety, I went out on a binge. I let everybody down -- my family

and a lot of other people who believed in me."

Exactly 110 days after being picked up by police, Zimmerman was released from

the Polk County, Iowa, jail and went directly into rehab for another 30 days.

"It was the scariest ordeal I ever went through," Zimmerman said of his

summer and fall of incarceration. "It was brutal -- an awful experience. I'd

been in trouble with the law before, but never anything like that. Now, all I

can do is put it behind me and move forward."

Someone once said, it's not how you fall, it's what you do after you get up

that matters most, and if that is so, Zimmerman seems well on his way to

redemption. With limited opportunities, the talented reinsman entered Sunday's

race day in 12th position in the local rider standings with 14 winners from 177

mounts.

"I told him when he came to me and asked me to take his book that we were

going to have an uphill battle at first," veteran Louisiana-based agent Rick

Mocklin said. "But racetrackers tend to be a very forgiving group of people, and

if you mess up one time -- a lot of them are willing to give you a second, or

even a third chance if they see that you are trying to make things right again.

"Since he's gotten back down here this season, Ramsey has proved that to a

lot of people," Mocklin said. "In that sense, he's his own best agent. He sells

himself and he's proving to people that he's dedicated to riding again and

wanting to do the right thing. He's been showing up every morning and showing

everyone he's willing to work hard for them." 

Some of Zimmerman's better moments in the past came here in New Orleans five

years ago when he rode Jerrold and Shirley Schwartz's Cloudy's Knight to victory

in the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Handicap and then finished second by a half-length

to multiple Grade 1-winning turf horse Einstein in the Grade 2 Mervin Muniz

Memorial Handicap.

Later that season, Zimmerman rode Cloudy's Knight to victory in the Grade 1

Canadian International at Woodbine for the biggest win of his career.

"One of the proudest moments of my life," Zimmerman said of that Canadian

International win. "I'm proudest of my two children (his son Ryder is six), but

'Cloudy' is number three.

"Actually, coming back down here hasn't been as bad as I thought it could

be," Zimmerman said. "A lot of people seem to have accepted me and have given me

a chance to ride their horses. Mike Burgess started using me right away, and

guys like Bob Young and Bernie Flint have also given me some nice horses to

ride. Also, a lot of the littler guys have used me on their horses.

"Considering what happened to me, I'm doing quite well," said Zimmerman, who

once rode seven winners in a night card at Fairmount Park and finished second by

a nose with the other two. "If I keep working hard like I'm doing right now, I

think things are going to keep getting better for me. I really believe that."