After 4,143 wins – among them multiple New York stakes including the Bay Shore, the Bold Ruler, and the Whirlaway – and career earnings of more than $74 million, jockey Nick Santagata decided last November it was time to call it a career.

“Sometimes it costs more money to ride than it does to stay home,” said the Brooklyn-born Santagata, 51, who made his name up and down the East Coast, winning multiple riding titles in New York and New Jersey over the past thirty years. “The older you get, the tougher it gets and you have to face facts.”

So, Santagata chose to retire, but the self-taught rider wasn’t ready to leave the game. These days, he gallops horses in the morning and works as a valet in the New York Racing Association jockey’s room in the afternoons, a job he accepted after a conversation with longtime friend and NYRA Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer Hal Handel.

“Nick has always been a true professional and a good friend,” Handel said. “In my mind, he exemplified what was best about the courage and dedication to be a race rider and we’re very happy to have him with NYRA now.”

While he misses riding races, Santagata enjoys his new occupation as a valet.

“I like coming to work in the jockey’s room every day,” Santagata said. “I’ve known a lot of these people for my whole life and I like to socialize with them, but saddling horses and not riding is torture sometimes. You just want to get a leg up and go out there.”

Riding in the mornings not only helps the former jockey keep fit but has given him a renewed admiration for everything that goes on behind the scenes at a racetrack.

“This was my first winter galloping horses in New York and it’s been a cold winter,” Santagata said. “I’ve gotten such an appreciation for the people who work on the backstretch all day. The grooms, the hot walkers – they do so much for the outcome of a race and a lot of them are working second jobs at night.”

As for his own career path, Santagata – who once dreamed of being a professional bowler and turned to horses after looking up the number of a Jamaica Bay riding academy in a bowling alley phone book­ – hasn’t entirely given up on a return to riding.

“We’ll see what happens over the next couple of months,” Santagata said. “It’s tough when you’re older. I’d like to be an agent, maybe a steward some day. Like everything else, you work your way up – and you do work. Nothing for nothing on the racetrack.”