Police Pursuing 'All Possible Suspects' in Antley's Death

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A purported associate of the late jockey Chris Antley has been arrested but has not been charged in connection with the rider's death Saturday night.

According to the Associated Press, police arrested a man on Sunday on three outstanding drug warrants, and said he was an associate of Antley's.

Timothy Wyman Tyler Jr., 24, of Dana Point, was being held in lieu of $45,000 bail on warrants involving drugs and driving under the influence, police said.

Jim Herzfeld, Antley's next-door neighbor, said Tyler had been a frequent visitor to Antley's house. His brother, Brian, and a female friend found Antley at his home at about 11:00 p.m. (PST) Saturday. Antley was pronounced dead at the scene with "severe trauma to the head."

Another neighbor, Jerry Holt, said he "heard a screaming car leave the premises."

According to the AP, jockey Gary Stevens spoke with Antley's wife, Natalie, on Sunday morning. Natalie, who is pregnant with the couple's first child, was in New York at the time, Stevens said. The Antleys met during the 1999 Triple Crown series and were married earlier this year.

Stevens is quoted as saying that his friend was "pretty depressed" when they last spoke a few weeks ago.

"He seemed to have some fear that something like this was going to happen," Stevens told the Associated Press. "A lot of things he was saying were not making sense to me. I love Chris as a person and all I can say is that mentally he was just having a tough time. He had a lot of demons haunting him."

Antley had not ridden since March 23 of this year when he told Santa Anita stewards he needed time off from riding to deal with unspecified personal problems. Antley had endured problems throughout his career with making the weight required to ride and with substance abuse.

On Feb. 2 of this year, he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery, but came back to ride Feb. 27, nearly a year to the day after he launched yet another comeback, the one that resulted in his winning rides aboard Charismatic in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. Antley won even greater acclaim for his handling of Charismatic when the colt pulled up at the finish of the Belmont Stakes with a career-ending injury. Antley quickly dismounted from the colt and cradled the injured horse's leg in his arms, preventing further injury. That image of Charismatic and Antley had a lasting effect throughout racing as it was voted by fans as the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's "Moment of the Year." Antley also won a 1999 ESPY award from ESPN as the year's leading jockey.

"We're devastated, just overwhelmed with sorrow," said Robert Lewis, owner of Charismatic with wife Beverly. "We have such great respect and admiration for Chris. He's shown such strength in the past and has been such a great tribute to Thoroughbred racing. We, too, are acquainted with his wife, Natalie. Her being pregnant compounds the tragedy. It is just exceedingly unfortunate. It seems the industry bounds from one unpleasant circumstance to the next."

Trainer Nick Zito, for whom Antley rode Strike the Gold to victory in the Derby, said:

"It was a very, very sad thing, and such a waste. To me, Chris was always a special person and an unbelievable talent. The kid never ceased to amaze me. It was just something that was God-given. I wish he could have had a life like Gary Stevens or Jerry Bailey, but he certainly was in that category, talent-wise. I remember when he was at Monmouth in 1988 and I gave him some mounts here in New York, and boom, boom, boom, on winner after another. Soon after, all the other trainers caught on. He just man-handled those other jockeys. Then Strike the Gold came along, and he was a horse for both of us.

"When he (Antley) made his first comeback, he was rolling again, but then the weight problems made him very resentful," Zito continued. "I remember standing down by the rail with him one morning, and he said, 'Nick, this is b.s.' A lot of us have problems, but there are some children out there who need tutoring and special guidance. Chris was like one of those children. Whenever someone came along and gave him that guidance, it put him back on the right path. He needed people to look after him. We had a great relationship through the years, and I can't recall one harsh word ever said between us. It takes something like this to make you aware of what goes on out there."

Born Jan. 6, 1966, in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Antley began riding Quarter horses at age 16 in South Carolina. His first official Thoroughbred mount was at Pimlico in Baltimore, Md., on June 1, 1983. Ten days later he had his first win aboard Vaya Con Dinero at Pimlico. A year later, Antley moved his tack to New Jersey, and he was the dominant rider there until moving to New York in late 1986. Antley was the nation's leading rider with 469 wins in 1985, was the first jockey to ride nine winners in a day (four at Aqueduct, five at Meadowlands on Oct. 31, 1987), and put together a streak of 64 consecutive days on which he rode at least one winner, from Feb. 8-May 1, 1989. He was New York's leading rider in 1989 with 234 wins.

Problems plagued Antley throughout his career. In December 1988, Antley entered a drug treatment program, but he emerged from it in excellent form, beginning his 64-day streak a short time later. In September 1989, Antley surrendered his license, apparently because of further substance abuse problems. The next year, however, Antley was back and as good as ever, recording 206 wins, including several grade I races.

In the fall of 1997, Antley withdrew from the sport, citing weight problems. He returned to his family in South Carolina, then re-emerged early in 1999 after reducing his weight from as high as 147 pounds by running up to 25 miles a day. D. Wayne Lukas was among those trainers who gave Antley another chance, and he picked up the mount on Charismatic from Lukas in the Derby, and suddenly was jettisoned into the national spotlight. "This has more sentimental value than anything I've done in my career so far," Antley said after the 1999 Derby. "I've had everything handed to me. This was a little bit of a role reversal. I had to find the depths of myself to come back. I wish everybody in America could feel like I feel right now."

Ron Anderson, currently agent for Jerry Bailey in New York, booked mounts for Antley on and off for three years. Anderson said he heard recently that Antley "was hanging with some shady people," but hadn't seen the rider in some time. "I know he's been having problems," Anderson said.

Antley's career statistics are 3,480 wins from 19,723 mounts and mount earnings earnings of $92,261,894.

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