Kevin Krigger, Soon to Race in Kentucky Derby, Is a Jockey. Period. ARCADIA, Calif. - Every day at 5:15 a.m., Kevin Krigger's alarm clock goes off. Sometimes he hits the snooze button; sometimes he turns off the alarm, and his fiancée has to coax him out of bed. But once he does rise, he never regrets it. Awaiting him on the backside of Santa Anita Park, as the sun rises high above the San Gabriel Mountains, is a horse lover's wonderland. There are trainers to beg for mounts, exercise riders and grooms to greet, and lately, there have been television crews to pose for. But most of all, it is the horses that keep Krigger coming back. One horse in particular, housed in Barn 88, has been the object of Krigger's affection recently: his name is Goldencents, and aboard him, Krigger captured the Santa Anita Derby for his first Grade I victory and an invitation to horse racing's grandest stage, the Kentucky Derby, on Saturday. At that moment, it did not matter to Krigger that he was the first black jockey to win the Santa Anita Derby in its 78-year history. Or that he was poised to become the first black jockey to ride on the first Saturday of May since 2000. Or, bigger still, that he had a speedy and sturdy horse under his 5-foot-6, 110-pound frame, one that has a solid shot of making him the first black jockey to win the Kentucky Derby since Jimmy Winkfield won two straight, in 1901 and 1902. No, all that Krigger, with his megawatt smile shining brighter than ever, was thinking about was celebrating. First, though, he had to find someone to celebrate with. "The best part was when I got back to the winner's circle area," he said. At first when I was riding up, I was trying to pinpoint everyone when I realized there were so many people, I couldn't find a face. By the time we got there and stopped actually, Doug O'Neill and a couple owners emerged from the crowd. I saw Doug, and I don't know what happened; I just jumped at him. After a daring dismount into the arms of O'Neill, the trainer of Goldencents and of I'll Have Another, last year's Santa Anita Derby and Kentucky Derby winner, Krigger made sure to hug and thank every owner and every handler, right down to the groom. He kissed the horse; he threw his whip; he threw his arms overhead, urging the crowd to join in. Before sprinting to the jockeys" room - he was riding in the next race - he stopped one last time, took it all in and left to a standing ovation. Introducing Kevin Krigger, who is on the doorstep of becoming a top race rider, regardless of skin color - something the Santa Anita community already had a hunch about. An Early Love For as long as Krigger can remember, he has wanted to be on the back of a horse. Growing up in St. Croix, the largest of the United States Virgin Islands, he was surrounded by horses - some thoroughbreds, most mixed breeds. He used to pull the horses next to cars and jump on because he was too small to climb aboard. "Shucks, I even wanted to ride the cows," he said. By age 5, to his parents" dismay, he would sneak out of the house to ride, sometimes with his younger sister. "Most of the time, if I needed to go anyplace, I opted for a horse," Krigger, 29, said. It was something that I found second nature. Krigger's father, Albert, who has lived with him for the last two years and accompanies him to the track every morning, can laugh about those days now. "The teacher used to say, Krigger, your son is on a horse and not in school," he said, a smile similar to Kevin's creeping across his face. Kevin Krigger does not know where his love of horses came from, but he and his family have theories. One is that when his mother, Averil Simmonds, was pregnant, his father would not let her ride horses. "She says, See, Kevin wanted to ride so badly because you would not let me," Albert Krigger said. Kevin said: "My mom's story is what we go by: my dad not letting her get on the horses. But sometimes I would tell her that was me trying to tell her to get on the horse. By the time he was 10, he had a mare named Dandella, whom he would use to race against others who were brave enough to face him.