by Frank Salive, publicity director, The Isle Pompano Park

Pompano Beach, FL — There seems to be a new and strong resolve from Mickey McNichol when you hear him speak of his four month road to recovery following his heart bypass surgery.

USTA photo

Mickey McNichol

“As I think back I started to go downhill and was feeling overly tired last September, right after the Pennsylvania Sires Stakes when I was still at Pocono Downs in 2009,” McNichol said in live trackside TV interview before the Monday evening, March 22, program at the Isle Casino Racing Pompano Park.

“One of my favorite pastimes away from the track is swimming laps for exercise because of a bad ankle. But early last Fall I was feeling tired from swimming like never before. I really wondered why all of sudden I just couldn’t be as active as I used to be without being exhausted quickly. I went in and had a stress test and cardiogram and they found the arteries around my heart were all clogged up,” the 61-year-old horseman said.

McNichol, a career winner of more than 4,400 races in the bike for over $42 million, had a long run of million dollar earnings years from 1982-1995. He decided to wait until last December 9 to undergo his heart bypass surgery.

“It was an operation I couldn’t avoid any longer so I had it scheduled for shortly after the Florida Breeders Stakes Super Night last December 5,” McNichol says. “However, everything didn’t go as planned. Originally, a quadruple bypass was ordered for me which I guess explains why I was getting exhausted from swimming like never before. Once the operation began there was a problem with an aorta so it was scaled back to a triple bypass,” he explained.

The timing of his surgery turned out to be the kind of savvy move a veteran of the racing wars would make. He won the $43,951 Florida Breeders Stake with 3-year-old trotting gelding Whosgoinwhosstayin. On the same December 5 card he registered a third place finish with 2-year-old filly trotter Your Not My Friend in her $36,526 championship final and in the $47,776 3-year-old colt pace final his mount, Tough Chip, was placed up to second. Two nights later he recorded a sixth place finish with pacer Howie’s Heart and he hasn’t seen race bike duty since.

McNichol has earned a reputation as a skilled handler of young horses. A sampling of his stakes conquests includes victories in the Battle Of Freehold 2-year-old colt pace (1989, Captain Scooter), The Bluegrass 2-year-old filly pace (1984, Stardrift Hanover) and a Breeders Crown Open Trot title (1986, Nearly Perfect). He enjoyed a two-year run of domination in the Peter Haughton Memorial 2-year-old colt trot (1983, Why Not, and 1984, Another Miracle) just prior to capturing the 1986 Hambletonian Oaks 3-year-old filly trot (JEF’s Spice).

While he says all of that is nice to reflect upon, McNichol insists his mindset now is focused on his positive prospects for the immediate future and his life after such a medical trauma.

“I’m leaving on Tuesday morning (March 23) to go back to Pocono Downs and I’ll be returning to Pompano by October,” McNichol says. “I’ve been friends with (fellow horseman) Joe Pavia, Jr. for a long time and I started a new job with him about three weeks ago. Although I’ll be working for Joe at Pocono Downs I’m only about a week away from being cleared to drive again myself too.

“I haven’t been able to swim lately here at Pompano because the water was just a bit too chilly to get into so soon after a major heart surgery. In addition to driving horses again I also look forward to swimming at the beach or laps in a pool as soon as possible.”