Chel-c Bailey: The MMA Fighter Who Turned Into A Horse Jockey

When it comes to sports, it is not unusual to see a transformation from one to another. All sports are different and they require different levels of physical and mental abilities that are better suited for different ages.

However, it is very rare to see a sports transformation like this. Chel-c Bailey abandoned their passion to become a top MMA fighter, and started pursuing her passion of becoming a horse jockey.

It is quite unusual to see a hard-core MMA fighter become a jockey, but it seems like her passion pushed her in the right direction since she acquired much more success in horse racing compared to MMA.

Bailey is raised near Seattle and started showing signs of extraordinary athleticism as she became the high school state champion in wrestling in Washington state and she was the only girl on the team. She continued to pursue her passion for fighting and wrestling at Yakima Valley Community College and Oklahoma City University.

Later on, she transitioned to mixed martial arts (MMA) and had a promising start to her career with 3-0-0 as a professional fighter. She even appeared on The Ultimate Fighter 23 in 2016, the Ultimate Fighting Championship produced reality television series. However, her career as a professional MMA fighter was short-lived as she decided to abandon the championship in early 2018.

Transition to Horse Racing

A year after she closed the doors for MMA fighting, Bailey decided to make a drastic change in her career. She started her riding career in 2019 at Canterbury Park in suburban Minneapolis after working as an exercise rider for trainer Jinks Fries.

So, where can a such transformation come from? Well, Bailey grew up around horses in the Pacific Northwest and her passion grew up to a point where she was working both as an MMA fighter and a rider for Jinks Fries. Her goal in entering the world of horse racing was to ride at least one winner, which came true later on.

Her professional riding career started in 2019 and managed to record her first win during the Oaklawn meet in 2020 and her first double the same year in November at Hawthorne.

She even achieved incredible success with races abroad as she won Sunday’s first race abroad I feel the Need trainer Mike Puhich, second race abroad favored Rattrapante for Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, and her fifth appearance abroad for trainer Tom Swearingen.

Bailey managed to get 10 victories from 2021-to to 2022 which put her on the leaderboard for best jockeys in the sport.

This year she also shined in the best light of horse racing establishing a yearly career record for purse earnings (close to $300,000) only in the first three months of 2022. In comparison to her last year, this might be the one that will put her on the map. She only made $259,317 last year, and manage to surpass this goal after three months in 2022.

She finished fourth abroad in the Swearingen-trained Richness in the $150,000 Downthedustyroad Breeders’ Stake.

This is one of the first athletes who managed to transition from MMA to horse racing and make a successful career out of it.

Until now, Bailey has 21 career victories, and it seems like 2022 is going to be her year since she has picked up the right pace from the start. It might be soon that she starts making the headlines of Kentucky Derby news.

Bailey managed to make a name for herself in the horse racing industry in the past couple of years. She is now an established horse jockey that every trainer and horse owner wants to get on the team. She is really talented and her passion and athletic spirit push her to climb over mountains and reach new goals.