An accomplished jockey, Griffith is an especially strong finisher. Most of his victories are recorded as 'driving' no matter how lengthy the margin.
" You can't take it for granted that the horse will pick it up and run when you ask," he explained. " You have to keep him going." Pointing to the fact that many of the horses here have little quirks and problems, he said that if you give them an excuse to stop, they will.
That doesn't mean Griffith beats them up in the stretch. Far from it. He does, however, urge his mounts on with a powerful hand ride that doesn't stop until the wire. "Whatever I do, I do to the best of my ability," he said.
The 24-year old Griffith started riding in 1987, 20 minutes from his home, at the Garrison Savannah Race Course in Barbados.
" I've never wanted to do anything else," he said. "In my neighborhood, everyone who was not too big wanted to become a jockey. Racing is very popular, and although there aren't a lot of gamblers, the people love to see the horses - they're all racing fans. And everyone knows you if you're a rider." It's no surprise then, that his father Geoffrey was a jockey and 28-year-old brother Rick rides at Woodbine.
Griffith used to spend his summers with his mother in New York, where the racetrack was his playground. " I'd pick a different rider to watch each day - to see how they reacted in different situations. But I mostly watched Angel Cordero. He always seemed to want to win more than anybody else."
In 1988, at his older brother's suggestion, Chris came to Canada. Rick was enjoying a measure of success and felt Chris could use his "bug" to good advantage at Woodbine. Since then his mounts have won 184 races and $1.53 million in purse money, even though he missed several months with a broken leg in 1989 and spent most of1992 in Barbados. This summer, he's ridden 4 winners at Woodbine and 20 here. He has an identical 15 percent win ratio at both tracks.
"I've ridden as much as everyone else this year," said Griffith, who is currently tied for fifth on the standings. " It's tough with short fields. I do a lot of galloping and talking to people. The hardest thing about riding is getting a live horse. Everything after that is easy. You just need one good stable to showcase your talent. Then, everyone will see that you can ride."