Jockey's death ruled homicide

"We went to him because he's an associate of the victim," Lt. Keith Jones said. "We want to talk to him about any information he may have regarding this crime."

" He's not been charged with the death of Mr. Antley. He's not a suspect in that case at this time," Sgt. John Peterson told KCAL-TV.

Antley, a two-time winner of the Kentucky Derby, was found Saturday night by his younger brother, Brian, who had just flown in from South Carolina.

When Antley didn't answer the door of his home in a quiet, upscale neighborhood, his brother and a female friend discovered the rider's body lying on the floor.

It was a tragic ending to a life that was flying high 18 months ago.

Antley won last year's Kentucky Derby and the Preakness aboard Charismatic, putting himself in line to become the 12th jockey to win thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown.

But Charismatic finished third in the Belmont Stakes, then pulled up just past the finish line with a broken leg. The sight of Antley jumping off and holding the colt's leg until veterinarians arrived was replayed over and over on television.

The injury ended Charismatic's racing career, but Antley's quick thinking was credited with saving the colt's life. Such sensitivity wasn't unexpected from someone who grew up mucking out stalls and working horses in small-town South Carolina.

"It attests to his horsemanship and his lifelong commitment to horses," said Bob Lewis, who owned Charismatic.

Riding a 1,200-pound racehorse was the easy part for Antley. He was always in control on the back of a horse; it was off the track that Antley battled drugs, alcohol, depression and weight problems.

His career was plagued by weight worries. At 5-foot-3, he was already tall for a jockey. He fought to keep within his riding weight of 117 pounds with diet pills, fad diets and self-induced vomiting.

Most mornings at the track were spent sitting in a sauna where the 130-degree heat would temporarily help him shed the pounds so he could work another day.

Jim Herzfeld, a next-door neighbor who was friendly with Antley, recalled the first time they met about a year ago.

"He was talking about the weight and he was upset about it," said Herzfeld, who said Antley told him he was going to quit riding.

"He went into the whole thing about how he's not a natural weight jockey, he can't eat what he wants and he's just tired of it."

Antley stopped riding in March, just three months after coming back from arthroscopic knee surgery. He finished second in his final race at Santa Anita, and a few days later he gave up his coveted mount on Archer City Slew, a potential Kentucky Derby horse.

At the time, Antley's only explanation was that he wanted to "take a little time off to refocus." He never rode in a race again.

Keeping the weight off, fellow jockey Gary Stevens said, "was a lot of work for him."

Antley retreated to his million-dollar home behind a black iron gate and tall hedges that hide most of the leafy front yard.

He'd had a passion for the stock market, even putting out his own Internet newsletter called "The Antman Report" that offered stock tips to friends and fans.

"People e-mail me and tell me how much money they made," Antley said in an interview last year. "I can see them laughing and being happy. I like people being happy."

But friends and neighbors say Antley wasn't happy, despite a new marriage and impending fatherhood.

Antley's wife, Natalie, lived in New York because of her television job, and was limited to flying out a couple times a month, Herzfeld said. She is eight months pregnant with the couple's first child.

"He was going through some very difficult times," said Stevens, who last spoke to his longtime friend three weeks ago. "He was pretty depressed."

Without racing and his wife in his life on a daily basis, Antley had time on his hands.

He had lost interest in the stock market months ago, according to Herzfeld and Stevens. He was renovating his house, doing much of the work himself, but that didn't occupy him.

Tyler was a frequent visitor at the Antley home, Herzfeld said.

"He was here more than anybody in the last couple months," Herzfeld said.

Natalie and his friends would call frequently, but there were times Antley wouldn't answer the phone, which worried them.

"I tried to reach him on Friday and he wouldn't pick up," said Stevens, who said Antley had earlier indicated that he didn't expect to be around much longer.

"He seemed to have some fear that something like this was going to happen," Stevens said.