BALTIMORE - In retrospect, the omissions on his applications for jockey licenses in Kentucky and Maryland were the least of Stewart Elliott's worries. "I didn't think about the licensing," Elliott said. "I kinda thought they'd dig up some of my bad stuff."
That bad stuff - specifically two guilty pleas for assault - was reported this week by the Associated Press and newspapers in New Jersey and Philadelphia. Friday, Elliott addressed the news.
"All of (the trouble) is because of (alcoholism)," for which he's since sought help, he confirmed.
John Servis, Smarty Jones trainer, said he and Smarty's owners, Roy and Pat Chapman (both recovering alcoholics for more than 30 years) were aware of the incidents when they occurred, and Elliott's drinking. "We knew the more successful he got, that was going to come up," Servis said.
"I have nothing to hide," Elliott, 39, said Friday before riding three mounts at Pimlico. "I've had a lot of personal problems, done some things I'm not proud of. That's behind me. I want to look ahead to the future and hopefully all that's behind me."
He pleaded guilty to aggravated assault charges and was sentenced to a year of probation after a 2000 incident in which he hit a Wrightstown, N.J., man with a beer bottle, a pool cue and a wooden stool. He did not report that incident on his application for a jockey's license in Kentucky and was fined $1,000 for failing to do so. The Asbury Park (N.J.) Press reported this week that, in a separate incident, Elliott pleaded guilty to simple assault and criminal mischief after a former girlfriend accused him of hitting her.
Elliott said the incidents led him to seek treatment for alcoholism, and that after completing a 28-day program he has been sober for more than three years.
