Any Jockeys out there ?

Question

I would like to know, What is really feels like to be one.

Do you still get Nervous before a race?

What was your first race like?

I heard that some other Jockeys will make fun of you or try to pull a joke on you is that true ?

and anything else you want to add to this question.

Thanks

Answer 1

No but I'd love to be one!!!!!!!

Answer 2

I tried to get my husband to come in and answer this but he's watching soccer and won't get off the couch.

Oh, He's here.  OK, he's standing in back of me answering.

Did he still get nervous(doesn't ride races anymore):   "No.  For some I  did. Not exactly nervous.  Usually I was too tired from trying to take off so much weight (8 to 10 lbs) that Icouldn't get nervous"  [main reason he stopped riding races]

First race:  "Was riding the favorite (8:10 favorite)  The horse stumbled to her knees coming out of the gates and I lost both irons.  I stayed on and got my irons back after 4 or 5 furlongs.  It was on the turf at Greyville in South Africa, Durban.  Finished mid field."  He was 14 years old.

Jockey playing jokes, etc.?  "Yes.  Sure."

"It can be a great career, but you often hear about the top jockeys but remember that there's hundreds more underneath them that battle with their weight and it takes its toll on you.  To do it you have to have a really strong desire and care for horses, or you won't stick with it."

Hope this helps.  

Answer 3

It felt FANTASTIC,  since I am a woman, and got to become one with out having to start from the ground up, at the track,

I started out being a gallop girl, And worked very hard at learning everything,



Yes, I got nervous, And still do Just watching the races The opening of the gate is the neatest feeling  it's like WOW WE are of,f the first few lengths everyone is getting into position etc, and then you settle and get into it

I never was able to continue it.. But I loved it,

The best time in my life,



Well I was the only girl  in my first Race so I am sure they did not know me and wanted to stay far away as they could from me!

So they never played jokes on me  But I know they do in the Jockeys room, I have heard some great stories,

The only Joke's I had played on me was when I was getting O.K.ed out of the gate, I had to break out w/5 other horses and be in the middle,

Well when the gate opened The gate guy Les . slipped his hand under my foot and took the stirrup off I got it back in a blink of an eye and had enough time to flip him off,  still beat the other's to the finish line.

Ha ha .

Its a fun way of life, hard but in the end its worth it

P.S I do not think many know, that we have to Move from meet to meet, and that when your starting out, its feast or famine,,   I do not mean the weight thing Most Jockeys really do not have such a Big problem as so many think

They go to the box to get the excess water out and it cleans the pores,

Some do yes, But it seems like everyone thinks that all jocks are in the sweat box for their weight, Some do it because they can and everyone loves a spa and a massage !

Answer 4

Not a Jockey but have trained for thirty years.  They are some of the best people you will ever meet. Some get nervous but most don't. It is a serious job.

American jockeys get a bad rap (known as cheaters). There are way too many reasons a horse can run bad and the jockey ALWAYS gets the blame. 99.9% of jockeys are truly professionals and 95% of them handle their business like a professional. Not 5% cheaters, 5% are not good business people or don't communicate well.

It is a difficult job with bad hours but the jockey community is a close community of athletes and they enjoy each other. Ohhhh yea I have seen them play jokes, but it is all in good fun. Almost every jockey gets initiated after their first win (you can be assured of this one) but like in any business you have pranksters, bullies and the real quiet ones.

I have found in any business if you want to be successful you need to hang around the best. The best know they are the best and are willing to tell you things that can make you better. (Life Hint)  People that are successful tend to brag a little, nothing wrong with that and you can learn a whole lot from someone that likes to tell about their success. That is if you really listen. Some people know it all and want to tell the best how to do it. They usually don't make it. (big surprise)

http://www.saferhorseracing.com/gpage14....

Answer 5

I would love to be a jockey! I'm almost 14, weigh 112, and 5'4 so I'm the perfect size. It would be a dream come true!

Answer 6

I have some stories to tell you...  I love horse racing and read about it and watch it at every chance I get.  I'm not a jockey and I'm too far down a different career path to become one now... if I had become a racing fan a bit earlier in my life, it could have turned out very differently and I could be racing now... but it's too late for me now.

So stories... first a funny one.  From the book Ruffian by Jane Schwartz...  Jacinto Vasquez (jockey of Ruffian, Foolish Pleasure, Genuine Risk...) was sitting in the hot box one morning.  He and the other jockeys were complaining that they wouldn't be able to make weight that day because they had overdone it the day before (eaten too much), so Jacinto came up with a plan.  He told the others to play along with anything he said.  He goes out and gets the guy in charge and tells him that they can't sit in the hot box anymore because one of the other jockeys had crabs and they were crawling all over him and Jacinto refused to go sit next to him because he didn't want to catch them!  So the guy goes into the hot box and Jacinto says "sorry, I just had to tell him about the crabs."  So everyone starts speaking up... "yeah, we can't sit here, we'll all catch them!"  So everyone files out of the hot box... and Jacinto went to order another plate of eggs!

I'm sure there's some scary times on the racetrack... just like there's scary times in any activity involving horses.  I've been at horse shows where the horse has fallen down and the rider was pinned underneath it.  Horses are unpredictible and there's always moments of panic.  Which brings us to story #2... also from the Ruffian book.

Horses were warming up for an ordinary race... an allowance I think it was... they arrived at the starting gate and the horses filed in.  Jacinto's horse was standing fine, but the horse next to him was very nervous.  Suddenly the horse started rearing up.  The horse reared up and back so far that it smacked the jockey's head into the side of the starting gate.  The gate crew grabbed the jockey to pull him out of the way to safety, but he had already cracked his skull just below his helmet... he died instantly.

Being a jockey is a tough life.  It's hard to make weight even if you are a short person.  Then you have to go out and control 1000 pounds of wild animal several times a day.  For further information about what it's like to be a jockey, I highly recommend Gary Stevens' book called The Perfect Ride... Gary was a great jockey who retired a few years ago.  You might know him as the guy who played George Wolfe in the Seabiscuit movie.  Also, there's a really good documentary about jockeys made by HBO... I think it's called "Jockey."