Breeders Cup 2007

Oceanport, New Jersey is going to be the place to go if you are a horse racing fanatic. The best of the crowd is expected to really deliver this year, despite the sadness of Barbaro in 06, the up and coming colts are going to put on a stupendous show.

Eleven races totaling 23 million dollars in a purse award should bring out the best stock we have seen all year, and October 26^th and 27^th will be amazing. The Cup Classic, a 5 million dollar purse sponsored by Dodge, caps off the event, with all horses 3 years and older competing for the honors of taking home the title of the best of the best in Thoroughbred horse racing.

With eleven divisions in the new two day format, there is enough activity packed into this event to keep anyone busy, and since the inception of the Breeder’s Cup in 1982, it has been not only a crowd pleaser, but also providing a basis for judging in the Eclipse Awards, which honors the horse of the year, a true feather in the owner’s cap.

The 25 race “Breeders Cup Challenge” is also new in allowing the winners automatic acceptance into the regulated Breeders Cup event, taking in riders and horses from around the world. This should speed up the elimination rounds, and give more time to the secondary events, probably making a lot of the up and coming breeders, jockeys, and yes, even the horses, much happier.

The Breeder’s Cup is open to horses and owners worldwide, and can be viewed live on ESPN and on streaming video, as near as your computer.

Barbaro

Only 3 and half years old, Barbaro the thoroughbred colt clearly stood out from any competition on the racing field, blowing away the other horses in almost every race he ran in. In the 2006 Kentucky Derby, he beat the place horse by over six lengths, an amazing victory for both the horse and his jockey. The future seemed bright for this youngster, and he became the darling of the horse-racing circuit.

At Preakness, however, this was all to come crashing down, as the horse made a false start, hitting the starting gate early, and then stumbling soon after, breaking his right hind leg in more than 20 places. The jockey, Edgar Prado, helped hold the horse up until medical and track staff could get onto the field to lead Barbaro back to his stall.

Horses are fast, strong…and yet quite fragile. A broken leg, especially with the cannon bones being smashed, typically leads to a fast death, and most race horses are put down when they are injured this badly. Barbaro, however, was so important to the public that the animal was transported to the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, to undergo radical treatment by Dr. Dean Richardson.

Hours of surgery managed to place steel plates and rods into the horse’s leg, so he could maintain even balance on all four , but just wasn’t enough to keep Barbaro from favoring his other legs, which soon became overstressed, and began to fail. The pain must have been excruciating, and on January 29^th of 2007, he was euthanized under orders from his owners, who couldn’t stand to see their horse in so much agony.

Barbaro will be remembered, not only as a great racing horse, but also as an animal that brought awareness to the veterinary community as to the possibilities of injury recovery in horses.

Disabled Jockeys Fund

Over 3,000 wins on horseback. Preakness, Belmont, the Kentucky Derby. One of the most vaunted jockeys in history became a paraplegic on a sunny afternoon at Belmont when his horse went down, and he fell with it. Now Ron Turcotte works as a spokesperson for the PDJF (Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund), talking to sports groups and counseling jockeys in an effort to raise funds for those jockeys that have been seriously injured in training or competition. Since jockeys are self-employed, they have no gold watch, no pension, and insurance is hard to get for one of the most dangerous sports in the world.

The PDJF helps those jockeys by supplying them with medical and legal assistance, as well as counseling. You can imagine how tough it must be to go from riding a 1200 pound speeding horse to a 3 mile per hour wheelchair, especially after training for decades to be a professional jockey. Learning how to be a jockey takes a serious level of commitment which few are able to achieve, those who do are tough, and even when injured, keep on coming back to the sport that they love so much, that they put their very lives on the line in competition.

Jockeys are tough, they have to be to do their daily job, but they do need our assistance when they have been disabled, after providing years of entertainment and excitement for millions of horse racing fans. If you enjoy the pure sport of horse racing, and would like to help out, please contact your local track, and see what you can do to help out these amazing athletes.

Life of a Horse Jockey

You are on top of a horse, weighing in at 1300 pounds, moving at 40 miles per hour around a tight curve, surrounded by seven other riders and horses, on a dirt track in the morning heat. One inch of movement , back or forth, and your weight could propel you over the horse’s head and into the ground, to be pummeled by hooves. Everything is a blur, the small crop in your hand, the bright colors of the uniforms, the green of the trees and bushes streaking by. The white line ahead means that you are near the end of the race, the race you have practiced for hour after hour, day after day, for the last ten years.

This is the apex of the life of a jockey. Starting at a young age, jockeys learn to work closely with the trainers and the horses themselves, which way to turn the lead to get the horse to veer one way or another, how to excite the animals, and how to calm them down. A true partnership exists between a professional jockey and the steed, it takes both of them to win a race.

Along the way, you’ve had broken bones, torn muscles, and bruises that give you constant pain…and you wouldn’t trade it in for the world. When the horse smashes against a rail, and you hear your leg creak, you know that you will heal, the horse will recover, and that the thrill of it all is worth everything. Being on top of a speeding horse is one of the most demanding jobs in the world, and takes complete commitment to gaining the win, and getting that wreathe. There is no other life that can compare, no matter what you’ve had to endure. It is the life of a jockey.

Horse Jockeys

Possibly one of the most demanding self-employed jobs in the world is that of the professional jockey. You must stay fit, and light enough not to burden your steed, yet at the same time be strong enough to guide the horse through the field, against the competition.

Starting at an early age, sometimes as young as10 years old, a jockey apprentices under a stablemaster, who is hired by an owner to oversee the running of the team of horses, and the jockeys themselves. It is not a job for the faint-hearted, injuries are frequent, and can be permanently disabling or even fatal. A fall from a fast moving horse can break bones like a twig, and recoveries can be slow and painful.

There is a long standing tradition in the world of the professional jockey, where the young apprentice learns under a lead jockey, who is in turn learning more from a master jockey. The more you know, the more you are expected to impart the vital knowledge to the next up and coming line of jockeys who are less experienced. This leads to a powerful bond, a fraternity of sorts, that keeps jockeys on a fast learning curve, along with a fierce amount of competition. Jockeys are among the most sought after athletes in the world, and by working hard to understand their horses and themselves, certainly earn every penny that they make.

Not surprisingly, though, most jockeys wouldn’t trade their life for anyone else’s in the world, the freedom of being on a perfectly run horse, the thrill of hearing the cheers from the stadium as you race around the track, being one with the animal below you…truly an experience that is worth it’s weight in gold.