Think of a jockey on a horse like a racecar driver. The horsepower and speed among each car may differ by only 1 or 2 miles per hour. Still, a good driver continually finishes in the top ten each race because he’s more skillful and uses better judgment. Even though you need a team to win a horse race, the public focuses on the jockey, because that’s all people see on race day. In this chapter, I look at the qualities that make for a good jockey — from certain traits to experience — and what you should look for when viewing a horse race.
Winning Jockeys Share Certain Traits
Jockeys have distinctive riding styles, and it's important to observe and learn them. Some jockeys prefer to take their horses back and come from behind. Others like to send their horses to the early lead.The behavior and the running style of the horse dictate the jockey's tactics. The better riders cajole their mounts into doing what they want. Fighting with the animal does no good. The horse weighs around 1,000 pounds, and a jockey is about 1/10 that size. Guess who wins that battle of wills?
The better riders have a knack for putting their horses in a position to win by anticipating the action, moving at the right time, and making fewer mistakes. I cover some of these traits, which you should look for when watching the racing action. After a while, you develop a fondness for certain riders and bet on them because you like how they ride a horse.
Fewer mistakes on the track
The racetrack is full of sayings passed down through the ages. Here's one for you: "There are a million ways to lose a race and only one way to win." In preparing to win a horse race, the only part the public really sees is the work of the jockey. Too much emphasis can be placed on the jockey, win or lose. If a horse isn't in condition for a peak race or just isn't talented enough, the jockey can only do so much. A good rider can always give her horse a chance to do well, but have you ever seen a jockey carry a horse across the finish line? I didn't think so. On the other hand, if a thoroughbred is primed for a top effort and has the most talent in the field, he should win regardless of who's riding him. When a well-meant racehorse gets beat, many times the jockey makes a key error or two that cost the victory.
A good sports comparison is between a racehorse and a baseball pitcher. Baseball analysts like to say that pitching is 90 percent of the game. If a top pitcher throws his "A" game, the other team either gets shut out or barely scratches out a run or two. The pitcher has that much control over the outcome. However, the other 10 percent is still important. A pitcher can throw a great game and still lose 1-0 if his own team doesn't score any runs. In essence, the racehorse is like a pitcher. If the trainer has his horse in peak condition and he's the fastest horse in the race, he should be about 90 percent on his way to a win. The other 10 percent in horse racing is the jockey and racing luck. If the jockey doesn't make mistakes and gives the horse a chance to run his race, he should win.
Why jockeys are the best-conditioned athletes
Of all the professional sports, which athlete do you think is the best conditioned? Very few people know the answer so that you can win a bar bet with this one: It's the jockey who rides thoroughbred racehorses for a living. Years ago, the late Dr. Robert Kerlan, who is renowned for his expertise in the treatment of sports injuries, conducted a study to find out, once and for all, which sport has the best-conditioned athletes. To the surprise of many, thoroughbred jockeys graded out the best in his study — better than players from all the "ball" sports and better than any Olympic athletes. In order for a 110-pound rider to control a 1,000-pound horse running at speeds up to 40 miles per hour, he must display an incredible combination of strength, agility, and coordination.
During the course of every race, each rider has decisions to make. If she's riding a slow horse, her decisions may not matter. But if she has a live horse, meaning a horse with a solid chance to win, her choices are critical. The jockeys who make the fewest mistakes win most of the races. In a way, good decision-making is a jockey making her own racing luck.
No ride, no money
Jockeys aren't like other pro athletes who sign a contract and earn a salary. Jockeys epitomize workers who get paid for performing well. When a jockey rides a horse in a race, he's paid a fee of about $40 to $50, depending on the jurisdiction. If he wins a race, he'll receive 10 percent of the winner's purse money — cash prizes put up by the racetrack that the horses are trying to win. In stakes races (big money races for better horses), he may earn a smaller percentage for finishing second or third. When jockeys get injured and can't ride, they earn nothing.
Timing
Horses have different running styles that jockeys must adjust to. Speed horses, horses that like to race on the lead, break from the starting gate quickly, and are hustled to the front. Unless the rider can cajole the horse into slowing down, he's just along for the ride. Other horses are more manageable, so the jockey can rate the horse, or ration his speed, so the horse has energy in reserve for the stretch run. And finally, late-running horses, horses that plod along behind the field, respond to the jockey's request (hopefully!) to accelerate down the stretch. When a jockey should move with his mount is a key component to winning. The jockey must recognize how fast the pace of the race is — the proverbial "clock in his head." Then he makes adjustments, knowing the style of his own horse, as to whether he needs to move sooner or wait longer. The best jockeys have an instinct for timing their moves just right. The more horse races you watch, the more you learn from watching the top riders perform day in and day out. How do you know which jockeys are best at judging timing? Just watch the better riders, and, more often than not, they're asking their horses to run at the right time and winning more often. Know this: The top ten riders in the jockey standings typically win 90 percent of the races run at the meet.
The greatest jockey of them all
Hall of Fame rider Laffit Pincay, Jr. retired in 2003 as the world's winningest jockey with 9,530 victories and $237 million in career purse earnings. The number of wins, however, represents only a part of his remarkable story. Stripped from the waist up, Pincay looks like a miniature Incredible Hulk, all muscle, very little body fat. His body is so tight that he broke his collarbone, falling off a horse more than a dozen times during his 40-year career. The main reason Pincay was able to ride as long as he did and win as many races was personal discipline. He avoided many kinds of food and drink that we take for granted, and he exercised religiously — running in hot clothing every morning — all to stay in top shape and keep the weight off. If Pincay ate a normal amount of food, he'd easily tip the scales at 140 pounds or more. However, he researched and tried so many diets that in the latter stages of his career, he perfected his calorie intake to between 800 and 850 calories a day. That amount is probably less than half of what you and I eat in a day. Four-ounce servings of steak, chicken, or fish were the most Pincay would allow himself. And for a man who loves sweets, at most, he'd eat a few pieces of fruit for dessert. Pincay got away with riding at 117 pounds because he was such a great rider. Trainers were willing to accept the extra weight on their horses to benefit from Pincay's riding skills. When a Hall of Fame athlete, in any sport, talks about discipline to make it to the top, they better look up the word in the dictionary. Opposite discipline, you'll see a picture of Laffit Pincay, Jr.
Low weight
You probably already know that Americans are bigger now than they were 25 and 50 years ago. Whatever the reason — genetics or diet — each generation weighs more than the last. In horse racing, jockeys weigh the same now as they did 25 and 50 years ago. The heaviest jockeys weigh about 115 pounds, which is enough to eliminate them from riding many horses assigned a lower weight. In many races, you handicap, a horse will carry overweight (extra pounds above their assigned weight), because the jockey can't make the assigned weight. With so many jockeys fighting weight problems, natural lightweights have the edge. The most famous of these lightweights is the late, great Bill Shoemaker, who weighed a feathery 95 pounds soaking wet. Pat Day and Julie Krone are two more Hall of Fame riders who weigh in at 100 pounds. So when you're judging the daily performance of your favorite jockeys, keep in mind that they're not only stressing about winning races, but they're also stressing because they can't eat very much and have to continually reduce to make riding weight. Jockeys reduce by spending time in a sweatbox or running with added clothes.
Anticipation
Great athletes in sports have all the tools necessary to succeed. Those tools can vary from sport to sport, but a few are standard. Anticipation, the ability to visualize what's going to happen before it happens, is one standard tool. In horse racing, as you're handicapping, imagine how the race will play out. I call it the race shape. Jockeys visualize the race just as handicappers do. They read the past performances of the horses in the Daily Racing Form, the horse racing industry's daily newspaper. From the past performances, the jockeys can figure out where each horse is going to be during the running of the race. They also take into consideration the habits of other jockeys and try to guess where they want to place their horses in the race.
The better jockeys anticipate and react faster than their counterparts. If you want to try something fun, watch the race replays and pay attention to the maneuvering going on, especially from the view of the head-on camera. You'll notice that some jockeys are piloting their horse into position to win a race, while others are just hanging on like they're sitting in the rear seat of a taxi. These different racing styles are why riders are often described as either pilots or passengers. Pilots are in control, anticipating what's going to happen and reacting immediately. Passengers are sitting on their horses hoping things open up for them. You want the pilot on your horse every time.