Work riders - the winning team | Trainer Magazine | European Trainer Article Index

Dec 17

Dec 17 Work riders - the winning team

As South Africa’s James Maree from the Work Riders Development Programme puts it, “I know and all trainers know that if you get to the track in the morning and you haven’t got a decent work rider, you may as well go home. Without that, you just can’t do anything.” Trainers need to be able to rely on their morning pilots to follow instructions, as weeks of preparation can be wasted if a strategic gallop does not go to plan. This applies both in the short term before a race engagement or in the long term, notably for a difficult horse whose career can be made or broken depending upon the skills of his morning partner. French handler Freddy Head is well-placed to analyse the situation. As a former top jockey, he rode plenty of champions on the gallops before hanging up his boots to become a leading trainer, famously of 14-time Group 1 winner Goldikova and recently of another high-class filly in Moonlight Cloud, who completed a record-breaking double at Deauville this summer. For Head, a sensitive rider is a must, “They must have good hands to be kind to the horse’s mouth. The opposite, a brutal rider, can destroy a horse and his racing career. Most of my team have been with me for a long time, although there are always some changeovers and more and more girls. My team is now around 50% feminine and in general I notice that the girls are more gentle riders and are more attached to the horses. They ride very well and I am sure that one day soon we will see a champion lady jockey.” 36 TRAINERMAGAZINE.com ISSUE 44 Trainers around the world have widely varying ideas on training methods, feeding regimes, and riding tactics, and these opinions can even differ between neighbouring professionals using the same facilities. But one thing that handlers will unanimously agree upon is the vital importance of a competent team of work riders. WORDS: KATHERINE FORD PHOTOS: CAROLINE NORRIS, APRH, HORSEPHOTOS, MARK ROSE Head explains that he rarely calls on jockeys to gallop his horses in training, preferring to rely upon his regular team who are familiar with his working methods. However, many of the staff have racing experience. “A lot of my work riders are former jockeys, who have retired from race riding or after a short career. They are light weight and experienced and ride most of the fast work for me.” A second career as a work rider is a logical one for many former jockeys as it allows them to remain connected with the racing game and maintain that all-important contact with thoroughbreds without the demands of setting up as a trainer. Former top-level jump jockey Dean Gallagher retired from the saddle aged 40 in 2009 and is now an important member of the Ballydoyle team. The Irishman was seen putting future Breeders’ Cup Classic third Declaration of War through his paces at Santa Anita recently, and Gallagher relishes his hands-on role. Ex-jockeys have the advantage of race-riding experience, and once they adapt to the requirements of training rather than a win-at- all-costs approach, their value is evident for trainers. Newcomers to racing in Europe have often graduated from the racing schools such as the AFASEC (Association de Formation et d'Action Sociale des Ecuries de Courses) in France, the British Racing School (BRS) or Northern Racing College in the UK, and RACE (Racing Academy and Centre of Education) in Ireland. Many youngsters will have enrolled at such schools with the dream of becoming a jockey but didn’t make the grade following their training and apprenticeship; but at least they have a grounding in horsemanship and riding, which stands them in good stead as exercise riders. Since 2007, Newmarket’s British Racing School has even offered two specific “Riding Work Courses” with the aim of improving work riding skills. The objective of the first course is to introduce stable staff to the particularities of riding fast work, and the second gives advanced coaching to more experienced riders and advises them on giving all-important feedback to trainers. The BRS also proposes a made-to-measure service, sending their coach to a trainer’s yard. James Given is full of praise for this initiative, saying, “I've always felt that if you took your best member of staff and cloned them, your horses would be prepared better and you would therefore train more winners, attract more owners, and be able to earn more through training fees. Thats the reason why Sir Michael Stoute employs some of the best riders in Newmarket. However if you can't get involved in 'buying' you have to do something else – you have to train your staff.” It is no coincidence that many of Freddy Head’s remarks are shared by American Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey, who says, “It’s very important for my stable to have good work riders, and above all, riders I am familiar with. The rider I have here [preparing Point of Entry for the Breeders’ Cup Turf] has been with me WORK RIDERS “I’ve always felt that if you took your best member of staff and cloned them, your horses would be prepared better and you would therefore train more winners” James Given South America, and notably Argentina and Uruguay, are known for their gaucho culture, and there is little formal training of any kind for jockeys or stable staff except for a makeshift jockeys’ school at San Isidro, where apprentices are coached during the afternoons. Alfredo Gaitán Dassié, who scored a rare hat- trick at the Group 1 “Estrellas” meeting – similar to the Breeders’ Cup – in San Isidro in July, says, “Most of my work riders were jockeys in the past. Others work in my yard but they need a lot of experience to be good. The job of jockey and work rider is very different, and a good jockey is not always a good rider for the morning.” It appears that trainers around the world are faced with the same difficulties and rewards concerning exercise riders. A team of reliable and talented riders can make the difference between success and failure for a stable and they deserve all the recognition they receive, and often more. n Across the USA, exercise riders are required to hold a licence issued by the horseracing board of whichever state they’re working in, and a recent welcome development in California is the introduction of an annual physical examination, as requested by the Jockey and Driver Welfare Committee, for all work riders. There are no such regulations in South America. At the 2012 Breeders’ Cup, future Marathon hero Calidoscopio was the focus of much amused attention during the build-up to the race as he was ridden bareback in all but his serious gallops. This is the norm in his native Argentina, as leading trainer Juan Carlos Etchechoury says. “This is our traditional way of training and a matter of organisation and also of relaxation for the horse. When they have a saddle on their back, they know that it is for a gallop or a race and they become nervous. Without saddles, they remain calm.” since 1983, and none of my riders has worked for me for less than five years. We think the same way and I know their riding styles. Horsemanship is imperative for McGaughey’s staff and he explains, “A lot of the girls who work for me know horses as they have come through the showing or equestrian circuits, while most of the boys wanted to be jockeys and haven’t made it for various reasons.” A recurrent problem throughout the racing world is a shortage of competent stable personnel, and notably work riders. In Europe trainers employ more and more staff from Eastern Europe and Asia, with all the immigration regulations and difficulties this entails, while in the USA, Central and Latin America provide a huge source of stable workers and indeed a good proportion of the continent’s jockeys. Alan Balch of the California Horseracing Board says, “We don’t have a problem with finding stable staff in California as there are so many Central and South Americans looking for work. But each role is defined and you’re unlikely to find an exercise rider taking a turn at hotwalking or vice versa.” Young expat Frenchman Leonard Powell, who has enjoyed a successful season from Hollywood Park in 2013, concurs. “I have three categories of staff: grooms who take care of the horses and their stables, hotwalkers, and finally exercise riders. I’ve adapted to the American system and all my riders carry walkie-talkies so I can tell them the time of the first part of a gallop and they can adapt their speed if necessary.”

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THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN - EUROPEAN TRAINER - ISSUE 44

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