Exercise Rider

At the Breeders' Cup World Championship, fractions of a second and tiny strokes of luck define legacies. Flipping through the past performances, it's easy to see only the numbers: the morning-line odds, post positions and speed figures that quantify each race. But for the people who know these athletes best—the grooms who understand their quirks and habits, the riders who have their stride memorized, the assistants who have thought through every nuance of their daily routine--these horses represent something else entirely. "Horses are like your family," said Tony Gutierrez, who...

It's rare for a racehorse to have the same exercise rider for his entire career. It's almost unheard of for one rider to have been with a horse since the first time a saddle was on his back. But such is the case for Breeders' Cup hopeful Nakatomi (Firing Line). Jose Hernandez was the first person to ride the Grade I winner when he was just a yearling at Wesley Ward's farm, and five years later, he's still the one galloping him each morning at Keeneland. From the first time...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - In his opening remarks during this year's Kentucky Derby post-race news conference, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott paid tribute to the entire team behind the brilliant Sovereignty (Into Mischief). "I'm so proud of everybody that had anything to do with getting this horse to this point and it takes a lot of people," Mott said. "It takes a family, and it takes a community to get him ready, really." Neil Poznansky, the regular morning work partner for the nation's top 3-year-old, has been with Mott...

Morgane Kervarrec knows she's not exactly known for being the most outgoing person on the backside. But for her, the job has never been about small talk or making appearances. It's about the work, the horses, and the quiet rhythm of morning training at Santa Anita. "People will say sometimes that maybe I'm not really social," Kervarrec admitted. "It's not that I'm tired of being social. I'm just tired of fake connections with people that you don't get with animals. That's why I picked this job. You deal less with...

Breezing a star like Journalism (Curlin) demands an extra level of concentration. It isn't that the colt is headstrong or unfocused. If anything, he does his job almost too well. "You have to be careful about your fractions because you're thinking that you're going really slowly, but really you're going quick with him," said Tony Gutierrez. "You don't feel when he's touching the ground. He floats." While Marc Witkowski is Journalism's regular exercise rider, Gutierrez has been aboard the talented colt for the majority of his breezes since he was...

One of the more meaningful aspects of Saratoga's summer meet is how it brings people together. Whether they're new faces on the scene or returning regulars of the historic venue, they all seem to share the same passion for the Thoroughbred racehorse. It's a place that brings prestige to all who ride, work and walk upon its grounds, felt during the mornings spent on the Oklahoma training track, to the steps taken across Union Avenue, and the palpable excitement that flows throughout the paddock and winner's circle on race day....

It's easy to see why She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}) has become a fan favorite. She's remarkably consistent, never out of the money in 12 career starts. She's gutsy, having fought to claim her latest of five Grade I wins by a narrow head. And she's got personality. Her friendship with an ornery goat named Mickey has a growing following on social media. Enrique Miranda, an assistant trainer for Cherie DeVaux, is the star filly's main exercise rider and can attest: to know She Feels Pretty is to love her....

The gates are scheduled to open at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. Post time for the first race is 11:35 and the first Breeders' Cup race goes off at 2:45. But long before those bright-eyed Breeders' Cup attendees begin filling the grandstands of Del Mar, the backside will have been awake for hours. For those back in the barns as Breeders' Cup morning dawns, in many ways it's just like any other day. It is the same routine of raking barn aisles, topping off water buckets, checking temps, preparing feed, wrapping...

There are people that work with horses and there are people that love horses. In the case of Katie Tolbert, there is no better example of a person that works with horses because of how much she loves them. You see the devotion on a quiet morning on the backside of Churchill Downs as she sits in the saddle, stroking the neck of the horse she is astride or is ponying alongside her. You hear it in the echo of a nicker from an excited trainee, eager for her company,...

From a young age, Jeramie Fennell was certain that he was born to be a jockey. Addicted to the thrill of riding, becoming a jockey was the only thing he really cared about, the only thing he knew for certain. So when, as he continued growing taller throughout his teenage years and maintaining weight became increasingly difficult, Fennell did what he thought he had to do in order to live out his dream. He turned to a different kind of addiction, but this time the consequences would lead him to...

They say that once horse racing gets in your blood, it never leaves. Lee Vickers has no doubts about that. For him, a passion for the sport was practically embedded into his genetic code. Both his father and his grandfather were jockeys in his native England and Vickers was riding racehorses himself by age 12. Over the past three decades since, Vickers has ridden dozens of top-level horses on both sides of the Atlantic. This year, the assistant trainer and exercise rider for Christophe Clement is enjoying the ride with...

GI Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes contender Arthur's Ride (Tapit) is all business when he goes out to train in the morning. Coming back to the barn afterwards? Well, that's a different story. Damian Hinds has been assigned to Arthur's Ride as the 4-year-old colt's exercise rider throughout this year's Saratoga meet. He has grown accustomed to the GI Whitney winner's daily antics over the Oklahoma track when they start heading back to the Bill Mott barn after training. "He's a good horse to gallop, quiet and nice, but to...