Do jockey’s listed at let’s say Gulfstream always race there? What about the horses that they ride, do they travel to various venues to race or stay at the same one for a while?
4 Responses to “In horse racing, does a jockey typically race at the same venue on a regular basis?”
Most jockeys choose to ride at a particular geographic racing circuit: eg., there’s the Southern California circuit, with racing moving from Santa Anita to Hollywood Park to Del Mar, back to Santa Anita and to Hollywood Park again; or a circuit like the New York tracks, or Florida, or the midwest.
A jockey’s choice of circuits is dependent mostly on where he can get the most “live” mounts (horses with a chance to win). Obviously most jockeys would prefer to ride where the purses are highest, but that’s where it’s toughest for someone to break in. In the halcyon days when Laffit Pincay Jr., Chris McCarron, Eddie Delahoussaye and many others now in the Hall of Fame were riding in the Southern California circuit, it was nearly impossible for a new jockey to break in. Newbies just couldn’t get live mounts, and more than one jockey moved his tack here and then had to leave because the pickings were so slim.
Sometimes a jockey will move to go with a new agent who he thinks can help him; sometimes if a jockey has a “cold streak” he’ll move to try to rebuild a career elsewhere. A real extreme case of this was Steve Cauthen’s move to England/Europe after his career when cold here in the States.
The horses generally stay in one place too, unless they are claimed/sold to another trainer. (Most states have rules that try to keep claimed horses from being taken out of state to race, because that depletes the available supply of horses the racing secretary has to work with in carding races.)
Stakes horses are shipped around to race where their trainer thinks they have the best chance of winning, but most other horses in a trainer’s stable stay at his “home base” stable at a track or training center and race on the local circuit. Where a trainer is based depends on the kinds of horses he can get to train– most trainers don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing their clientele, like Baffert and Zito and Frankel and other top trainers do. So they have to pick a base where they can get stalls for the horses they have, and where those horses are competitive.
Trainers apply for stall space at the tracks where they race, and unless a track is short of horses, racing secretaries are choosey about the horses they give stall space to. A racing secretary wants a good variety of horses stabled at the track to write races around– claiming horses, maidens, horses working through their “conditions” (non-winners other than maiden or claiming, non-winners of two other than maiden or claiming, etc.). If he has a choice, he generally won’t grant stall space to horses he doesn’t believe are competitive at the track– i.e., a horse that’s running for a low claiming price at a small track probably won’t be given a stall at a track like Santa Anita or Belmont, because the racing secretary would prefer to give the stall to a horse that is better-suited to the kind of races he’s going to write.
Horseplayers prefer that the pool of horses that they handicap remain rather stable, because they can get a line on the relative strengths of the horses easier that way. Trying to sort through the past performances of horses that are coming from all over the place can drive a horseplayer nuts, because you can’t tell sometimes whether a horse that did well at another circuit will do well if he moves. Claiming price can be a guideline, but not always.
Yes jockeys put down roots at a certain track and stay there until there is some reason to move on. They get to know the owners and trainers and don’t have to go from track to track. They would often just be starting from scratch if they went to a different track; even if they have a performance record the trainers at the track are used to using their own jockeys and it is harder to switch tracks for that reason. Some trainers like fresh blood and popular jockeys and will ride them but for them to stay at new tracks and make just as good a living isn’t too easy.
What they may do is start at lesser track with lower purses, gain popularity and experience and then try and move on to a bigger track and compete with better riders. With the larger purses, even if they don’t win as often they can do just as well in this situation.
Some jockeys will get mounts at other tracks in their region and therefore similar trainers and little traveling is involved. It is a matter of racing being on different days or the odd mount at a bigger track nearby that what they usually get at their own track.
Jockeys do tend to stay in the same place for a long time. If they have a very talented horse, they will travel to other tracks in order to ride the horse. For example, Joe Talamo rides pretty much exclusively on the Southern California circuit, but traveled to Aqueduct in New York last weekend to ride I Want Revenge in the Gotham Stakes. He didn’t want to lose the mount because he’ll likely get to ride in the Kentucky Derby if he’s the horse’s regular rider and the horse makes it to that race.
Tracks aren’t open all year and jockeys will have to travel to another track eventually. In the Southern California circuit, there’s Santa Anita, Del Mar, and Hollywood Park. Most of the jockeys will travel between those 3 tracks. Some of them will go to Kentucky for the summer and be based at Churchill Downs. There’s really no northern racing in the winter except Aqueduct, Turfway, and Philadelphia Park because it’s just too cold. The jockeys at those tracks go to Florida for the winter (or Arkansas, Louisiana, etc) then come back for the summer. But they don’t jump around every day. They might travel for a special weekend to another track, but they’ll ride at one track for the vast majority of the meet.
It really depends on the situation. Some jockeys make their home in a certain place and ride only there. Russell Baze is a leading top jock and only rides in California because he does not want his family being run all over the country. Other jockeys travel extensively. Jocks like Edgar Prado, Kent Desormeux, Robby Alberado, etc will sometimes ride a horse overseas and travel back to the Us to ride a particular horse in a certain race. Some of the top horses also travel from track to track to race. Some jockeys choose to stay in a certain city to ride because of family obligations while others, mostly the top jockeys travel because they ride in big races with big purses. Hope this answers your questioin. Good luck
Most jockeys choose to ride at a particular geographic racing circuit: eg., there’s the Southern California circuit, with racing moving from Santa Anita to Hollywood Park to Del Mar, back to Santa Anita and to Hollywood Park again; or a circuit like the New York tracks, or Florida, or the midwest.
A jockey’s choice of circuits is dependent mostly on where he can get the most “live” mounts (horses with a chance to win). Obviously most jockeys would prefer to ride where the purses are highest, but that’s where it’s toughest for someone to break in. In the halcyon days when Laffit Pincay Jr., Chris McCarron, Eddie Delahoussaye and many others now in the Hall of Fame were riding in the Southern California circuit, it was nearly impossible for a new jockey to break in. Newbies just couldn’t get live mounts, and more than one jockey moved his tack here and then had to leave because the pickings were so slim.
Sometimes a jockey will move to go with a new agent who he thinks can help him; sometimes if a jockey has a “cold streak” he’ll move to try to rebuild a career elsewhere. A real extreme case of this was Steve Cauthen’s move to England/Europe after his career when cold here in the States.
The horses generally stay in one place too, unless they are claimed/sold to another trainer. (Most states have rules that try to keep claimed horses from being taken out of state to race, because that depletes the available supply of horses the racing secretary has to work with in carding races.)
Stakes horses are shipped around to race where their trainer thinks they have the best chance of winning, but most other horses in a trainer’s stable stay at his “home base” stable at a track or training center and race on the local circuit. Where a trainer is based depends on the kinds of horses he can get to train– most trainers don’t have the luxury of picking and choosing their clientele, like Baffert and Zito and Frankel and other top trainers do. So they have to pick a base where they can get stalls for the horses they have, and where those horses are competitive.
Trainers apply for stall space at the tracks where they race, and unless a track is short of horses, racing secretaries are choosey about the horses they give stall space to. A racing secretary wants a good variety of horses stabled at the track to write races around– claiming horses, maidens, horses working through their “conditions” (non-winners other than maiden or claiming, non-winners of two other than maiden or claiming, etc.). If he has a choice, he generally won’t grant stall space to horses he doesn’t believe are competitive at the track– i.e., a horse that’s running for a low claiming price at a small track probably won’t be given a stall at a track like Santa Anita or Belmont, because the racing secretary would prefer to give the stall to a horse that is better-suited to the kind of races he’s going to write.
Horseplayers prefer that the pool of horses that they handicap remain rather stable, because they can get a line on the relative strengths of the horses easier that way. Trying to sort through the past performances of horses that are coming from all over the place can drive a horseplayer nuts, because you can’t tell sometimes whether a horse that did well at another circuit will do well if he moves. Claiming price can be a guideline, but not always.
Yes jockeys put down roots at a certain track and stay there until there is some reason to move on. They get to know the owners and trainers and don’t have to go from track to track. They would often just be starting from scratch if they went to a different track; even if they have a performance record the trainers at the track are used to using their own jockeys and it is harder to switch tracks for that reason. Some trainers like fresh blood and popular jockeys and will ride them but for them to stay at new tracks and make just as good a living isn’t too easy.
What they may do is start at lesser track with lower purses, gain popularity and experience and then try and move on to a bigger track and compete with better riders. With the larger purses, even if they don’t win as often they can do just as well in this situation.
Some jockeys will get mounts at other tracks in their region and therefore similar trainers and little traveling is involved. It is a matter of racing being on different days or the odd mount at a bigger track nearby that what they usually get at their own track.
Jockeys do tend to stay in the same place for a long time. If they have a very talented horse, they will travel to other tracks in order to ride the horse. For example, Joe Talamo rides pretty much exclusively on the Southern California circuit, but traveled to Aqueduct in New York last weekend to ride I Want Revenge in the Gotham Stakes. He didn’t want to lose the mount because he’ll likely get to ride in the Kentucky Derby if he’s the horse’s regular rider and the horse makes it to that race.
Tracks aren’t open all year and jockeys will have to travel to another track eventually. In the Southern California circuit, there’s Santa Anita, Del Mar, and Hollywood Park. Most of the jockeys will travel between those 3 tracks. Some of them will go to Kentucky for the summer and be based at Churchill Downs. There’s really no northern racing in the winter except Aqueduct, Turfway, and Philadelphia Park because it’s just too cold. The jockeys at those tracks go to Florida for the winter (or Arkansas, Louisiana, etc) then come back for the summer. But they don’t jump around every day. They might travel for a special weekend to another track, but they’ll ride at one track for the vast majority of the meet.
It really depends on the situation. Some jockeys make their home in a certain place and ride only there. Russell Baze is a leading top jock and only rides in California because he does not want his family being run all over the country. Other jockeys travel extensively. Jocks like Edgar Prado, Kent Desormeux, Robby Alberado, etc will sometimes ride a horse overseas and travel back to the Us to ride a particular horse in a certain race. Some of the top horses also travel from track to track to race. Some jockeys choose to stay in a certain city to ride because of family obligations while others, mostly the top jockeys travel because they ride in big races with big purses. Hope this answers your questioin. Good luck