In 2011, Remi Bellocq left his position as the CEO of the National HBPA to step in as the executive director of Bluegrass Community and Technical College's (BCTC) Equine Program.
Bellocq was initially drawn to the program when he realized he could help play a role in fixing racing's growing labor shortage. By heading up BCTC's program, Bellocq is now helping recruit young people to join the sport's much-needed workforce.
“We don't have anything in our industry that can predict what is going to happen with immigration reform at a federal level,” he said. “So, every year it's the same challenge and we can't count on that changing. We have to fend for ourselves. We have the mechanism to prepare really good workers–well-trained, domestic workers.”
The BCTC program first started in 2006 as the North American Racing Academy. But when Bellocq joined the team a few years later, they realized their need to widen its scope from a jockey school to an equine-based career and technical training program. Now referred to as BCTC Equine, the course is the first and only accredited community college-based program of its type in the country.
Today, there are between 35 and 40 students in the program each semester. After two years spent completing courses ranging from basic equine care to training theory, physiology and anatomy, students will graduate with an Associate's degree. Some students will earn a vet assistant certificate while others will choose to focus on breeding or racing. Those that take the riding classes will earn an exercise riding license from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission prior to their completion of their courses.
Incoming students start off in a semester-long racehorse care lab, where they handle the everyday well-being of the program's 12 retired racehorses located at The Thoroughbred Center outside of Lexington.
“The students are bringing them in from the paddocks, checking vitals and feeding,” Bellocq explained. “They're doing everything that anybody in any barn is going to be doing, but we monitor them and grade them. We check off the list to make sure that not only are they cleaning the stall, but that they can do it in a certain period of time. We're making sure they can work efficiently and do everything that is required if you're going to go out and work for a top-level trainer. We teach to the current standards.”
To move on to the riding course, students must first take an advanced fitness test. Students that pass attend daily training sessions run by Program Coordinator and Assistant Professor Dixie Kendall and instructor Amy Heitzman. Before completing the course, students spend a few weeks working for a trainer based out of the Training Center before graduation.
“There's a lot of attrition because we're tough,” Bellocq noted. “We have pretty rigorous academic requirements and we'll put them through the ringer if they're late. But the result is that we have quite a few graduates out there working who have moved up. We've placed students in some pretty high-end racing operations, including Mike Maker, Christophe Clemente, Michael Matz and Todd Pletcher.”
The majority of students currently taking the exercise riding portion of the course, Bellocq said, are female. He stressed the cruciality of the industry's acceptance of an evolving workforce.
“Employers, trainers and farm managers have to wrap their arms around the fact that our workforce is changing and we have to adapt to that,” he said. “It's not a question of if women work any harder or can't handle the work that men have traditionally done, it's a question of adapting and providing work-life balance. A lot of trainers are paying better than they ever have, but if Amazon is paying $15 an hour with benefits, we've got to come close because that is who is going to steal our workers, not a trainer down the shedrow.”
Nebraska native Callie Witt is currently enrolled in the exercise riding portion of the program. Prior to attending BCTC, she galloped at several tracks in her home state.
“Since I was a little girl, it's always been my dream to be a jockey,” she said. “My parents' big thing was that I had to have a degree in something to fall back on, so I was really lucky to find this type of program where I can continue my passion for horses, learn how to ride and still get a degree.”
Witt acknowledged the challenges behind working in this industry.
“You've got to learn to have a thick skin. Not everyone is going to have the greatest things to say, but you've got to keep a good head, work fast and keep a positive attitude. Every day is hard work and you've got to keep pushing through it.”
Morgan Patterson is from Alabama and said she has also learned several valuable lessons from her time at BCTC.
“I think my biggest thing is to not overthink it,” she said. “I want to micromanage everything, especially with my riding. But I feel like I'm learning a lot here. Someday I definitely want to travel and ride abroad.”
Classmate Petula Randolph enrolled at BCTC because she knew it was an optimal location to begin working towards her dream of becoming a trainer.
“There's really no better place to learn what we're doing,” she said. “It's a really good environment and less stressful than learning on the job. You get quality instruction here and you know you're learning the right things.”
Randolph grew up attending races at her home track, Retama Park, and said she would like to return to Texas to win a top race there someday.
“If I could train a horse to run in the Sam Houston Ladies' Classic, that would be pretty cool because Midnight Bisou won there.”
Bellocq said that one of his favorite encounters with the students is their annual trip to Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby week for a tour of the backstretch, where students have the opportunity to chat with some of the top trainers.
“It's kind of eye-opening for them,” he said. “All those superstars will say the same thing, 'You're not going to make a lot of money starting off, you're going to work crazy hours and really have to pay your dues. But if you have the passion and you love what you do, then you can rise as far as you want to in this industry.' That's really inspiring for our students because they're not hearing it from their teachers, they're hearing it from the people they see in the racing news all the time, and that has such weight.”
As the program continues to grow, Bellocq enjoys seeing their work come to fruition as graduates excel in their careers across all facets of the industry.
“We have an alumni group that will meet for a big barbecue every year during Keeneland and it's great to see them all compare notes on who they're working for,” Bellocq said. “For our graduates, we have a great network of internships and mentorships. We have stellar employers who say, 'Listen, just send me a good student and I'll always have jobs for them.' And that's a really great testament to our program.”
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