Jockey mental health | Horse Racing Free Tips

Jockeys’ Mental Health and Wellness Symposium Held in Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and the Jockeys' Guild hosted a symposium on the mental health and wellness of jockeys on Aug. 1 at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga.

The event was organized after a similar discussion conducted in May at Keeneland shared the results of a survey of 230 jockeys that revealed that, among other findings, a third of jockeys had faced challenges in their daily lives over the past month due to feelings of sadness, anxiety and depression. The survey also reported that the jockeys' biggest pressures included making weight, the pressure to win and not making a livable wage.

The meeting at Keeneland was a wake-up call for many of its attendees, so much so for Dan Waits, the Executive Director of the Race Track Chaplaincy, that he initiated an immediate plan for all of his chaplains across the country to go through a suicide prevention training called QPR.

Waits was one of several speakers at this week's symposium in Saratoga hoping to spread awareness and make a difference in the lives of jockeys. Emceed by Donna Brothers, the event hosted nearly 100 attendees including riders like Johnny Velazquez, Javier Castellano, Junior Alvarado, Jose Ortiz, Kendrick Carmouche and Luis Saez, plus retired jockeys Angel Cordero Jr. and Ramon Dominguez.

Randy Grimes, a former NFL player and an addiction recovery advocate, was the keynote speaker while a panel featured former jockeys Richard Migliore and Eurico Da Silva and current jockey Trevor McCarthy, as well as racing analyst and podcast host Jonathon Kinchen and Dr. Yuval Neria, the co-director of the Man O'War Project–which explores the use of equine-assisted therapy to help individuals suffering from mental health problems.

Throughout the afternoon, the conversation was open and at times deeply personal as participants discussed the lives of jockeys, leading Dr. Neria to remark that he was amazed at the presenters' willingness to share and believed it to be “a moment of paradigm shift” for the sport.

Several topics regarding the difficulties athletes experience were brought up by both Grimes and the panel. Chief among those issues was the struggle to share what they were going through with others.

Grimes described how he played his last two years of professional football in a complete blackout and referenced how at the time, he believed self-medication was “a necessary evil” every athlete participated in, but that he was “suffering in silence” because his teammates never discussed exactly how they were able to push past injuries in order to remain on the playing field.

Migliore echoed a similar experience during his time riding.

“There is kind of an unspoken thing in the jocks' room–don't show weakness,” he said. “You play hurt. If you're in a slump, you don't talk about the slump because that will perpetuate the slump.”

Fellow jockey Da Silva shared how he had been ashamed to seek help when he was dealing with depression and anxiety. He began going to therapy early in his career, but when he moved his tack to Canada, he did not go to therapy for over a year because he was afraid others at the racetrack would find out about his struggles.

In his In The Money podcast, Jonathon Kinchen dedicated an episode earlier this year to discussing these challenges jockeys experience and bringing mental health problems to the limelight (find the podcast here).

“If you hear the conversation, that's when you'll start asking for help,” he said. “If someone that [a jockey] looks up to says that they struggle, then when [the jockey] struggles, they won't feel isolated and maybe they'll find the help they're looking for.”

Kinchen also addressed the negative impacts that criticism, particularly negative feedback on social media, can have on jockeys.

“The number one thing is that you're not alone,” Migliore said when prompted to give advice to the jockeys in the room. “I think all riders battle through those type of things throughout their career, but the more you isolate, in your mind the harder it is to overcome the things you're dealing with because now you're alone. The more you seal off and keep people at arm's length, the harder it's going to be to pull out of it. It doesn't make you weak for getting help or asking for help or bringing it out into the light. You're even stronger for that.”

Near the conclusion of the program, the families of two young jockeys that died earlier this year from suicide gave heartfelt messages to the program's participants. Ashley Canchari, sister of Alex Canchari who passed away in March, and Lyman and Dr. Salli Whisman, the parents of Avery Whisman who died two months earlier, both shared how it had been meaningful to listen to the panel open up about some of the struggles that their loved one had also dealt with.

Dr. Whisman talked about how, following the passing of her son, the Whisman family had posed the question of how the racing industry may have contributed to Avery's mental health issues. Months later, she received a call from Dr. Peter Hester, HISA's medical director, about how HISA was working on plans to improve upon the resources available to jockeys.

“It surprised me,” she said. “I didn't expect to hear that HISA had been working on this. Avery had been in their minds and their hearts and their eyesight and that one simple curated comment that we thought the industry needed to look at this had taken some root. There had been work done. It wasn't going to be dropped or left alone and it wasn't up to us to make sure that something was done.”

During the 'Q and A' portion of the event, attendees expressed how easy access to resources like mental health professionals and nutritionists would benefit jockeys, especially because many cannot afford these resources themselves.

HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus reported that HISA is working with the Jockeys' Guild to address these ideas.

“We have some of the initial components in place,” she said. “We want to make the commitment that there will be outcomes and there are a number of things that we are looking at around nutrition, therapy, and financial education.”

Lazarus also announced two new initiatives by HISA that are set to launch in conjunction with the Jockeys' Guild.

The first, HeadCheck Health, will provide a concussion management platform for jockeys.

“The platform is designed to improve the management and care of riders with a concussion or suspected concussion,” Lazarus explained. “HeadCheck will also provide a secure HIPAA-compliant system for jockeys to store medical records and make them easily available to physicians should an emergency arise.”

The second new initiative is a partnership with the healthcare company Novacare. Lazarus explained that HISA has been working with Novacare for the last six months to identify trained medical staff at locations closest to each racetrack to provide HISA-required healthcare services to jockeys.

“Jockeys can now go to any one of these locations, get an athlete physical and complete a concussion baseline during one appointment at a discounted price,” she reported. “Novacare has also set up a phone number for jockeys to call, in English and Spanish, that will help schedule appointments at the closest racetrack. “

The post Jockeys’ Mental Health and Wellness Symposium Held in Saratoga appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

‘Let’s Talk’ Delves Into Jockeys’ Mental Health

Sponsored by 1/ST Racing

The TDN's 'Let's Talk'–a podcast series featuring TDN's Christina Bossinakis and TVG's on-air analyst Gabby Gaudet, offers candid discussion on personal, and sometimes difficult, topics that are often uncomfortable for many to speak about in an open forum.

The latest edition presents a trio of successful jockeys–Journeyman John Velazquez and retired Ramon Dominguez–both in the Hall of Fame–in addition to retired rider Richie Migliore, currently serving as a NYRA and FOX Sports on-air analyst.

Few will dispute the fact that jockeys are the iron warriors of horse racing. Physical danger is a very real part of the every day existence of a rider, as is the continual adversity they are forced to endure and adapt (and react) to.

“You really don't know what is going to happen,” admitted Dominguez. “It's different, perhaps for a jockey or it is magnified compared to other athletes, mostly because the athletes prepare and train for a specific game or perhaps for a season. Jockeys have a never-ending season–year-round racing. Even if you have a great business, doing well and had an amazing day, you have to turn the page. Because tomorrow, you can fall into a slump and things change. That [concern] is always in the back of your mind.”

Having faced more than his share of adversity, Migliore retired from the saddle in 2010, and Dominguez followed suit three years later after also facing a career-ending injury. Velazquez, who continues to compete at the highest level at age 51, also faced serious injury at several junctures in his career, however found himself among those fortunate to return to the saddle, time and again.

“For every jockey, for every athlete, there's a last ride, there's a last at bat, there's a last play,” said Migliore. “And if you're fortunate, you get to choose when that last ride is like Chris McCarron, Jerry Bailey and Pat Day. They accomplished amazing things and they made a decision that it was time to step away. The vast majority of riders don't get that opportunity. So, I tell young riders there will be a last ride and, hopefully, you get to choose last. But that's why you owe it to yourself to make the most out of the time you are able to ride.”

While the physical stress and adversity that riders face are well documented, the emotional difficulties that jockeys often face can be as prevalent, although not as easily observed by the masses.

“Unlike Ramon who was in the midst of his prime, I was in the back nine, the twilight of my career,” added Migliore. “Physically, I wasn't what I once was. Mentally, I could still see a race well, still had a great judge and feel of horses, but I certainly wasn't in what I would call my prime. Even though it was, admittedly, towards the end, I was 44 when the accident happened, and it still sent me into a deep, dark place. I went into a deep depression. Not originally when I first got out of the hospital, but when I was home. I didn't feel good, and I didn't care. I didn't care about horse racing or riding. Three or four months later when I started to feel better, and the reality was 'you're never going to do that again,' I really got depressed.”

It is widely understood that the challenges facing riders can be great, however, unity in racing can be equally strong, a bond reinforced by the necessity of taking care of one's own.

“It's funny because I always felt I had support,” said Velazquez. “And you always have the doubters, though. But I always focus on the people who want to give me the opportunity and forget about those, those people who doubted me from the get-go.”

And that support extends to the next generation of riders, which Velazquez admits is an important factor in keeping the playing field safe and equitable for the entire jockey colony.

“The more you teach those kids, the safer it is for you to ride,” he said. “You want to ride with the more knowledgeable rider rather than the kids that are more reckless. The ones who don't want to listen or to learn are the ones that make it scary to ride with. They want to learn the hard way. So, you have to show them the right way.”

To listen to the audio only version of 'Let's Talk,' click here. For the video version, click here.

The post ‘Let’s Talk’ Delves Into Jockeys’ Mental Health appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Sanchez Suspended, Gambling an Outlet for Depression

Jockey Mychel Sanchez, who has been suspended 60 days by the Pennsylvania Racing Commission for betting on horses other than the ones he rode, is not a cheat or a race-fixer, his attorney told the TDN Friday. Rather, said lawyer Alan Pincus, Sanchez was dealing with a serious case of depression and took to gambling as an outlet. Pincus said that in all instances Sanchez tried his best to win the races in question, whether he had bet against his own horse or not.

“It was clear he was giving his best effort,” Pincus said. “He was not fixing races. He won several of the races in which he bet against his horses. The horse paid $37 in one race, $27 in another. He was just doing something crazy that only a psychiatrist can explain.”

With Sanchez's main track, Parx, dark Friday, the jockey was listed on two mounts at Laurel. After the Maryland Racing Commission learned of the Pennsylvania suspension, Sanchez was taken of his mounts. The Maryland Jockey Club and 1/ST RACING issued a statement later in the day in which it said Sanchez has been banned indefinitely.

“After learning of the serious allegations of illegal wagering on the part of jockey Mychel Sanchez, effective immediately 1/ST RACING will institute an indefinite ban against him from training or racing at any 1/ST RACING venue,” read a statement issued by 1/ST RACING. “Any decision regarding Sanchez's reinstatement will be made at a later time. 1/ST RACING stands on the principles of integrity and accountability, and we believe there is no place in our sport for this kind of unethical and illegal activity.”

Tom Chuckas, the director of the Thoroughbred division of the Pennsylvania Racing Commission, was not available to the media. A call to his office went to voice mail and no one returned the call from the TDN seeking comment. There was nothing related to Sanchez's suspension on the page on the Pennsylvania Racing Commission's website listing rulings. An official ruling will likely be issued following a regularly scheduled commission meeting next week.

Should Chuckas ever make himself available, he will likely be asked to explain what appears to be a serious offense resulted in a suspension of just 60 days.

“Mychal is a straight shooter and he has worked hard and with skill and talent has risen to a very strong position,” Pincus said. “He is the sole support for his family both here and in Venezuela and life, on the surface, was great for him. But, he was feeling depressed. And he was not doing anything to deal with it. He was just turning inward. He turned to gambling on the races for a very short period of time. I'm not a psychiatrist, but he was doing this to numb the pain.”

Pincus said that Sanchez opened a TVG account in his own name and began betting Dec. 23 and made his last bets Jan. 3. He went six for 28 during that period. During that time, he also rode at Aqueduct and at Laurel. Pincus said he was not sure whether or not Sanchez also bet against his mounts in New York and Maryland or just at Parx. If he bet against himself in New York or in Maryland, he could face additional penalties from those states.

“We will look into this,” said J. Michael Hopkins, the executive director of the Maryland Racing Commission. “But right now he's suspended in Pennsylvania, so there's no need to be in a rush because he doesn't ride here regularly. But we will definitely take a look at it.”

TVG employees noticed that the jockey had been betting against his own horses and notified the appropriate racing commissions.

Having, through his lawyer, admitted that he bet against his own horses, Sanchez will not fight the suspension.

“He was suspended 60 days starting [Friday] to the 21st of March,” Pincus said. “Obviously, it was warranted. We are not going to appeal this.”

Pincus said that Sanchez has already enrolled in a problem gambling program and has also sought out psychiatric help.

“He just did something because of a mental problem,” Pincus said. “People are responsible for their own actions, but he has to be viewed with sympathy.”

Sanchez began riding in the U.S. in 2013 and was the leading rider at Parx in 2020. According to Equibase, he's won 940 races from 6,097 mounts.

The post Sanchez Suspended, Gambling an Outlet for Depression appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Jockey Mental Health Once Again Under The Microscope

This time last year, life looked a lot different for Ryan Tate. Like most every jockey, Tate’s days began at 5 a.m. when he would get up to ride work, in his case at Heath House Stables as a retained rider to Sir Mark Prescott. When training ended it was straight into the car to head to the races, perhaps a 14-hour round trip to Ayr or Hamilton. Or a fleeting visit to Kempton for a ride or two before rushing off to make the three-hour drive to Yarmouth, or Bath or Chelmsford. Every day a different racecourse, but the same relentless routine crafted with as little as 48 hours’ notice.

Now, life is a lot slower for Tate and his fellow jockeys.

When racing returned in Britain on June 1 after an 11-week shutdown due to coronavirus, one of the British Horseracing Authority’s safety measures was the restriction of jockeys to riding one meeting per day.

“With the ability to do one meeting, the knock-on effect is that at the start of the week, jockeys have to decide where they’re going,” Tate explained while driving to an evening meeting at Leicester in late June, where he won on his lone mount. “Generally, seven days before as soon as preliminary entries come out, jockeys will decide where they’re going. Before, when jockeys could do multiple meetings, the top 20 jockeys would book rides at every meeting and decide the day of declarations where they were going to go. This has a knock-on effect on the rest of racing because a lot of jockeys will be always waiting to see what another jockey does, where he goes. You’re waiting on someone else to make a decision before you can plan your week. Being able to ride at just one meeting per day, everyone decides at the start of the week.”

This forced slowdown means more opportunities spread out among more riders, more down time and less manic schedules. It’s not inconceivable, either, that it could save lives.

On June 23, racing was rocked by the death of jockey Liam Treadwell, who was found dead in his home at the age of 34. The Grand National-winning rider had spoken openly in the past of dealing with depression and the negative side effects of concussions, and encouraged his fellow jockeys to be proactive and seek help.

Sadly, this was not an isolated incident. Just four months prior to his death, Treadwell had been a pallbearer for his friend James Banks, a retired jockey who took his own life at 36 years of age. In late May Mick Curran, the former work rider of Kingman (GB) and Golden Horn (GB), tragically lost his own mental health battles. The list grows as one looks back down the years.

A 2018 study on the mental health and well-being of jockeys conducted in Ireland and published in the Journal of Human Sport and Exercise found that 54% of jockeys displayed symptoms of psychological distress, depression or anxiety. When filtering out amateurs, the figure rose to 57% for professional jockeys.

Such conditions are not uncommon in professional athletes; a 2017 study cited in the Irish paper revealed that 47.8% of elite athletes displayed symptoms of anxiety and depression. It is likely that pressure to perform, close public scrutiny, the physical and psychological toll of injuries, burnout from constant training and the lack of a stable support system due to constant relocation foster such symptoms.

For jockeys, add to this a significantly heightened chance of injury, the pressure to maintain low weights, a high ratio of losses to victories and many long and lonely hours spent on the road and it may not come as a surprise that even among elite athletes jockeys are fighting unparalleled mental challenges.

Coronavirus has brought with it its own unique set of challenges, and while it may seem insensitive to suggest that such a devastating turn of events could bring with it unforeseen positives, that certainly seems to be the case when it comes to the forced slowdown of British jockeys; what started as a necessary safety precaution has led to unforeseen positive developments and opportunities on the mental health front for these athletes. Tate said he is far from alone among the jockey colony in noticing the favourable outcomes of being restricted to one meeting per day.

“Everyone seems very much on the same page that it only provides benefits for everyone,” he said. “It takes off a lot of pressure and allows you to concentrate a lot more on the job you’re trying to do that day as well as being able to structure a life away from the sport, giving you time to be at home. It has an overall benefit to your well-being.

“For me in particular, I’m picking up a lot more rides because I’m able to plan seven days before where I’m going to be. Prior to lockdown I’d be looking to get the majority of my rides within the 48-hour window of the race. From the 48 hour declarations, my agent would have two hours within that 48-hour window to try to get me spare rides, whereas now he’s able to plan for seven days. It’s such an increase in time to prepare and it has untold benefits. When you’re up at five, your first ride is at half-twelve and your last ride is at nine and you’re doing over 600 miles that day, three days in a row; on the final day, you’re not the same person you were three days ago.”

Tate acknowledged that a less hectic schedule allows him to give much more to each horse he rides and each trainer that hires him.

“Every time we go to a race and we’re being put up by an owner and trainer we’re being paid to be there, to do a job, and when you’re turning up with your mind in other places and you’re thinking about whether you have to run off to another meeting as soon as you finishing riding this race, you’re not doing that owner and trainer justice on their horse,” he said. “Trying to run a business like that; as lucky as I am to ride horses for a living, it is still a business and half the time you’re letting people down. You’re never sticking to a decision because you’re always having to keep your options open because nobody else around you is willing to make a decision. It [one meeting per day] is just making life so much more straightforward. It doesn’t just give you the benefit of being able to have a social and family life; it gives you the ability to give racing more of yourself on a daily basis. It’s very difficult when you’re doing two meetings every day to be your best self and turn up motivated every day.”

Lisa Hancock, chairman of the Injured Jockeys Fund, said her organization does “a significant amount in terms of mental health provision, but we want to do more and we can do more.” Hancock can empathize with the pressures on a jockey as a former amateur rider herself.

“It’s the constant competitiveness and the fact that they are often on their own,” she said. “So they’ve driven 200 miles for maybe one ride at a stone under what might be their normal riding weight. They’ve got beaten, so they’re having to cope with a defeat, and then they’re driving 200 miles back, still having not eaten, on their own. So there’s a huge amount of time to fester on that disappointment when your brain simply isn’t functioning at 100% because it’s dehydrated. And if you do that time after time after time, it’s not good for you. It’s been well-documented that’s what jockeys are coping with often and it’s only the top jockeys who have the luxury of having a driver or maybe even access to an airplane. For the run-of-the-mill jockey it’s really tough. I don’t know what the percentage is of wins to defeats but there are a hell of a lot more defeats. It’s managing that and being able to hold your head up high and then the next day you’re going again, and it’s day after day after day.”

Even the sport’s most elite riders are not immune to a mental toll; when six-time champion jockey Kieren Fallon announced his retirement from the saddle in the summer of 2016, it was to address an ongoing fight against depression. While Fallon had fallen short of his loftiest heights in the twilight of his career, he was once prolific enough to have won three Epsom Derbys and 16 British Classics among big-race successes across the globe.

“When you’re doing well you get busier, and you can’t say no to work in racing,” Tate said. “It’s income you’re turning down, and it becomes a case of ‘would I like to see my family, or would I like to provide for my family?’ That’s the question you’re dealing with and that’s compounded when jockeys are doing two meetings a day and the stress is building.

“The average age of retirement for a jockey is very young compared to the average population. I think that comes naturally down to the mental toll. It’s a very physical job but it’s not the fact that the body can’t do it anymore; it’s that the mind won’t allow the body to do it anymore. My dad has always said to me, ‘racing will be finished with you before you’re finished with racing.’ I’ve been riding 10 years now and I’ve seen it every day. Jockeys struggle to stay in the fight, struggle to keep going through slow times and bad times. It’s a fight against the tide and ultimately racing will wear you down. A few are lucky, but not many are. And you’re hopefully able to make a living in that time. I’ve known a great deal of jockeys that one day turn around and realize they just can’t do it anymore.”

Hancock was in agreement with Tate that coronavirus health measures have highlighted potentially better ways of doing things.

“We work really closely with the Professional Jockeys Association and likewise Dr. Jerry Hill with the British Horseracing Authority,” Hancock said. “There are a number of things that we’ve been musing about for months and yet it’s taken something like this to bring some of them actually into fruition. I was speaking with Dr. Hill earlier today and we were saying now is the opportunity to try to retain some of those good points, the no use of the saunas being an example. We’ve been wanting to remove saunas from the racecourse environment for some time and for various reasons we haven’t. Now, the jockeys can’t use the saunas and they’re finding they don’t need them and there are much better and healthier ways of maintaining appropriate weight. It’s things like that that we’ll be really trying to keep as the new norm. I think there are some real benefits to the restrictions and we’ll hopefully take some good points away from it and as things get back to normal we’ll hopefully create a new normal that might even be a little bit better.”

Mental health support provided by the IJF, PJA and BHA already includes 24-hour hotlines, assessments and expert referrals, and Hancock outlined some of the ways the organizations are working together to strengthen their services.

“We’re already engaged with a clinical psychologist body who are helping us with our overall structure and strategy and within that we will be increasing our level of mental health knowledge amongst our own in-house team, but perhaps more importantly we’ll be improving the ways we can make referrals and signpost experts because of course what we’re not is a mental health charity and we certainly can’t be that,” she said. “But we are in regular contact with jockeys, those both currently licensed and retired, and it’s our belief that we need to be able to highlight those who might not be in the most robust mental health and to support them as proficiently and expertly as we can. That means early awareness of it, flagging it up, making it not a taboo subject. We already have psychologists within our three rehab centres and we’ll be looking to enhance that provision going forward.”

Hancock said they are getting in on the ground level, too, with aspiring riders.

“One of our rehab centres, the Peter O’Sullevan House in Newmarket, is linked to the British Racing School,” she explained. “We think it’s very important to educate jockeys in their very formative years so we’ll be introducing them to mental well-being and clinical psychologists as the norm at the very early stages of their careers in racing.”

Hancock said that when a jockey comes in for rehabilitation from an injury, it is an opportunity to go over all aspects of their well-being with a fine-tooth comb.

“A jockey may come in because they have a broken clavicle, but that’s actually a fantastic opportunity for us to engage them with a nutritionist, and perhaps a sports psychologist or to unravel the niggling knee problem they’ve been harbouring for two years and haven’t had the time or the energy to do anything about,” she said. “Quite often we find the jockey that came in with a broken clavicle two months later is in a much better place all around because we’ve been able to give them really focused care and attention. I’m really proud that we do offer that to our jockeys.

“They’re not forced to ride, this is their chosen career and they do love it, they thrive on the adreneline and the buzz, but even so as a supporting charity we recognize that when they come to us for rehab it’s actually an opportunity to sort of rebuild them in every respect.”

Tate said greater awareness and a desire to implement positive change are crucial in the fight against mental illness for jockeys.

“The mental side of it is almost something you’re never aware of until it comes upon you,” he said. “I think 90% of the jockeys I come across I could describe as energetic characters that know how lucky they are to do their jobs. Somewhere along the line, you’ll find you can meet them down the line and they’re not quite that person you once saw. That happens, but there is definitely something within racing that triggers this spiral. There needs to be at least a greater awareness out there for people to acknowledge it and change it. I think being able to structure better lifestyles is only going to have a positive impact. It’s like with anything, sometimes you have to take three steps back to take five steps forward so hopefully we’ll do that here.”

“There are a lot of positives to take from this dreadful situation,” Hancock concurred. “It’s such a crass thing to say that from a disaster you can take opportunities, but actually that’s the very best thing we can do.”

The post Jockey Mental Health Once Again Under The Microscope appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post