In her first race as a licensed jockey on March 20 at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., Alice Beckman finished second by a half-length. Back in the irons five days later, the end result saw the exact same margin between the first and second-place finishers: a half-length. This time, however, Beckman came out on the winning side of the wire.
“Going into it I thought the horse had a chance, so I tried to mentally prepare myself,” Beckman explained. “But you just can't prepare yourself for that feeling. It was so fun, and I don't have the right words to describe it, really.”
Both horses, Crown the Prince (1st on March 25) and So Caught Up In U (2nd on March 20), are trained by Beckman's boyfriend of the past several years, Keith Kinmon. The two-person team operates a training, breaking, and breeding business about 45 minutes away from Turfway in Northern Kentucky, doing all the work themselves on anywhere from 20 to 30 horses at a time.
“He's been so supportive of me wanting to ride races,” said Beckman, 28.
Beckman acknowledges that she's a bit later to the game of race-riding than most of her peers, despite growing up around horses in Ohio.
“It's always kind of been in the back of my mind, that I want to be a jockey,” she said. “I remember in kindergarten, the teacher had us write down what we wanted to be when we grew up. I wrote down three choices: a trick rider in the circus, a cowgirl, or a jockey.
“I'd always been drawn to the racetrack, so when my college plans to go to vet school weren't really working out like I'd hoped, I made a new plan. My advisor was so great, he asked me, 'Taking away all the expectations of others, what's your dream job? What do you want to do every day?' The answer was simple: be a jockey.”
That advisor got Beckman into the Kentucky Equine Management Internship Program, and she spent several years working for Juddmonte Farm before heading to Payson Park in Florida to work with young racehorses. She loved the high-paced atmosphere of the racetrack, and so when she moved home to Ohio, Beckman started freelance exercising full time.
Beckman met Kinmon at Belterra Park in Cincinnati when he asked her to gallop a few horses one day. They've been inseparable ever since, working overtime to take care of their eight horses at Turfway and another 15-20 at the farm. Beckman couldn't have been more thrilled that her first win as a jockey came on a horse he both owns and trains.
“Have owned a few racehorses myself, it's always fun to be in the winner's circle,” said Beckman. “But when it was him and me in there, and I was on top of the horse, it was a whole different level.”
The post ‘I Don’t Have The Right Words To Describe It’: Jockey Alice Beckman Celebrates First Winner At Turfway Park appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
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