Tag: The Friday Show

“The life of the jockey has always been difficult, but the recent death of jockeys Avery Whisman and Alex Canchari by suicide have the racing industry asking itself tough questions about why it's so challenging – and who can help,” writes Natalie Voss, editor in chief of the Paulick Report, in her two-part series earlier this week on the mental health challenges facing jockeys.

Obviously, there are physical pressures as well – the dangers from the inevitable falls and the struggles to maintain a low enough weight. For many riders, especially those competing at tracks with lower purse levels, there are financial challenges, too, especially in a game where you lose far more often than you win and even the best riders go through slumps. Add to that the relatively new phenomenon of criticism from fans and horseplayers on social media.

As jockey Ferrin Peterson said, “It's a snowball effect.”

Links to the series:

Part 1: Not A Job, But A Lifestyle
Part 2: 'They're Human Beings, They're Not Machines

In this week's Friday Show, three-time Eclipse Award winner Voss and Remi Bellocq – executive director of BCTC Equine in Lexington, Ky., a program that prepares students for a career in the horse industry as jockeys and other jobs – join publisher Ray Paulick to share their insights on the challenges of one of the sports world's toughest and most dangerous jobs.

Watch this week's episode of The Friday Show below:

The post The Friday Show Presented By The Jockey Club: Mental And Physical Challenges Facing Jockeys appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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So, you've won the Kentucky Derby. What comes next?

For Ramiro Restrepo, co-owner of 2023 Derby winner Mage, what came next was an urgent search for a phone charger, followed by an outpouring of love and congratulations unlike anything he'd ever seen.

Restrepo, who co-owns Mage with OGMA Investments, Sterling Racing, and CMNWLTH, is a fifth-generation member of the horse racing industry, tracing back to his great-great grandfather, who owned racehorses in Colombia in the 1800s.

He is currently the South Florida field representative for auction company Fasig-Tipton, after cutting his professional teeth in the Miami nightlife hospitality scene, and later working in marketing with various beverage companies.

On this week's episode of The Friday Show, Restrepo joins publisher Ray Paulick and bloodstock editor Joe Nevills to discuss the moments during and after Mage's Derby victory, what he saw in the colt at last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, and how the partnership was put together to send Mage to the track.

Watch this week's episode of The Friday Show below:

The post The Friday Show Presented By The Jockey Club: Magic Of A Kentucky Derby Victory appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Imagine a horse that's had the most phenomenal lead-up to the Kentucky Derby ever. Dominating performances and a champion at 2, undefeated at 3 and sitting atop the Derby's qualifying points leaderboard. And then, by the luck of the draw, he is assigned the dreaded No. 1 post position, seriously diminishing any chance of winning.

It doesn't have to be that way, Paulick Report bloodstock editor Joe Nevills says in this week's Friday Show. Nevills proposes Churchill Downs officials take the Derby points system one step further and allow each horse's connections to choose their post positions, with the No. 1 points earner going first and No. 20 going last. Every other sport favors top-ranked teams and players through seedings in playoffs and tournaments. Why not racing?

But wait, there's more ideas in the Paulick Report's Derby suggestion box.

Publisher Ray Paulick wants jockey cams on every rider, allowing fans at home to choose their view of the most exciting two minutes in sport. Nevills would like a roof over Churchill Downs to ensure a fast track and comfortable patrons.

Will the Stephen Foster lyrics have to be changed to “the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky dome”?

Some of the suggestions are serious; others, not so much.

Watch this week's episode of The Friday Show below:

The post The Friday Show Presented By The Jockey Club: Sun Shines Bright On My Old Kentucky Dome? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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One of the first riders Corey Nakatani befriended when he joined the Southern California jockey colony as a teenaged apprentice in 1988 was Fernando Toro, who was beginning to contemplate retirement from a career that began in 1956 and saw him win riding championships in his native Chile and a multitude of big races in North America, including the inaugural Breeders' Cup Mile in 1984 aboard Royal Heroine.

So when Nakatani learned he was going to be inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame alongside his old friend Toro, he said he felt “very, very blessed to be going in with him … it was overdue.”

Toro wasn't the only present or future Hall of Famer Nakatani competed against in Southern California when he broke in. There was Bill Shoemaker, Laffit Pincay, Chris McCarron, Eddie Delahoussaye, Sandy Hawley, Gary Stevens, and Alex Solis. And he more than held his own over the years, winning 3,909 races,  341 graded stakes (119 of them Grade 1), and 10 Breeders' Cup races.

In this week's Friday Show, Nakatani, 52, reflects back on his years in the saddle, including an unlikely story of how it all started, and on what being elected to the Hall of Fame means to him and to his family, including son Matt, who served as his agent at the end of his career.

Watch this week's episode of The Friday Show below:

The post The Friday Show Presented By The Jockey Club: Corey Nakatani’s Claim To The Hall Of Fame appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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