The sixth panel of the OwnerView Virtual Thoroughbred Owner Conference held Tuesday, July 11, featured jockeys Katie Davis, Sophie Doyle, Tyler Gaffalione, and Chris McCarron discussing how they prepare mentally and physically for race day. The panel was moderated by OwnerView's project manager, Gary Falter.
The conference is hosted by The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and sponsored by Bessemer Trust, Stoll Keenon Ogden, and The Green Group. This panel was sponsored by MyRacehorse and Walmac.
Attendees were able to ask questions through Zoom's Q&A feature, sponsored by West Point Thoroughbreds.
The panel started with videos created by America's Best Racing of Doyle riding in the 2019 Breeders' Cup and Gaffalione in the 2019 Louisiana Derby followed by a discussion on the dedication and lifestyle of a professional jockey, fitness requirements, nutrition, preparing for a race, and coming back after injury.
“It requires a lot of dedication,” Doyle said. “I've found throughout my career that it was one of those careers that you have to literally put it before everything else.”
“Staying on top of working out is super important, even if that's 20 or 30 minutes a day on top of working horses in the morning and getting out there and getting on as many as possible helps a lot,” Davis said. “It's a lifestyle. It's not for everybody.”
“We obviously have to maintain our weight, eat the right foods, fuel our bodies. It's just finding that balance that works for you,” Gaffalione said. “Personally, I can't lift too many weights because I gain too much muscle and muscle is heavy so I try to find other ways to keep my body loose and to kind of keep me sharp.”
McCarron summed up what it takes to get back to riding after an injury.
“The one thing you have to be careful about as a jockey post injury is that you maintain yourself on a regimen of a good diet,” he said. When you are in the position of going through a healing process, your body really needs as much nutrition as you can give it, so you've got to find the balance between the proper nutrition to aid in the healing process without putting on any weight.”
A replay of the jockey panel and previous panels can be viewed here: bit.ly/OVVideos.
There are five more Thoroughbred Owner Conference virtual panels scheduled for 2023, with the next session, Buying at Public Auctions, to be held August 8 at 2 p.m. ET. A full schedule can be found here: bit.ly/OVSchedule.
There is no registration fee for the virtual conference series, but registration is required. For more information about the owner conference, please visit ownerview.com/event/conference or contact Gary Falter at 859.224.2803 or gfalter@jockeyclub.com.
OwnerView is a joint effort spearheaded by The Jockey Club and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to encourage ownership of Thoroughbreds and provide accurate information on aspects of ownership such as trainers, public racing syndicates, the process of purchasing and owning a Thoroughbred, racehorse retirement, and owner licensing.
The need for a central resource to encourage Thoroughbred ownership was identified in the comprehensive economic study of the sport that was commissioned by The Jockey Club and conducted by McKinsey & Company in 2011. The OwnerView site was launched in May 2012.
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