Latest / OneLegUpAlex Media / A Look Inside the Horseracing World With Amber Farkas on ONELEGUPALEX MEDIA (recorded 6-19-26)
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Well as many of you know if you follow my
- 0:01Speaker 1: Instagram Alex g NYC one.
- 0:04Speaker 2: Thanks to Lero, Slimo and all.
- 0:06Speaker 1: That we were able to up to Saratoga Springs for
- 0:09Speaker 1: the one hundred and fifty eighth running of the Belmont Stakes,
- 0:12Speaker 1: where I met my next guest, Amber Farcas, who is
- 0:16Speaker 1: deep into the horse race world.
- 0:18Speaker 2: Amber, thanks for joining my podcast here one of ago
- 0:20Speaker 2: Alex Media.
- 0:22Speaker 3: Thank you for having me so talk to me.
- 0:25Speaker 1: Your story is very intriguing and you've been around horses
- 0:28Speaker 1: what your entire life, and just give us a little
- 0:30Speaker 1: backstory into your you know, role in horse racing and
- 0:33Speaker 1: how you got into it.
- 0:35Speaker 4: Well, I started horses when I was eighteen months old.
- 0:40Speaker 4: My mother took me for a pony ride down in Florida,
- 0:43Speaker 4: and when she tried to take me off of the horse,
- 0:46Speaker 4: apparently I screamed my lungs out and like held ONGs
- 0:50Speaker 4: the main So I was hooked ever since then and
- 0:56Speaker 4: up until I met my ex husband, I never had
- 0:59Speaker 4: much to do with horse racing, and he's the one
- 1:03Speaker 4: who got me into it. He got me into breeding, racing, sales,
- 1:08Speaker 4: all of it, and I just fell in love with
- 1:10Speaker 4: the whole industry.
- 1:12Speaker 2: And now you're you're in it.
- 1:14Speaker 1: So tell us where you're based out of it and
- 1:15Speaker 1: what you do, because I believe you're out of Florida, right,
- 1:17Speaker 1: So tell us what horse racing is like in Florida,
- 1:20Speaker 1: because I know it's a huge draw. You know, it's
- 1:23Speaker 1: like it's one of It's a popular sport down in Florida,
- 1:26Speaker 1: isn't not.
- 1:27Speaker 3: It is a very popular sport in Florida.
- 1:30Speaker 4: I'm not down there anymore, but I used to go
- 1:33Speaker 4: to the Ocalla breeder sales. I used to go to Hollywood,
- 1:37Speaker 4: to Gulf Stream Park and of course Tampa Bay Downs.
- 1:41Speaker 3: We had a few horses that ran there as well.
- 1:44Speaker 2: Now, were you owning training or what was your role?
- 1:48Speaker 3: So what I did?
- 1:50Speaker 4: We had horses between my ex husband and I. We
- 1:53Speaker 4: also did breeding, We did pinhooking a lot, and I
- 1:58Speaker 4: did rehab and retraining.
- 2:00Speaker 3: So when they would come off the track.
- 2:02Speaker 4: Either with an injury or if they were just done
- 2:05Speaker 4: with their racing career, I would get them and either
- 2:08Speaker 4: rehab them in my indoor for the winter, or I
- 2:12Speaker 4: would retrain them for their forever homes, either hunters or dressage.
- 2:17Speaker 1: Amazing, and so when you talk about homing them, I
- 2:21Speaker 1: think of the I guess the studs and all that.
- 2:25Speaker 2: Did you work on that or not so much? In
- 2:27Speaker 2: that area?
- 2:28Speaker 3: We had a stallium at one point. His name was
- 2:32Speaker 3: Neck and Neck.
- 2:32Speaker 4: He won the Indiana Downs Derby and unfortunately he passed
- 2:37Speaker 4: away before the first year breeding season could be over.
- 2:42Speaker 2: And how is that?
- 2:43Speaker 1: Like, I mean, just to welcome a new horse into
- 2:44Speaker 1: the world, it is a special moment. I mean they
- 2:46Speaker 1: walk pretty pretty early on, don't they.
- 2:49Speaker 4: Yes, it's eleven months gestational period. And I used to
- 2:54Speaker 4: sometimes sleep in my barn and the falling barn just
- 2:57Speaker 4: to make sure that you know, I wasn't go miss anything,
- 3:01Speaker 4: or I was on my iPad twenty four to seven
- 3:03Speaker 4: looking at the cameras, and it don't there's no other
- 3:08Speaker 4: feeling like it, you know, the first time they stand
- 3:11Speaker 4: up on those little weak legs and their first nicker
- 3:13Speaker 4: towards their mother, when they start nour saying like I miss.
- 3:18Speaker 2: It so much, Amber, When do you know?
- 3:21Speaker 1: Because I mean, these these horses that run are what
- 3:23Speaker 1: three year olds in the Triple Crown, So you guys
- 3:26Speaker 1: have to know pretty early on, Okay, this horse is
- 3:28Speaker 1: going to be a contender, right, But what age.
- 3:31Speaker 4: Two they start running when they're too and they have
- 3:34Speaker 4: to win a graded stakes race to be eligible for
- 3:37Speaker 4: the Kentucky Derby.
- 3:40Speaker 1: And so tell us any success stories you guys had,
- 3:42Speaker 1: I mean, I mean you've been in this, so any
- 3:44Speaker 1: success stories.
- 3:46Speaker 3: So my ex.
- 3:47Speaker 4: Husband, just before him and I met, he had the
- 3:50Speaker 4: record breaking Philly down at OBS Sales for one point
- 3:55Speaker 4: nine million dollars. Her name was Inheritance, she was a
- 3:58Speaker 4: tappit and she a beautiful mayor. But I have to Oh,
- 4:04Speaker 4: also we had a guilding, big dollar bill. He broke
- 4:10Speaker 4: one of the track records at Keenlan and I believe
- 4:13Speaker 4: he still holds it.
- 4:16Speaker 1: These auctions just so people know sometimes their painted is
- 4:19Speaker 1: in humane and all that, but how do they make
- 4:21Speaker 1: sure they get in the right hands?
- 4:22Speaker 2: If that makes sense?
- 4:24Speaker 3: Well, there is a minimum.
- 4:26Speaker 4: You cannot sell a horse for under one thousand dollars,
- 4:29Speaker 4: either privately or through these auctions, unless you know exactly
- 4:35Speaker 4: where it's going. You're not supposed to give the horse away.
- 4:38Speaker 4: And kill buyer prices are usually around five hundred. So
- 4:42Speaker 4: we do that just to make sure that they don't
- 4:45Speaker 4: end up in a kill buyer tans.
- 4:47Speaker 1: Well that that is good to know, now, he said,
- 4:49Speaker 1: you were on the horse at eighteen months. Did you ever,
- 4:52Speaker 1: as you kept growing up want to be a jockey
- 4:54Speaker 1: or want to be that?
- 4:57Speaker 4: Actually I did when I was little, I dreamed of
- 5:00Speaker 4: being a jockey, and then I agree to be five
- 5:03Speaker 4: foot ten.
- 5:05Speaker 2: That's amazing, way you know question? That's true?
- 5:08Speaker 1: But I tell you I have seen a lot of
- 5:09Speaker 1: female jockeys and they're on the rise.
- 5:11Speaker 2: A little bit more right, Yeah.
- 5:13Speaker 4: They are. They're doing amazing and we welcome them into
- 5:16Speaker 4: the sport. It's I love to see it.
- 5:19Speaker 2: I guess i'd be remission if I didn't ask you.
- 5:22Speaker 1: Being in the horse world, seeing what Sherry DeVoe's done
- 5:25Speaker 1: at the Kentucky and then the Belmont, I mean, what.
- 5:28Speaker 2: A historic run.
- 5:28Speaker 1: And I think they're gonna keep going through the travers
- 5:30Speaker 1: and beyond. What do you think, but firstly from Sherry's
- 5:34Speaker 1: about Sherry, what.
- 5:35Speaker 2: Are your thoughts on her? On her accomplishments this year.
- 5:38Speaker 3: I think it's wonderful.
- 5:39Speaker 4: I think it's wonderful that a woman finally won the
- 5:41Speaker 4: Kentucky Derby. And I wish we could have seen what
- 5:45Speaker 4: he would have done in the full triple crown, because
- 5:47Speaker 4: I think that we would have had another contender and
- 5:50Speaker 4: possibly for a Grand Slam depending on what he does
- 5:52Speaker 4: in the Breeders' Cup.
- 5:54Speaker 1: Well, that's definitelynna be the next step after the travers
- 5:57Speaker 1: for sure. Now you go to Saratoga a lot, you say,
- 5:59Speaker 1: so talk about that life, because I do. I've been
- 6:03Speaker 1: there a few times for like a day trip and
- 6:04Speaker 1: all that. But it does seem like a nice town
- 6:06Speaker 1: to just stay.
- 6:07Speaker 2: In for the whole summer. Is that? Is that right?
- 6:10Speaker 3: It is?
- 6:10Speaker 4: We used to go up multiple times during the summer
- 6:13Speaker 4: because we usually always had horses up there, and we
- 6:16Speaker 4: would go watch the horses work in the morning, you know,
- 6:20Speaker 4: then we would go out to venues and you know,
- 6:24Speaker 4: it's it's a very beautiful, very horse oriented community, and
- 6:30Speaker 4: you know, everyone's usually very pleasant and we're all there
- 6:33Speaker 4: for the same reason.
- 6:36Speaker 2: At amber.
- 6:37Speaker 1: And I know that you've you're an adaptive person as well,
- 6:41Speaker 1: so you've had a lot of things over the years
- 6:43Speaker 1: that have transpired and now you have a beautiful emotional
- 6:47Speaker 1: support puff as well. But talk about how being around
- 6:51Speaker 1: the track, being around horses has helped you heal through
- 6:53Speaker 1: the challenges of life.
- 6:55Speaker 4: Well, I would say that the the most important that
- 7:00Speaker 4: a horse has helped me was when I was in
- 7:03Speaker 4: elementary school, I had a few thoughts of committing suicide
- 7:08Speaker 4: due to abuse.
- 7:10Speaker 3: And if it wasn't for being.
- 7:12Speaker 4: Able to be around the horses, I don't know if
- 7:15Speaker 4: i'd still be standing here today.
- 7:18Speaker 1: I'll tell you to even pet the nose of a
- 7:21Speaker 1: horse is just a very There's almost a kinship there,
- 7:26Speaker 1: you know, and that horse make sure you know they're
- 7:29Speaker 1: connected to them just by that pidding of the nose.
- 7:31Speaker 1: I mean, the fact they let you do that is
- 7:33Speaker 1: is always a sign that they want they're comfortable around you,
- 7:37Speaker 1: you know, and.
- 7:37Speaker 2: They want to be friends. I guess right. Yeah.
- 7:42Speaker 3: The face can be a very vulnerable spot on a horse.
- 7:45Speaker 4: Usually we tell people to, you know, rub the neck first,
- 7:49Speaker 4: but I love their velvety noses. And I mean just
- 7:54Speaker 4: to be able to sit there and you know, have
- 7:56Speaker 4: a horse place its whole head on your shoulder and
- 7:58Speaker 4: just kind of cut you or you know, like I
- 8:01Speaker 4: did many times up at my farm. I used to
- 8:04Speaker 4: lay down in the stalls so the horses would lay
- 8:06Speaker 4: down and just sit there and cuddle them. And I
- 8:09Speaker 4: can't think of anything better.
- 8:11Speaker 1: I know, people forget that they do lay down in
- 8:13Speaker 1: the stalls a lot of the time, and then to
- 8:15Speaker 1: watch them get up and experience too, I guess. But yeah,
- 8:18Speaker 1: horses do lay down a lot of the time.
- 8:20Speaker 2: Right they do.
- 8:23Speaker 4: The myths that they die if they lay down, or
- 8:25Speaker 4: that they're dead or definitely wrong.
- 8:29Speaker 1: What do you say to those that sort of try
- 8:32Speaker 1: and say, well, the sport's this, s and the other.
- 8:34Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot of critics of the sport,
- 8:36Speaker 1: But what do you have to say to them? Because
- 8:38Speaker 1: I think horse racing is a fabric of our country.
- 8:41Speaker 1: It's been there forever, right, so we we shouldn't take
- 8:44Speaker 1: it away.
- 8:46Speaker 4: So speaking from my farm, those horses lived better than
- 8:51Speaker 4: I did. I imported their hay from Montana. They had
- 8:55Speaker 4: the best feeds from Kentucky. You know, I did only
- 8:59Speaker 4: the best for them. And all I can say is
- 9:01Speaker 4: these horses that are in racing, I mean not all
- 9:05Speaker 4: of them, because you do come across the bad egg
- 9:07Speaker 4: every now and then, But these horses live better than
- 9:11Speaker 4: most humans. They are very well taken care of. The
- 9:14Speaker 4: staff of each trainer is very devoted to them. The
- 9:17Speaker 4: owners love them. I think that people need to get
- 9:22Speaker 4: their head out of the sand and actually see that
- 9:24Speaker 4: instead of all the negative.
- 9:27Speaker 1: Absolutely, and I know the media tries to portray with well,
- 9:30Speaker 1: here's how many horses I did this track or that track.
- 9:32Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it's unfortunately part of the game.
- 9:36Speaker 1: I guess I could say, right, But at the same time,
- 9:39Speaker 1: it's not a drastic number, right.
- 9:41Speaker 2: They make it seems that way.
- 9:44Speaker 4: That's because they focus only on the negative. But people
- 9:47Speaker 4: still need to remember that these are athletes just like humans,
- 9:51Speaker 4: and it's you know, it's a twelve hundred pound animal.
- 9:55Speaker 4: If that horse did not want you on its back,
- 9:57Speaker 4: or it did not to run or want to run
- 9:59Speaker 4: a race or come out of the starting gate, you
- 10:02Speaker 4: would be launched sky high and that horse would be
- 10:06Speaker 4: trotting off just as happy as could be.
- 10:08Speaker 3: But these horses love the sport.
- 10:10Speaker 4: They love tron and you can even tell that when
- 10:13Speaker 4: a horse wins, they know it because coming back to
- 10:16Speaker 4: the winner.
- 10:16Speaker 3: Circle, they just have that proud I did good block
- 10:19Speaker 3: on their face.
- 10:21Speaker 1: And their ears perk up and all that. That's oh yeah,
- 10:24Speaker 1: and you know it's amazing. With Golden Tempo, I mean,
- 10:26Speaker 1: look at him, how he bounded back from the last
- 10:29Speaker 1: place both times to win it. That's an athlete. Right there,
- 10:33Speaker 1: and of course Jose Ortiz doing an amazing job as jockey,
- 10:38Speaker 1: which he has been to. My next question Amber, when
- 10:41Speaker 1: picking jockeys, how do these trainers what's their thought process?
- 10:45Speaker 1: I mean we've seen the dynamic duos of Johnny v
- 10:48Speaker 1: and Todd Pletcher and Bob Effort and you know Smith
- 10:53Speaker 1: who won the withou Justify in twenty eighteen. I mean,
- 10:57Speaker 1: you see these regular pair How does the jockey get
- 11:02Speaker 1: picked by a trainer and what do you guys look for?
- 11:05Speaker 4: So you know, there are a lot of dynamic duos
- 11:08Speaker 4: that go on, and those jockeys know the trainers very well.
- 11:11Speaker 4: They know what the horse needs either come from behind,
- 11:14Speaker 4: wait in the middle, or be out in the front
- 11:16Speaker 4: the whole time. And there's a lot of communication that
- 11:19Speaker 4: goes on between that and the owners that pick jockeys.
- 11:23Speaker 4: You know, they have to know that the jockeys are
- 11:25Speaker 4: right fit for the horse. So you know, we'll have
- 11:29Speaker 4: them breeze the horse maybe a couple of times before
- 11:31Speaker 4: we pick them if they're available and in the same location,
- 11:36Speaker 4: and you know, you can see how the jockey and
- 11:39Speaker 4: the horse, you know, work together, how they react to
- 11:42Speaker 4: each other, and you can tell if it's going to
- 11:44Speaker 4: be a good fit or not.
- 11:46Speaker 1: And I'll tell you, I'd say the dynamic duo this year,
- 11:49Speaker 1: and you know, probably for the future it's gonna be
- 11:51Speaker 1: sherried Devaux and Jose Ortiz.
- 11:52Speaker 2: I mean, he that's pretty dynamic right now.
- 11:55Speaker 1: Now, some people look at these races right right from
- 11:58Speaker 1: the Kentucky they don't really look at the entry into
- 12:00Speaker 1: the Kentucky Derby, like the Wood Memorial in New York
- 12:03Speaker 1: and I think the Kentucky Oaks or something like that
- 12:06Speaker 1: down in Louisville and all that. These jockeys predominantly are
- 12:10Speaker 1: with their horse through that stage as well, right, I mean,
- 12:13Speaker 1: they don't switch jockeys just for the Kentucky Derby.
- 12:17Speaker 4: No, No, the jockeys will go around from track to
- 12:20Speaker 4: track depending on what season it is, and they do
- 12:24Speaker 4: usually try to stick with the trainer that uses them
- 12:26Speaker 4: the most where they feel that they're going to be
- 12:28Speaker 4: ridden the most.
- 12:30Speaker 1: Now, what I love is because you know, you hear
- 12:33Speaker 1: these different horses, Well, this one was Bread from the
- 12:36Speaker 1: Majestic Curling and all these other famous horses that have
- 12:39Speaker 1: won their kids, I guess go on to race. I mean,
- 12:45Speaker 1: there's a lot of that, but I only find that
- 12:47Speaker 1: people in the who are in the horse rasing world
- 12:49Speaker 1: appreciate it more than the outside world, right, I mean
- 12:52Speaker 1: people don't really understand these legacies go on forever.
- 12:55Speaker 2: It seems like.
- 12:57Speaker 3: It is a legacy for the stallion to carry on.
- 13:00Speaker 4: But also there's a lot of work that goes into
- 13:02Speaker 4: the breeding process. You have to look at how the
- 13:06Speaker 4: bloodlines between the mayor and the stallion meet up. Is
- 13:09Speaker 4: it going to be a turf horse you need a
- 13:11Speaker 4: turfy mayor and a turfy stallion. Is it going to
- 13:13Speaker 4: be you know, dirt long distance sprinter. I mean there's
- 13:18Speaker 4: a lot of factors to consider in when you're looking
- 13:21Speaker 4: at breeding, not just lineage.
- 13:24Speaker 1: And how is that process? I mean it's not like
- 13:28Speaker 1: two humans that meet. I mean is there some kind
- 13:30Speaker 1: of connection that you try and make with the horses
- 13:33Speaker 1: before May?
- 13:34Speaker 2: Like as that work.
- 13:35Speaker 4: So breeding season is from about February until May, sometimes
- 13:42Speaker 4: the first part of June. Don't quote me on that,
- 13:46Speaker 4: but you know you bring the mayor and if it's
- 13:49Speaker 4: got to fall by its side, you bring both of
- 13:51Speaker 4: them to the breeding shed, and you know you have
- 13:54Speaker 4: teaser ponies to get the mayor ready.
- 13:57Speaker 3: You also have to look for a follicle.
- 13:59Speaker 4: We usually want a ten follicle, and then afterwards, after
- 14:04Speaker 4: they get bread, you know, we look for them to ovulate.
- 14:07Speaker 4: These are all internal ultrasounds, and then it's also just
- 14:13Speaker 4: you know, pure like horses past performances. So you want
- 14:20Speaker 4: to make sure that, like if you've got a really
- 14:23Speaker 4: turfy stallion, that you have a mayor that's produced turf runners. Okay,
- 14:30Speaker 4: if the mayor is that old. Sometimes you get a
- 14:32Speaker 4: maiden mayor and this is their first breeding season, so
- 14:36Speaker 4: you want to look at her past. Who was the
- 14:38Speaker 4: stallion that was bred to her, what did she do
- 14:41Speaker 4: on the track? Where did she excel at? I mean
- 14:45Speaker 4: there's a lot we would you know, we would spend
- 14:48Speaker 4: hours looking through stallions, you know, days and hours my
- 14:54Speaker 4: ex husband and I trying to pick the right pair.
- 14:58Speaker 1: Has analyticcceeved into this sounds like a bit of analytical
- 15:02Speaker 1: but has analytics seeped.
- 15:04Speaker 2: Into horse racing more and more?
- 15:05Speaker 1: I mean, is there still all right, we're gonna run
- 15:08Speaker 1: this horse based on instinct or is all stat based?
- 15:10Speaker 2: Now?
- 15:12Speaker 4: You really want to go by stats, You really want
- 15:14Speaker 4: to go buy bloodlines there there's definitely of what would
- 15:25Speaker 4: you call it in science where you there's a formula formula. Yeah,
- 15:30Speaker 4: there's definitely a formula that goes into it, and you don't.
- 15:35Speaker 3: Just do it on a whim. You know.
- 15:39Speaker 1: People also don't realize that when the horse has done
- 15:43Speaker 1: its career, it's not dead. It just actually goes out
- 15:46Speaker 1: and grazes, or it goes out to pasture, as they say.
- 15:50Speaker 1: And so those twenty plus years could be a really
- 15:52Speaker 1: great life for them after the track, right, I mean.
- 15:56Speaker 2: They live for a long time.
- 15:59Speaker 4: They can live to be in their thirties, depending on
- 16:01Speaker 4: how they're taken care of, and you know, barring any
- 16:04Speaker 4: health conditions or anything. But these horses, when they're done
- 16:07Speaker 4: at the track, the trainers try their best to match
- 16:11Speaker 4: them with a forever home or someone who will retrain
- 16:15Speaker 4: them and be responsible about where they're sold off to.
- 16:21Speaker 1: Now, let me ask you this, your closest you've ever
- 16:25Speaker 1: gotten to a horse, a horse that made the most
- 16:27Speaker 1: impact on you and lingers in your mind almost every day.
- 16:33Speaker 3: So that would actually be.
- 16:37Speaker 4: The horse that I had after I started getting into racing.
- 16:41Speaker 4: His name was Gridley here. He was bred by Patricia
- 16:46Speaker 4: up in New York, and I got him from Kenny McPeak,
- 16:53Speaker 4: and he was one thousand dollars and he turned into
- 16:56Speaker 4: the best massage horse that I had and he ended
- 16:59Speaker 4: up foundering on me, which it devastated me. It just
- 17:03Speaker 4: about killed me. We were able to get him to
- 17:06Speaker 4: come back from it, thank you to Kentucky Ruden Reddle And.
- 17:12Speaker 3: You know, I kept him until I had to sell
- 17:14Speaker 3: the farm because of COVID.
- 17:19Speaker 2: Do you know how he's doing today or is he
- 17:20Speaker 2: still around?
- 17:23Speaker 3: I haven't.
- 17:25Speaker 4: I really haven't wanted to know because if something happened
- 17:28Speaker 4: to him, it would still kill me.
- 17:31Speaker 2: All right.
- 17:35Speaker 1: For me, it was funny side because that was one
- 17:37Speaker 1: of the first horses that got me into this whole
- 17:40Speaker 1: Nyra world and the jockeys room and all that. And
- 17:43Speaker 1: you know, before they send him out to Louisville, I
- 17:46Speaker 1: got to sit on him one time before, but at
- 17:49Speaker 1: the Belmont stable things to Barkley tag and so you
- 17:53Speaker 1: one of the ones. And then Big Brown was also
- 17:55Speaker 1: part of my world a little bit. I mean, these
- 17:58Speaker 1: are just there are horses to watch and to watch run,
- 18:02Speaker 1: for sure, but you talk about dressage, and man, oh man,
- 18:07Speaker 1: it's an Olympic sport. I feel like people don't even
- 18:09Speaker 1: realize that. Yeah, So what makes an Olympian dressage jockey?
- 18:14Speaker 2: The jockeys, what do you call them?
- 18:16Speaker 3: We're just riders. Uh.
- 18:19Speaker 4: The good thing about dressage and the horse world and
- 18:21Speaker 4: the Olympics is there's no age cut off. There are
- 18:25Speaker 4: wonderful riders that, you know, go into the Olympics even
- 18:29Speaker 4: in their sixties. You know, it's a it's a sport
- 18:32Speaker 4: that's never going.
- 18:33Speaker 3: To die out.
- 18:34Speaker 4: And the people who who love it and cherish it,
- 18:38Speaker 4: you know, they they put their whole hearts into it.
- 18:40Speaker 4: And to be able to get into the Olympics, you know,
- 18:44Speaker 4: you have to start getting national titles. So you know,
- 18:47Speaker 4: in order to get onto the passage team in the US,
- 18:51Speaker 4: you have to win nationals at a Grand Prix level
- 18:54Speaker 4: and you have to have a really good score.
- 18:56Speaker 1: Now it looks like to me, is dsage there's more
- 18:59Speaker 1: about their gate than they're running, right, So is there
- 19:02Speaker 1: an art to that? I mean, it looks like it's
- 19:04Speaker 1: a bit of an art to get these horses to
- 19:07Speaker 1: move a certain way.
- 19:09Speaker 3: Well.
- 19:09Speaker 4: Tressage is a Spanish word for training. It's the basis
- 19:13Speaker 4: of what all the other disciplines come off of. If
- 19:16Speaker 4: you can't do your flat work. You have no business jumping,
- 19:19Speaker 4: You have no business.
- 19:20Speaker 3: Doing anything else.
- 19:22Speaker 4: It's truly where you get a connection with your horse
- 19:25Speaker 4: and they become your dance partner, and you move and
- 19:29Speaker 4: sync with them like you're one. It's like you're married
- 19:32Speaker 4: to them. They almost become more to you than your
- 19:34Speaker 4: husband does.
- 19:36Speaker 1: Not that they retiredage, but is there like a connection
- 19:40Speaker 1: between the horse racing world and the gusage horses? Are
- 19:43Speaker 1: any of these former runners or they are completely different?
- 19:49Speaker 2: Bread completely differently?
- 19:51Speaker 4: Well, I've never seen a Thoroughbread make it into the
- 19:53Speaker 4: Olympics yet, but they definitely are and can be former
- 20:00Speaker 4: Bread's former race horses. And that's that was what I
- 20:04Speaker 4: did part of the time, was take these horses off
- 20:07Speaker 4: the track, give them a layoff, and then start retraining
- 20:11Speaker 4: them for their forever career.
- 20:14Speaker 1: Any I mean you rode, but anybody that you look
- 20:17Speaker 1: up to in the jousage world that inspired you to
- 20:19Speaker 1: keep going?
- 20:22Speaker 4: Yes, it was after I had my farm and I
- 20:24Speaker 4: actually bought this giant gray horse from Peter Nordlander in
- 20:29Speaker 4: North Carolina and his name was just Ted and he's
- 20:34Speaker 4: an amazing rider, He's an amazing trainer. He was my
- 20:37Speaker 4: coach for a while, and he really brought me a
- 20:42Speaker 4: long way.
- 20:44Speaker 1: Wow, and tell us about the horse, like what was
- 20:48Speaker 1: the interaction, Like did you get to ride him a lot?
- 20:50Speaker 4: Or what was his So I tried to ride him
- 20:53Speaker 4: every day, giving him a day off during the week.
- 20:57Speaker 3: He was a big horse.
- 20:58Speaker 4: He was eighteen hands, which means he was six foot
- 21:01Speaker 4: at the top of the withers. And he was just
- 21:05Speaker 4: a big lover. He was a prankster. He used to
- 21:08Speaker 4: grab the wheelbarrow in the middle of the aisle and
- 21:10Speaker 4: pull it towards his stall so he could have all
- 21:13Speaker 4: you could eat.
- 21:13Speaker 3: Buffet.
- 21:15Speaker 1: Horses are smart and they're also very personable. They have
- 21:18Speaker 1: a personality that people don't really recognize, right.
- 21:22Speaker 4: They all have a different personality, and that's why when
- 21:24Speaker 4: you go to train them, even in the thoroughbred world,
- 21:28Speaker 4: you have to look at the horse. How does this
- 21:30Speaker 4: horse want to run? How is it going to be trained?
- 21:35Speaker 4: The best way to where you actually get inside of
- 21:37Speaker 4: your horse's head. You know, there's a million ways to
- 21:41Speaker 4: ask a horse to back up, and you just have
- 21:44Speaker 4: to find what works for that horse.
- 21:47Speaker 1: And you know, I feel like we get the personality
- 21:51Speaker 1: more so we see it in the public eye. At
- 21:53Speaker 1: the gate whether they want to go in or not.
- 21:54Speaker 1: That's really the big moment. They were like we'll go
- 21:58Speaker 1: in or we're not going to go in.
- 21:59Speaker 3: You know.
- 21:59Speaker 1: They make that decision very fast. Actually, yes, and that's
- 22:03Speaker 1: on the jockey to calm him down. And most of
- 22:05Speaker 1: them do a great job calming them. I've seen some
- 22:08Speaker 1: jump off the horse, so they can ride him around
- 22:10Speaker 1: a little bit, walk them around a little bit, and
- 22:11Speaker 1: then you get back home. But yeah, these these horses
- 22:13Speaker 1: have personality, and I understand that you guys get a
- 22:18Speaker 1: lot of laughs from these horses, right, like they're funny animals.
- 22:21Speaker 3: They are. I had a horse, uh I forget.
- 22:26Speaker 4: I remember we had him up at Saratoga and we
- 22:30Speaker 4: went to visit him and he decided that my dreath
- 22:35Speaker 4: needed to be pulled down and he tried to flash.
- 22:39Speaker 4: The trainer huffed hat barred because he grabbed a hole
- 22:42Speaker 4: at the top of my dress and just that's funny.
- 22:47Speaker 2: But they're also they are they vocal?
- 22:51Speaker 1: I mean, are some of these horses very vocal or
- 22:53Speaker 1: some of them in the Thoroughbird were not so much vocal,
- 22:56Speaker 1: Like what's the talking like?
- 22:58Speaker 4: So I remember when I used to work for Jimmy
- 23:01Speaker 4: Corrigan was I wrote for him.
- 23:04Speaker 3: I kind of did a little bit of barn management.
- 23:07Speaker 4: I basically did a lot for him, and I was
- 23:09Speaker 4: like a deck of all trades. And every morning that
- 23:14Speaker 4: I would get there at four point thirty, these horses
- 23:17Speaker 4: would start winning.
- 23:18Speaker 3: They knew my truck and they knew.
- 23:20Speaker 4: That I was coming to feed them, so they'd all
- 23:22Speaker 4: stick their heads out and that barn would be very
- 23:25Speaker 4: loud for a little bit.
- 23:26Speaker 1: Aw That's that hadn't feel good though, right that they
- 23:29Speaker 1: were excited to see you.
- 23:31Speaker 3: It did. I loved going in there every morning and
- 23:33Speaker 3: getting my morning winnies like it was awesome.
- 23:38Speaker 1: They all seem to have a bit of a soul
- 23:39Speaker 1: to them, right, Like just petting them, you could sense
- 23:42Speaker 1: the soul. And they say, you look into the horse's eyes,
- 23:44Speaker 1: you could tell you could tell their soul from that too.
- 23:47Speaker 4: Yes, and they're very sensitive creatures, but yeah, the eye
- 23:52Speaker 4: tells all.
- 23:54Speaker 1: And I've seen some of them shake off their jockey
- 23:57Speaker 1: on the track sometimes even before or when they come
- 24:01Speaker 1: off the drag winning. They also like move their head
- 24:03Speaker 1: around because they're just so excited.
- 24:05Speaker 2: You know.
- 24:05Speaker 1: I've seen that too, So it's a myriad of emotions
- 24:09Speaker 1: with these horses, for sure. Yes, I want to also
- 24:14Speaker 1: say we should pause for a second and talk about
- 24:16Speaker 1: the horrible, devastating fire in Saratoga Springs. It was just
- 24:21Speaker 1: so weird because we were just there two weeks ago,
- 24:24Speaker 1: and then two weeks later this tragedy happens. A. Did
- 24:28Speaker 1: you know anybody in those stables?
- 24:30Speaker 2: And B.
- 24:32Speaker 1: How does the horse racing in those strategies? The horse
- 24:35Speaker 1: rading community comes to each other's side in the moment,
- 24:38Speaker 1: right in those moments, right.
- 24:40Speaker 4: Yes, we're all there to support each other. That was
- 24:44Speaker 4: a harness barn, so I'm not familiar with anyone that
- 24:47Speaker 4: would have been in there, but I can tell you
- 24:50Speaker 4: that even the dressage, the pulling, the hunter jumper world,
- 24:54Speaker 4: we all know what happened, and our hearts go out
- 24:57Speaker 4: to the trainers, the grooms, the owner, anyone that would
- 25:01Speaker 4: have been involved, because that is a huge tragedy.
- 25:05Speaker 2: I think sixteen horses passed. I believe I read somewhere
- 25:08Speaker 2: or something like that.
- 25:09Speaker 3: It was just I thought I read seventeen, but I
- 25:12Speaker 3: might be wrong.
- 25:13Speaker 1: Just horrible, and so we pray for them, and we
- 25:17Speaker 1: pray for Nira, And you know, is there a certain
- 25:22Speaker 1: kind of safety protocol that these stables need to follow.
- 25:25Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like something like that doesn't just happen.
- 25:30Speaker 1: It can't have out of nowhere. But what's the safety protocols,
- 25:34Speaker 1: especially when it comes to your barn in your stables.
- 25:37Speaker 3: So I don't let people smoke in my barn.
- 25:40Speaker 4: Everything that I have that could be a potential fire
- 25:43Speaker 4: hazard is constantly being checked.
- 25:46Speaker 3: It's constant maintenance on it.
- 25:47Speaker 4: Like my heaters inside, my infrared heaters all have pilot
- 25:52Speaker 4: lights on them.
- 25:53Speaker 3: You know.
- 25:53Speaker 4: I make sure that those are functioning at the top
- 25:56Speaker 4: of their game before I turn them on each winter.
- 25:58Speaker 3: I don't leave them on when I'm the barn.
- 26:02Speaker 4: I make sure that my haze is not wet when
- 26:04Speaker 4: I put it away because it can conbust.
- 26:07Speaker 3: You know. There there's a lot of things. But I
- 26:09Speaker 3: know that.
- 26:09Speaker 4: The Thoroughbred barns and Saratoga do have.
- 26:14Speaker 3: Fire suppression systems.
- 26:17Speaker 2: Oh wow.
- 26:17Speaker 3: And I think more barns should look into getting that
- 26:20Speaker 3: because it would save a lot of lives.
- 26:25Speaker 1: A ton of lives, that's for sure. Yeah, So we
- 26:29Speaker 1: pray for the community. Now as we're talking about this.
- 26:32Speaker 1: On the cultural cultural side, we all say the movie
- 26:38Speaker 1: about the Sea Biscuit. Right, we always say that any
- 26:41Speaker 1: movie that stands out to you. I mean when I
- 26:43Speaker 1: was a kid, racing Stripes because I was around the track.
- 26:46Speaker 2: Racing Stripes was a great movie to be to.
- 26:49Speaker 1: Watch because I was always around that whole energy and
- 26:51Speaker 1: all that, which was a great vibe. But for you
- 26:53Speaker 1: what movie stands out or what cultural moments?
- 26:58Speaker 2: There's two.
- 27:01Speaker 4: So when I was younger, the Horse Whisper. Yeah, love
- 27:05Speaker 4: Robert Redford and I just love that movie. It just
- 27:09Speaker 4: I don't know, there was just something about it. I
- 27:11Speaker 4: still watch it a lot to this day. But recently
- 27:15Speaker 4: I was able to watch fifty to one, which is
- 27:17Speaker 4: about mine that bird. Yeah, I had my training business
- 27:21Speaker 4: started in Kentucky. I actually got to meet the breeder
- 27:26Speaker 4: of mine that bird. She was in the same bar
- 27:28Speaker 4: that I was stabled in. That hits home a lot,
- 27:34Speaker 4: because you know, how many days, how many times do
- 27:38Speaker 4: you get to say that you know the breeder of
- 27:40Speaker 4: a famous horse that's now a movie.
- 27:43Speaker 1: Yeah, you don't see that a lot. So that's pretty specially,
- 27:47Speaker 1: you know, And then I think of, man, there've been
- 27:50Speaker 1: in so many stories. How about the Philly that one
- 27:55Speaker 1: was at rag Sa Richards. I mean that was a
- 27:57Speaker 1: great story too, when she wouldn't all these different storylines
- 28:02Speaker 1: and all that. But for me, Seabiscuit was great and
- 28:06Speaker 1: I did like racing ships. I gotta check out fifty
- 28:08Speaker 1: one though, because that was recently, wasn't it.
- 28:10Speaker 2: I think that was recent.
- 28:12Speaker 4: It came out I don't know how many years ago,
- 28:15Speaker 4: but it is a more recent movie. But I'm actually
- 28:18Speaker 4: really glad that they made a movie about it because
- 28:21Speaker 4: a lot of people, especially people that aren't in the
- 28:24Speaker 4: racing world, do not know about that horse. And that
- 28:27Speaker 4: horse was extremely special. He was the first long shot
- 28:31Speaker 4: to win the Kentucky Derby and.
- 28:34Speaker 1: He did, and I remember watching on the big screen.
- 28:37Speaker 2: It was quite a comeback for him at fifty won.
- 28:39Speaker 1: So Amber, this has been great, I want to get
- 28:43Speaker 1: I also understand you do have a disability, So how
- 28:47Speaker 1: has riding been affected by that? If you don't mind
- 28:50Speaker 1: me asking, I mean, do you change your techniques differently
- 28:54Speaker 1: now to adapt?
- 28:55Speaker 2: If you will?
- 28:57Speaker 4: Well, I have PTSD and I have a lot of
- 29:01Speaker 4: injuries from horses over the years, and if anything, you know,
- 29:08Speaker 4: riding has helped to be healed, being able to have
- 29:12Speaker 4: that close connection with something and knowing that it's a
- 29:16Speaker 4: true connection because the horse is not going to lie
- 29:18Speaker 4: to you. They will tell you up front if they
- 29:21Speaker 4: got a problem with you. And so it's it's definitely
- 29:26Speaker 4: helped me heal a lot.
- 29:28Speaker 1: And just the patting the horse's head, Like, what.
- 29:34Speaker 2: Is it?
- 29:34Speaker 1: Is it a freeing experience, a freeing feeling from all
- 29:37Speaker 1: the ailments you might have when you ride that horse.
- 29:40Speaker 2: Is that what you feel?
- 29:42Speaker 3: It is?
- 29:42Speaker 4: It is very freeing. It's like you're flying. It's it's
- 29:47Speaker 4: a wonderful feeling. And you know if you're in tune
- 29:50Speaker 4: with that horse and you can just make the slightest
- 29:52Speaker 4: little movement and you can get them to change leads,
- 29:55Speaker 4: get them to change gates. It's it's it's truly a
- 30:00Speaker 4: connection that a lot of people miss.
- 30:04Speaker 1: What's the fastest time you've ever had on horses?
- 30:08Speaker 2: Anybody ever?
- 30:09Speaker 4: Time you're on the track or No, I never got
- 30:13Speaker 4: timed around the track, but I do have a funny
- 30:16Speaker 4: story about that. Okay, So the fastest that I ever
- 30:20Speaker 4: went around the track, I hadn't galloped in years. I
- 30:25Speaker 4: galloped when I was like eighteen years old down at Okalla,
- 30:29Speaker 4: and I had not galloped in years and when I
- 30:32Speaker 4: met my ex husband, he got me an interview with
- 30:37Speaker 4: Ian Wilkes, and I bullshit my way into into his
- 30:47Speaker 4: born even though I knew I wasn't in shape and
- 30:50Speaker 4: I knew I wasn't ready to be galloping again. And
- 30:53Speaker 4: I got run off with by a horse name Desert Rose.
- 30:57Speaker 4: I believe she was named Desert Rose. And the outriders
- 31:01Speaker 4: had to catch me. So that's the fastest, And it
- 31:06Speaker 4: was at Churchill Downs, So I went around the Churchill
- 31:10Speaker 4: Downs track at a dead breeze, and so that's definitely
- 31:15Speaker 4: the fastest that I was ever on a horse.
- 31:18Speaker 1: I don't know if anybody if it's varies by person,
- 31:21Speaker 1: but what kind of protection obviously we all seen the
- 31:24Speaker 1: helmets and all that, but what other protections do you
- 31:26Speaker 1: personally have to stay up on that horse slash?
- 31:30Speaker 2: You know, just as precaution.
- 31:33Speaker 4: So we all had to wear a best so if
- 31:35Speaker 4: we came off that we were protected from impact.
- 31:39Speaker 2: But that was it.
- 31:40Speaker 4: We basically had helmets on, we had the best on,
- 31:43Speaker 4: and then you know, whatever boots anyone chose to war
- 31:48Speaker 4: or you know, I mean, it was really personal preference
- 31:52Speaker 4: on the rest of the outfit, but definitely for galloping,
- 31:56Speaker 4: you had to have a best.
- 32:00Speaker 1: One of my favorite plays to be is the Winter Circle.
- 32:02Speaker 1: So have you ever gotten the chance to be in
- 32:04Speaker 1: that Winter Circle in any capacity?
- 32:07Speaker 2: Yes?
- 32:08Speaker 4: So my favorite time in the Winter Circle was a
- 32:12Speaker 4: horse named Nothing but Flowers. It was one of our
- 32:15Speaker 4: phillies and she came in first place up at Indiana
- 32:19Speaker 4: Downs which is now Indiana Grand And there is the
- 32:23Speaker 4: Winter Circle picture with me kissing this horse on the
- 32:27Speaker 4: lips with a bunch of people standing next to us,
- 32:31Speaker 4: and they said that that had to be the best
- 32:33Speaker 4: Winter Circle picture that they had ever taken.
- 32:37Speaker 1: Now, I'd say you stood out at the crowd Saratoga.
- 32:40Speaker 1: I mean you you just did when you dress for
- 32:44Speaker 1: these events. I mean what you like dressing up for
- 32:46Speaker 1: these kind of events. It seems like you do.
- 32:49Speaker 3: I love it.
- 32:50Speaker 4: I love the hats, I love the bright dresses. I
- 32:53Speaker 4: just love the fun and the flashy. And you know,
- 32:57Speaker 4: you get a chance to stand out at these events.
- 32:59Speaker 4: You know, normally where you would go out in public
- 33:02Speaker 4: and not, I mean you want to stay more like
- 33:08Speaker 4: under the radar normally when you go out, but here
- 33:12Speaker 4: you have the opportunity to stand out and just really.
- 33:16Speaker 3: Be bold.
- 33:19Speaker 1: And and that's what you do, and that's what you did,
- 33:21Speaker 1: and that's uh, you know. I was like, oh, I
- 33:23Speaker 1: got to see what she's all about. So I'm glad
- 33:25Speaker 1: we finally we didn't meet, and I'm glad we got
- 33:27Speaker 1: to hang out at the Belmont Stakes on Saturday on
- 33:30Speaker 1: that Saturday and hopefully see you at the Travers as well.
- 33:34Speaker 1: And uh your pub dressed up as well. And she
- 33:38Speaker 1: she or he goes with you everywhere.
- 33:40Speaker 4: Right, he he comes with me everywhere. And he he
- 33:44Speaker 4: had to have a hat. You don't go to the Belmont,
- 33:49Speaker 4: the Kentucky Derby, you have to have a hat. So
- 33:53Speaker 4: Christine Moore at Cam Hats made him his own little hat.
- 33:58Speaker 2: That's adorable.
- 34:00Speaker 4: That's where I get all of my hats from is
- 34:02Speaker 4: cam Hats. She's located in New York, but she attends
- 34:05Speaker 4: to all the big races and I think personally that
- 34:09Speaker 4: she's the best millner out there.
- 34:11Speaker 1: You know, to ride these horses, to even just sit
- 34:15Speaker 1: on top and be able to jog with them a
- 34:17Speaker 1: little bit.
- 34:18Speaker 2: That takes athleticism.
- 34:19Speaker 1: Do you consider yourself an athlete and did you play
- 34:21Speaker 1: other sports aside from horse you know, being in the
- 34:23Speaker 1: horse race.
- 34:24Speaker 4: World, well, yes, it's definitely very athletic. Even marissage or jumping,
- 34:31Speaker 4: you have to be in shape forward a lot of
- 34:33Speaker 4: core strength and lake strength. I got into figure skating
- 34:40Speaker 4: when I had my thoroughbred farm in Indiana, and you know,
- 34:46Speaker 4: I moved up the ranks in less than a year.
- 34:48Speaker 4: It was the year of COVID and I was able
- 34:51Speaker 4: to just move up the ranks really easily, even with
- 34:54Speaker 4: eight months off due to the rinks being shut down.
- 34:59Speaker 4: And after that, you know, I teach scuba diving. You
- 35:04Speaker 4: have to be in very good shape for that. And
- 35:07Speaker 4: currently now I ski for the US Master's team and
- 35:12Speaker 4: I'm a little bit old, but I'm trying to secure
- 35:15Speaker 4: myself a spot on the speed division of the US team.
- 35:21Speaker 4: I don't guarantee that it'll ever happen, but as a
- 35:23Speaker 4: good goal to.
- 35:24Speaker 1: Have, well keep us posts on that. That would be
- 35:26Speaker 1: awesome if you you did that. And I guess to
- 35:29Speaker 1: wrap things up here, my other question would be what
- 35:32Speaker 1: can horse racing and being in the horse racing world
- 35:35Speaker 1: was it taught you? What can it teach others if
- 35:37Speaker 1: they're interested enjoying this world. It's a very competitive world,
- 35:41Speaker 1: that is for sure, but there's got to be some gratitude,
- 35:44Speaker 1: some rewards, some lessons you can learn from being in
- 35:48Speaker 1: the business, from being around the horses themselves.
- 35:52Speaker 4: You definitely learn how to kiss people's butts. That is
- 35:56Speaker 4: a huge lesson to be learned. Borders, you know, just
- 36:01Speaker 4: people that you kind of got to suck up to
- 36:02Speaker 4: to get what you need.
- 36:05Speaker 3: But other than that, like.
- 36:08Speaker 4: I mean, being able to fold babies, and you know,
- 36:12Speaker 4: having a vet that put a lot of trust in
- 36:14Speaker 4: me because he was the only vet in the state,
- 36:18Speaker 4: and all the stuff he taught me. He taught me
- 36:20Speaker 4: how to do sutures, He taught me how to do
- 36:22Speaker 4: ultrasounds and look for follicles, look for an ovulation. He
- 36:28Speaker 4: taught me so much like that that is invaluable.
- 36:34Speaker 2: You know, the myth is being a veterinarians.
- 36:36Speaker 1: The myth is like, Okay, this horse can't walk on
- 36:38Speaker 1: its foot, you gotta put him down. That's changing now
- 36:41Speaker 1: with technology, though, isn't it.
- 36:44Speaker 3: You know, I don't think that has ever truly been
- 36:46Speaker 3: like that.
- 36:47Speaker 4: Vets for years have been able to carry around portable
- 36:50Speaker 4: ultrasound machines and portable X rays, so we always have
- 36:54Speaker 4: the opportunity to look to decide what's going to happen.
- 36:58Speaker 4: The thing that has changed is the technology and being
- 37:00Speaker 4: able to help these horses through the VET hospitals.
- 37:07Speaker 2: Well, tell us more about that, because that's interesting.
- 37:11Speaker 4: So with Gridley, by horse that foundered, you know, years back,
- 37:16Speaker 4: it would have been a hopeless cause we would have
- 37:18Speaker 4: had to put him down.
- 37:20Speaker 3: But you know, thanks to Rudin.
- 37:24Speaker 4: Riddle, doctor doctor Ruggles, who is their lameness vet he
- 37:29Speaker 4: he did wonders with him. He stayed down there for
- 37:31Speaker 4: about a week and you know, even though I was
- 37:35Speaker 4: nervous and had doubts that nothing was going to be
- 37:37Speaker 4: able to.
- 37:38Speaker 3: Help him, he pulled through.
- 37:40Speaker 4: And you know, I can't thank this bet enough, like
- 37:45Speaker 4: he is invaluable to the horse community.
- 37:52Speaker 1: Well maybe people will look him up after after you
- 37:56Speaker 1: mentioned him here tonight, so that that's the goal, all right, Amber,
- 37:59Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining me, and I feel
- 38:01Speaker 1: like we should go into this further and maybe do
- 38:04Speaker 1: some more stuff even at the travers this fib to
- 38:06Speaker 1: make it up there this year. So hopefully we see
- 38:09Speaker 1: you again soon. But thank you for this introductory interview.
- 38:12Speaker 2: I really liked it.
- 38:13Speaker 4: Oh, thank you so much for having me, and I
- 38:15Speaker 4: would love to do something else up at the travers round.
- 38:18Speaker 1: The Future Amber Focus. Thanks for joining us about your
- 38:21Speaker 1: experience and your life around the horse racing world.
- 38:25Speaker 3: Thank you