Realizing a dream

Dara Hanrahan is a 26-year-old originally from Pleasantville, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. For the past four years she has worked as an exercise rider at the San Luis Downs in Southern California.
Her job is to put Thoroughbred race horses through their daily workouts. This means early mornings and countless hours spent at the track. Her goal is to become an apprentice jockey and perhaps a jockey after that. Her ultimate goal, however, is to open a racehorse retirement facility in Nova Scotia.
Her passion for the track and horses has driven her to pursue a career with horses. Here's what she had to say when Horse & Pony asked her a few questions.

HP: How did you become involved with horses?

DH: Well, I've always been interested in them. I cared for horses for people and was really into draft horses as well. I ended up taking a one-year course on equine management through Guelph University. After that I met a person who spoke of the world of the race track and I ended up following it.

HP: What was it about the race track environment that initially appealed to you?

DH: First, the horses. They are such incredible athletes and I had never seen a race track before. I first went to the track with a friend and my first day of races I stood on the rail at the top of the lane where the barns are and watched the pack come by. You could hear all the jockeys talking and this thunder of hoofs. I actually started crying. It was from that moment on that I was absolutely hooked. I knew that was where I wanted to be.

HP: From that initial exposure, how did you get to where you are now?

DH: It's been a long journey. When I first started working at the track I groomed. I had five horses that were my responsibility. I had to get them tacked up for the rider, give them baths, wrap their legs for protection, every piece of that horses' body was my responsibility. Every nick or cut, or anything, it was my job to report to the trainer and let them know if anything was amiss or if a tendon had swelled up or what-have-you.
So, I did that for a while then I ended up, by chance, doing some research online about Thoroughbred bloodlines. It had always intrigued me, so I went online and ended up getting a job at Winfield Farms in Oshawa, Ont. It's actually the birthplace of Northern Dancer, who is probably the best race horse of all time.
I moved there and started working on the farm, preparing yearlings for sale. It was a great opportunity. I traveled all around working the horse sales. When we started breaking season I was familiar with driving horses and ground breaking them. I was doing that and one day they said 'How much do you weigh? Do you mind getting on one of these babies?' At that point they knew they had me. They knew I was desperate to ride a horse.
Then, again by fate, I met a trainer at the race track and he took some interest in that I wanted to learn how to ride. He gave me a job at the track and took me under his wing and taught me pretty much all that I know now.

HP: What was the learning curve like for you?

DH: I learned from one of the toughest horsemen I've ever run into. He's an incredible horseman so my learning curve was pretty much vertical. It's not like any other discipline of riding. It always helps to have some show riding background or something, but it is extremely different.
There still stuff I'm learning now. That's the beauty of the track. Everyone who's there, whether you've been there a year or 10, the horses are always teaching you something new.

HP: What are your goals for the future?

DH: Right now I'm just gaining more confidence and experience. I hope to take out my apprentice license to become a jockey in the future.

HP: What does that entail?

DH: You have to spend a certain amount of time with the gate crew on the ground during races in the afternoons. You also have to spend time coming out of the gates in the mornings with the horses. It's a big process. You have to be approved by the stewards of the race track. In my opinion you have to be prepared mentally. That's the biggest part for me.

HP: What sort of things do you do to mentally prepare yourself?

DH: It's very competitive. You're riding with 20 other riders. It gets heated and after the race you go back to this room and you sit with these same people. The competitiveness can be intimidating for newcomers. There are also hecklers and handicappers. All eyes are on you.
A lot is riding on you. A race can pan out in so many different ways. You need to have many plans and strategies and you have to learn how to analyze a race. It's really quite technical. You're not just sitting up there and busting out of the gate.

HP: Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

DH: Ten years from now I'd like to be here (in Nova Scotia). I only want to ride for my apprenticeship, I'm not sure if I want to go on from there. The lifespan of a jockey's career is generally about five years. I don't want to go sour; I just want to do it and see what happens.
I'd love to come back and have a little sanctuary for retired racehorses. I've worked a lot with Long Run, a retirement society, which does great things for horses who have been retired from the track. I'd like to be able to give them a different taste of life here in Nova Scotia. Make sure they spend the rest of their days off the track.
I actually own a retired race horse named Frankie Four Fingers. Frankie is an old race horse, of course, and he has a famed father Marty Jones and Elusive Quality. Frankie's first race was a stakes race at Woodbine in Toronto. A stakes race is a pretty big deal. His first start as a baby he won, and it was declared in the stakes at Woodbine and he won a stake and made his father black type. You know it's a big deal if a stallion has a baby that wins a stake. So anyway, he's been a superstar from day one and he actually taught me how to ride. He is a great old race horse and we take him to California for the winters. He is so intelligent that he is a race horse that didn't really train everyday, he did what he wanted. He's a bit spoiled too.
He would just walk to the track with the babies or jog around with the babies and keep them quiet.
Originally I just started riding him and he is quite a character. He wasn't easy on me but he had a good time with me and I owe him everything.
He went back to Canada and we used him as a pony in the winter to give him time off. A pony horse is just a horse that you tie the race horses on; you put a piece of leather through the bit and you escort them. It keeps a young horse or a fidgety filly more calm. So that's what he did and he was really great at it.
So, he was getting older and we were getting signs that he didn't want to race. It's not that he doesn't like running, he does, it's just that he didn't want to race. So the trainer that owned him, who I was working for, put him in a claiming race. This is a race where somebody can drop a slip before the race, taking the horse for the price he is listed for. If somebody drops a slip, the horse isn't yours after the race, which is a pretty traumatic thing sometimes.
That goes on at all sorts of levels, high, high prices to I think the lowest in North America is $4,000.
Common courtesy is that you don't claim people's horses that you know, or people who have had the horses forever, but that's just common courtesy it's not exactly the rules.
So the trainer put Frankie in to retire him. He said "Let's run him in one more race and then you can have him after that. He's yours, retire him forever."
He put him in a claiming race and was like "nobody will take this horse from me, he's like my child."
Well, he won and when we went down to the winners' circle we took the most pathetic looking win picture in the world because he won, and the groomer put in the yellow slip, which means that as soon as the win picture is taken another person comes and takes your horse away.
So I was bawling in the win picture, very sad and embarrassing because you're supposed to keep a stiff upper lip, you know, no emotions at the track.
I was hysterical, so sad. The weeks went on and I would see my horse in someone else's barn, someone else riding him around.
Anyway the man who actually owned Frankie while I had him called me and said "Look Frankie is being entered into a race for double what the other person paid for him." He put the money in my account and said, "Claim him back and make sure he never runs a race again." And so, that's how I got Frankie Four Fingers.
The owner actually paid to have him retired. Which is super. He's such a racehorse. I took him to a farm to turn him out and he stood at the gate and weaved and weaved and didn't eat grass, he didn't do anything. So I spoke to the trainer who had him and I asked if I could have his stall back so he could go back to the track. So they took him back to the track and they use him everyday as a pony. He has a job, he escorts the babies out to the track and goes out to the track once or twice a day just walking around with them, just as an escort and he's as happy as a clam.
He's an old legend. Everyone stops by and says hi to him, he just thinks he's a superstar.
He has a pretty cushy job at the race track. He's just as happy as could be. He needs the rhythm of the race track. He needs people around to feel like he has a purpose.

HP: Do you find the horses become just as attached to the lifestyle of the track as the people who work there?

DH: Yeah, it's completely true. He knows he's never running, he never tries to go fast or does anything crazy now, but he just needs that rhythm. He needs to be up every morning at 4 am and watch people do their job. He's just content.
It's too bad there aren't more with that outcome. There's a great program, should anyone be interested in learning about Thoroughbred retirement, it's www.longrunretirement.com. You can get some really wonderful horses with great characters from the race track that simply didn't want to be race horses or didn't want to continue in that lifestyle. They are perfect horses, there is nothing wrong with them. They're just in need of a good home and some TLC, so I suggest anyone interested look into that.

HP: Do you have any other words of wisdom for people looking to follow in your footsteps?

DH: Sure. Keep your ears open and your mouth shut. Find somebody you trust and respect as a horseman and stick to them. Become a sponge and learn all you can. In the Thoroughbred industry I suggest people seek out Thoroughbred farms and start working on a farm, especially if you're into riding. Go to a farm and get your bearings before you jump headfirst into a racetrack. It will eat you alive if you go in there without enough knowledge.
Besides that, be careful, have fun, and stay safe.