2x Kentucky Derby winner Mario Gutierrez to share his journey from a poor town in Vera Cruz, Mexico to winning the Kentucky Derby 5 months after he arrived in America. He talks with Theo about the different levels of racing, if there are any horse racing groupies, and what it felt like to win the sport’s most prestigious event. Follow Mario Gutierrez https://instagram.com/mariogutierrez_19 New Tour Dates! https://theovon.com/tour Merch! https://theovonstore.com Music: “Shine” - Bishop Gunn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3A_coTcUek Support our Sponsors: Mack Weldon: https://mackweldon.com/theo - Use promo code THEO for 20% off Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/theo Keeps: https://keeps.com/Theo Babbel: https://Babbel.com/ - use promo code Theo The Ladders: https://TheLadders.com/Theo Liquid Death: https://liquiddeath.com Podcastville mugs and digital prints available now at https://theovon.pixels.comSubmit your funny videos, TikToks, questions and topics you'd like to hear on the podcast to tpwproducer@gmail.com. Hit the Hotline 985-664-9503 Video Hotline for Theo Upload here: http://bit.ly/TPW_VideoHotline Find Theo: Website: https://theovon.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/theovon Facebook: https://facebook.com/theovon Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/thispastweekend Twitter: https://twitter.com/theovon YouTube: https://youtube.com/theovon Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiEKV_MOhwZ7OEcgFyLKilw Producer: Nick Davis https://instagram.com/realnickdavis Producer: Sean Dugan https://www.instagram.com/SeanDugan/
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Today's guest is a two-time Kentucky Derby winner.
And he's also won the Preakness, if you're familiar with horse racing and outdoor horsing.
And this man is a special man.
He's from Veracruz, Mexico.
And really excited to learn all about jockeying.
I've always wanted to know about it.
You know what I'm saying?
Who's in that cockpit of that horse?
Today's guest is Mr. Mario Gutierrez.
For me to set that parking break and let myself all wild shine that light on me and tell you the story.
Shine on me And I will find a song I've been singing just so And now I've been moving way too fast Mario Gutierrez, man.
So what happened, man?
What happened yesterday?
You said something happened.
I was riding a cabote.
My car broke down yesterday, so I took it to the dealership.
On the interstate or on a side road?
No, it was in the free.
That's always a real rodeo, bro, when you break down out there.
It was a brand new car too, so I don't know what happened.
Yeah, I had to take it to the dealership and then get a loner car.
And this morning I had to go to the track to do the training, the usual training that I had to do before racing.
I was doing that.
I was getting ready to leave, grab a couple of things to show you guys.
And then as I was getting out of the racetrack, freaking car power went off.
Same thing happened.
The loner car broke down too.
So I call my agent on the way and then he loaned me his car.
And he's like, get out of here.
And so when you go, and let's put it, what brand of car is it, man?
Let's get this brand out there.
Oh, I don't even want to say it.
You don't?
It's a fancy car, actually.
It is?
It is.
BMW, maybe?
No, up.
Up?
Yeah.
Oh, Range Rover.
And in that area, it's like a Maserati.
It was wow.
It's a Maserati.
Yeah.
You drive a Maserati?
Well, no, that was a loner car.
I drive an Alpha.
Oh, that's what Nick drives.
And then the engine light went on that car.
That's what happened.
Like, I was driving and then the power went out.
Probably a bicycle could have gone faster than that.
And when the power goes in your car, do you kind of get that same feeling you get?
Actually, I do.
I was doing it.
Like, come on, come on.
Just one more pull.
You have to do it.
Oh, I did that.
Actually, I did.
I did this.
I can see that.
It's almost like a habit, huh?
Yeah, yeah.
I was like, anyway, when I watch my replays, after the race finish and I come back to the Yorkshire, if I win or finish a close second, I'm watching the replay, and all of a sudden, as I'm getting to the wide run, the replay, I'm like leaning towards, like thinking that something different is going to happen.
It's just a habit.
Oh, just a habit.
That's interesting, man.
And so whenever you said like today you went to, or yesterday or today, you went to do the training, like what is that like?
So you go there.
Is there a time you have to be there on a race day?
So today's a race day.
Yeah, today's a race day.
Well, typically, even in a race day, we Monday to through, seven days, Monday through Sunday, we train horses.
Okay.
You know, and those horses that we train in, we usually get to run them like, you know, a week from now, like or 15 days from now.
So we're constantly working these horses and then like, they're not necessarily going to run on the weekend, you know, but they might run like the week, the weekend after, you know.
I see.
So horses that are going to be like, say, if I'm going to go to the racetrack, like maybe in a week or two, the horses I'm going to see then, you guys are kind of training them, getting them used to the track?
No, getting ready.
No, just like a normal athlete, you know, getting the physical training into it, you know, the lung capacity so they're able to push harder and stretch and things like that.
Oh, wow.
So you're athletes.
You guys get them out there like athletes.
And what time do you guys do that kind of each day?
Early in the morning, the racetrack opens around like, I think 4.30, you know, and then it closes at like 10 o'clock.
I usually get there at 6.30, you know, that's when I start.
And usually by 9, 9.45, I'm done.
Wow.
It's like, dude, you're on the horse and it's going fast, huh?
Yeah, yeah.
Is it scary or no?
It's not scary for me anymore.
You know, it was a little bit scary when I started when I was young.
But now it's like, you know, like any other racing athlete, I guess.
You know, like you just get used to you love for that.
I love what I do, so I'm like, I live for that.
You know, it's like the adrenaline, it's the excitement, like all of that.
Who's the athlete?
Are you the athlete or the horse is the athlete?
Or you're both the athlete?
We're both, you know, like it's almost like a, well, no, it's not almost like it's a team, you know, like he isn't the athlete, you know?
He usually he actually does most of the work, you know, the hard work, you know?
We are athletes too because we need to constantly be fit enough to ride these horses, like have our weight, you know, checked, you know, checked.
You know, there's a certain way that we can pass, you know?
So that's what.
Like physically, we have to be super fit because these are like a thousand pound animals that we need to control and we need to, you know, like be able to manage high speed.
So like on a race day, what will your day be like on that day?
It's usually.
So like later today when You go in for the race, like, what is it like when you get there?
Like, how do you go through?
Like, what is kind of the typical typical?
Yeah, well, for me, it's like, you know, like, I, I, um, I wake up, like I said, I go to morning training, and then that usually finishes, like, like I said, 10 o'clock, you're done, you know.
Okay, and when you're training these horses, like, what are you doing?
You're like just almost like acting at a race almost, yeah, yeah, it's exactly that.
It's just like we simulate a little race by themselves, you know, it's just like, you know, each horse, you know, it's not like we're working a tang of horse at the same time, not like a race, but like, for example, I'll work my horse five furlongs, you know, that means that I had to make five furloughs in a certain amount of time, like 101.
The trainer will tell you how much, how fast you want him, you, he wants him, he wants you to train the horse.
Okay.
So if he tells you, hey, I want you to work five furlongs in 101, so you do your best to pass those five forelongs in one minute and one second.
So you out there is kind of setting goals almost like somebody on a track team.
Yeah, that's exactly that, you know, and that gives like the horse fitness and the lung capacity for like the horse.
And do they like it?
Do the horses like being racers, you think?
Total race do.
Total race do, yeah.
Total risk do.
it's like any normal well any living creature you know there's some horses that don't you know there's some horses that like you know no matter how much you ask them they will choose no born to do that And there are some horses that they do really love, you know.
They're like, well, maybe like I can't explain that because it's a feeling, you know, sometimes I'm on top of them and I do the burnt minimum and I just encourage them to go a little faster and they are waiting for that.
Yeah, they want it.
Yeah.
So it's interesting.
So some of them, can you tell sometimes how excited they are about it and how much they like it?
Yeah.
Oh, you can't?
Yeah.
Well, yeah, I feel lucky because I feel that I can tell that, you know, because I grew up with horses since my early age.
And so, yeah, so what was that like?
So I'm trying to think of what else I would think about, like being out there.
And then, okay, so then you get there for the race day.
Now, on the race day, on the race, you guys show up and what happens?
Like, do you have to be drug tested?
Does the horse have to be drug tested?
Yeah, horses get drug tests.
We do get drug tests too, but that's like a lottery, you know, the officials go there and they will just pick randomly, you know, whoever you're going to get tests.
Okay.
Whatever they want.
Do you want to get tests?
And then you had to go and get this.
Do some people use, is there any like performance enhancing drugs for the riders?
Is anybody out there?
Like some guys can be high and do it or do whatever?
No, no, no, no.
We are like treated like any other athlete.
And there is not if we are in a perquisite or something like that, we need to have a prescription.
If you don't, if all of a sudden you get tests and then you pop for a pill, like, you know, like an orc or something like that, then you get suspended or flying.
Damn, really?
Oh, yeah.
So everybody got to really keep it together, the horse and the people, huh?
Yeah.
So it sounds like a lot of jockeys have prescriptions.
Yeah, exactly, right?
Let me show you my thing.
So what is the fitness of it like for you?
Fitness?
For us, because we have to be more lean and stronger.
Well, as strong as a 120-pounder can get, you know?
Right.
Because I'm from Louisiana originally.
They have a lot of guys from Louisiana that are jockeys.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's a lot of Louisiana.
Like we have like Alvarado.
Like there's a couple of names you would hear.
Malon song.
Like a lot of names you would hear a lot of people.
Candy's Ormo, I think he's a whole famous horse racing industry.
He's from there, I think.
Is he?
What's his name?
Candy Sormo?
What's the last name?
The letter that starts with?
D. Dorman?
D-O-R-M-O-N-D?
No.
D-E.
D-E.
De Long.
DeLong?
No.
Ken with K. My English is horrible, so it's my second language, so I would like to.
Mine's bad.
It's my first language.
Yeah, that one, the first one?
Oh.
That's a hard name for English people.
Yeah, Ken DeSormo.
Where's he out of Louisiana?
A lot of guys, they got the little swamp babies, man.
A lot of French little swamp babies.
They pull them up from Maurice, Louisiana.
Yeah, that is a real swamp town right there.
And so it's popular in that area.
Is it, are there a lot of, are you Mexican or which?
Mexican.
Both your parents are Mexican?
Yeah, both my parents are Mexican.
So is there a lot of Mexican jockeys as well?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Really?
A lot of jockeys.
A lot of Latino jockeys, a lot of Panamanians, Puerto Ricans.
Huh.
Yeah.
So, yeah, it's because it's interesting that a lot of those guys are from Louisiana and then a lot of them are from Mexico.
Why?
Because it's smaller stature?
I think so, but there's really jockeys all over the place.
We have like Italian jockeys here right now.
We have French jockeys, you know.
I think it's like whoever is small enough to be a jockeys.
So it's more about a size thing, not really.
It doesn't matter kind of where people are from.
So what is a typical size for a jockey?
What is your size?
I'm 5'4.
Okay, you're 5'4 height and then weight.
118, 117, something like that.
Around there.
I always try to put myself there, you know.
Okay.
So can you like, you can't really just go and eat all week if you want.
You gotta, like, diet is a main thing for you?
No, I'm actually lucky.
Like, it's not one of the main things, you know?
Yes, I had to watch, but not too crazy.
You know, there is some people that really struggle.
Like, the taller you are, the probably the more struggles you're going to have.
Because there's taller jockeys than I am, maybe, like, 5'8, you know.
But if you 5'8, you know, then you're tall.
So you had to be so skinny.
Oh, yeah.
So he's perfect size for the jockey.
Yeah.
What was your journey in a jockey?
And like, how did it kind of start out for you?
Because it's such a unique, I mean, I was talking to a friend of mine the other day, this guy, Walker Bueller, he plays for the Dodgers, actually.
And he was on here a while back.
And he and I went to dinner the other night and he's telling me about he had a brother-in-law who was a jockey.
And Robbie Alberado is the guy's name.
And so he went, so I was like, maybe we should get a jockey to come on the podcast and talk.
And then you and Nick spoke.
And so, yeah, man, it's just fascinating to think of what that life is like and what it and who even does it.
Like, so take me again a little bit more like your fitness and your size and your weight.
What do you have to stay at?
I probably, if you, I had to stay like under like 117, 118, 117, you know, that in case that I have to reduce, I don't have to reduce too much, you know, like if I have to ride horses with like 118, I only had to pull up two pounds the day of the race, you know, something like that, you know, that I try to manage that like really well.
Do they weigh you before the race?
Each race.
Before each race, they weigh you.
And if you're over, can the trainer, the owner say we're going to get someone else?
I think we're only allowed to be like, you have to, if I'm going to be, if I think I'm not going to make that weight, I had to report it like an hour earlier before the first race.
So if I already know that, hey, I can't make that weight, I'm going to be one point over, I have to.
If I don't do that, then yeah, we get penalized.
Or I think, yeah, and the trainer is allowed to say, well, I need to replace my jockey.
So on the race day, there's usually the same jockeys like on a scheduled day of races at like, say at like Santa Anita, right?
Santa Ana?
What is it?
Santa Anita?
Santa Anita, right?
So on a scheduled day of races, there may be like 10 races or something for the day.
Yeah.
Today are 11. Wow, so you're going to race 11 times?
No, no, I only ride four horses.
Four races.
And is it every other race?
How do they put you guys in there?
It depends.
It's very complicated, right?
Because like that is in the racing office, they decide what race goes first, what race goes second.
So it's like depends if, you know, depends where I land.
You know, I can ride the first four, but then not necessarily like, or I can run the first, then third, sixth, seven.
So do you ride for a specific trainer?
Do you ride on a specific horse?
Like, how does, who does the jockey work for?
I'm very lucky that I ride for a specific owner.
Okay.
Yeah.
So you ride only on his horses?
I ride most, all of his horses, I ride.
Okay.
All of them.
And that has been since 2012.
I'm very, very lucky.
So I'm in a very, very sweet position that way.
So I'm not specifically for the same trainer, for the owner, you know?
So that's good for me.
Yeah.
He has a lot of money.
So you have more like that.
That means you just have more of a long-term or you just have work.
What's it called, Nick?
Work if you have the same job at a long time.
Tenure?
Yeah.
Or yeah, you just have like some assurance.
You're more assured.
Like you have a contract, kind of?
It's not like a real contract.
It's more like a spoken contract.
You know, like a French, like he's been so loyal to me and I've been loyal to him.
So it's just like a partnership that is kind of continued.
We had early success in 2012.
I think that's what sparked.
Yeah.
Yeah, some job security.
Yeah.
So then, so when you get on the horse, you're on the horse and you take the horse out to the what?
To the racetrack?
To like the voting booth that I'm talking about?
Oh, the paddock?
That we call it the paddock?
The paddock is the circle.
The little circle where like, you know, the horses run.
Before we get on top of the horses, the people can look at them.
If you're going to bet, you're like, the gambler's not going to look.
You're going to look and see which horse you like and you can bet.
Look at them.
Then the trainers put us on the horse and then we go to the racetrack and do the warm up, the pre-warm-up before the race.
Okay, so if I'm a batter, right, which Nick is, but if I'm a batter and I go to the paddock, is there anything I can look for as a batter that can give me any sort of insight as to how the...
Like most of those horses are like, you know, they're too nervous and so sweaty, they're already spending a lot of energy, you know, being like so.
Yeah, sweaty horse, dude.
Besides that, I'm horrible.
My wife told me like never to say, to give her any tips about horse racing because she always loses money.
No, does she liked it better?
No.
She does.
Once in a while, be like, oh my God, I'm training this horse that I really, really like.
You know, you should put some money on him, you know, and then the horse will run third and then she'll be like, I don't want no more of your tips.
So you get out there, you go out for the warm-up, and the warm-up is what?
It's just kind of like a little trot, or it's like a- And can the horse stretch?
Can you tell a horse to stretch or they just stretch if they want to?
You can stretch the horses.
They have chiropractors, they have massage therapists, the horses.
Really?
Dude, what kind of pervert would stand there and just massage a horse leg on?
I don't know.
You had to ask one of those guys to do that.
That's what we need to get in here.
Can you imagine just standing there all day?
And trying not to get an erection?
That would be the hardest thing, I feel like.
Even if you were straight male and the horse is straight, I think it would just be so hard not to.
How strong are these animals?
They can be pretty strong.
They're horses that can be so nice, you know, in terms of like you can pretty much do anything with them.
Like they obey, you know, like you can one hand, you can maneuver, you know, and there are some horses that are like two hands, all you weigh, all you can pull, and there's still like no listening to you.
So it's tricky, you know.
Just like people, I guess, huh?
Yeah.
Yeah, they are like people who are so smart.
Do they feel like do horses seem like people?
Like the more time you spend around horses, do they seem like people?
Do they seem like is there another animal that you kind of relate them to?
Do you feel like you actually can have like a connection with the horse?
What is it like because I've always been a little bit probably afraid of horses, I guess.
Because we never went around any horses growing up, you know.
Like, we would see some, but and like feed them apples and stuff through the fence, but I never like spent time around them, you know.
Oh, horses are so super smart.
I think that's yeah, like the more time you spend with a horse, you know, the more you get to know them and the more you establish a connection.
And then, like, once you establish a connection, it's like it's like having a dog, you know, you love that animal.
It's just like it's a strong bone that you have with this horse, you know.
So, yeah, like time.
The more time you spend with the horses, it's hard not to love with them, yeah.
Just like a dog.
Just like a dog, yeah.
Yeah.
And they're very therapeutic because you can, like, my wife has a pony that we can use it to trail ride, you know?
And then, like, if you're having a bad day, you know, or when I'm having a bad day or like I have too many, too much thinking on my head, I go, I saw him, I take him to the trails in the mountains in Altadena.
And it's just so therapeutic.
It's just like so cool and relaxing.
I should live on one of those.
I should be tied around one of those.
I need some therapy.
I need some therapy, man.
So you get out there, back to the race, then you get in the cage, right?
Actually, we had a question that came in right here from a user for you right here.
Not a user.
Look, I'm not judging the guy.
He does look like maybe he's been up late.
Yeah, he looks like maybe he's been up a little late, but it also looks like John Kusak's brother.
Sub Mario?
Quick question.
Are there jockey groupies?
Like chicks that travel around?
So when you win the Kentucky Derby, you're golden for a couple weeks?
Yeah, what's that like?
Or they're kind of like...
I did.
Yes, I think I met my wife because my father-in-law, at the time when I went to Canada, I met my wife in Canada.
Oh, she's Canadian?
Yeah, she's Canadian.
Canadians are awesome.
Yeah.
So her dad used to own some horses.
And that's how true.
I met her family first, and she was studying in Victoria, Canada.
So I didn't meet her until like two years after that, after I was in Canada.
Oh, so the family already liked you.
Oh, yeah.
They love me.
They still love me.
They love me more than they do.
Then they let you ride their horse.
But yeah, I think to the question, yeah, I think they, and any sports, I think that any sport has like some groupies.
I think so.
Yeah, yeah, that's cool, man.
What type of, like, who are the owners these days?
Like, a lot of times when I think of horse owners, I think of like a rich old white guy kind of.
Is that still kind of the, and no judgment against it, but is that still like the type of person that owns horses?
Do you like, or is there all types?
Yeah, I think of this guy, whoever this guy is.
And I don't even, we don't know who this guy is, but that's who we think of.
Does this look like every owner kind of, or is it all types of people?
It's all type of, like, well, they basically, like, whoever owns a horse, like, they have money.
They have a lot of money.
Okay, so it's something that has expendable income, they could get a horse.
Yeah, so, like, I don't think it necessarily has to be white, but it needs to have some cash.
So they need to have some cash.
Yeah.
Do they ever have groups out there where you feel like it's a setup, like they have like a shady owner, or it seems like a little weird, like, like maybe they're just trying to drug a horse and get it through?
Does that ever happen?
Or did it used to happen?
Do you ever notice anything like that?
Well, I don't...
That I don't know specifically, no.
Say that again, you know?
Because like a group or like...
A team.
Oh, a team that tried to do tradition.
Yeah, often.
And it just like, and maybe you've seen them over the years and they've come and gone or whatever.
but is there a lot of that going on or is stuff pretty, like is it?
not in racetracks like Santa Anita.
That will be considered like a...
It will be considered...
Santanita, New York, Kentucky, Prestrigius, like an elite or like an A racetrack, like an A racetrack.
And then you have B racetrack, C racetracks, you know.
And I probably probably will occur more into small racetrack where there is not a lot of jurisdiction or not a lot of people watching.
Like I wouldn't be surprised if those type of things happen there.
Oh, it gets a little more seedier the way the further you go to.
Maybe like, for example, like UFC.
I watch a lot of fights, you know, like say UFC now with USAT and everything is like cracking down and things like that.
But the more you go to the lesser organization, well, maybe they're not as tight, you know.
Oh, the urine now, you could drink it, I feel like, on behalf of these guys.
You know what I'm saying?
I'd have had a glass of whatever Anderson Silva had in them, I think.
I mean, they just had, yeah, it's definitely a lot cleaner these days.
Who are some of the fighters you like?
Oh, I like a bunch.
You do?
Like, it's hard not to love, yeah.
I wish Nick fought more, man.
I know.
I don't know what's up with him.
I wish, I wish, too.
I get it.
I just don't want him to get older and then wish he had fought more and he was younger, you know.
But you never know with those guys, right?
They really seem so genuine, you know, that like the way I look at him, I don't think that will occur to him, you know?
Yeah, that's a good point.
He loves like, you know, he does what he wants.
It seems like so.
I think they definitely do what they want.
No doubt.
Yeah, did you see that fight the other night with Edwards?
Yeah.
That was good, huh?
Yeah.
Come on, go for the kill.
He's just pointing at me.
He's pointing at him, and I'm like, my wife is yelling.
I'm yelling.
My son is looking at us like, what the heck is going on with you guys?
Yeah.
And I'm yelling at him for my kill.
It was like, wait a second.
Yeah, that was magical, man.
What do you think about the, did you see the last Poirier McGregor fight?
Yeah, so I was surprised.
I was surprised how fairly easy Poirier beat McGregor.
Yeah.
I think McGregor beats him this time.
You think so?
I think so.
I feel like it's, I mean, I definitely don't think that, but I think it's hard to, I just think it's hard to like get that mentality, you know?
Oh, but unless he doesn't have that anymore, you know, I will blame the first fight until like, you know, he's like, you know, long time hasn't fight, you know, and then like, that's, that's what I think, you know, but and I will relate it again to horses.
There is some horses, the, you know, the very good horses that are undefeated.
Like they can win one, two, three, four, five races in a row.
And the moment they touch the feet, the moment somebody, some other horse pass them, they're never the same.
Really?
Yeah.
So that thing happens to fighters too.
You know, they feel this thing and all of a sudden the, you know, two, three losses and yeah, like mess up with their head.
Happens to comedians too, man.
Happened to me.
But no, that's so interesting.
So there can be like a moment that happened in a race, like in a big race where another horse passes it and it's never the same.
Yeah.
Yeah, for horses, that happened.
It happened to me.
It happened to a very good horse that I was.
Which one was it?
What was it?
Nyquist 2016 Kentucky Derby winner.
Right.
And so that's, and so, yeah, so take me back to like, I mean, you had just started racing, right?
You'd been racing in, or you had just been racing in, where, in California for a year?
Not even.
No, no, no.
I mean, I mean, my first Kentucky, I was lucky enough to get my first Kentucky Derby back in 2012.
And then I was racing in Canada on 2011.
The racing season finished in September, October.
So usually I will come down to San Francisco and ride in San Francisco in the winter.
But for whatever reason, they didn't want to give stalls to my Canadian stable that I was with at the time.
So they reached out to Santanita and Santanita was like, yeah, we'll give you some stables so you can run here your horses.
So that's how I ended up in LA, you know, in Santanita in late 2011.
So that was your first time getting to Los Angeles?
Yeah.
And then that was like, yeah, October, November, December, January, and in four months, then I got introduced to I'll have another which went and won the Kentucky there.
Yeah.
Yeah, you won twice, right?
He won the Kentucky and then he won the Priggness.
Yeah.
But you won.
I won the, yeah, I won 2012 and then 2016.
So was there like a is there like a rookie year for riders?
Yeah.
Yeah, apprentice.
We are called apprentice when we are our first year when we get the license to be a professional rider.
Then our first year we call apprentice and then with that does we are allowed to raise 10 pounds lighter than the professional jockey.
So if a professional jockey is what 118?
118 then you get you're allowed to run your horse with 108.
You could ride on 108?
Yeah.
I can't anymore.
I used to.
You can't even chew gum.
Yeah, no, I can't anymore.
I used to when I was 18 years old.
Oh, so what phases, what phases a jockey out of the job?
Well, I think that's like fighters, you know, like your body will tell you or unfortunately or an accident, unfortunate accident that can end your career at any moment.
Does that happen sometimes?
I mean, any moment?
Yeah, no, yeah, no, yeah.
A little M. Night Shyamalan there.
Does it, and does it happen?
Does that happen?
Sorry, I have so many questions right now.
It's okay.
It's okay.
Okay, cool.
So does that, yeah, take me through some of the dangers.
What is some of that danger like if you have a, like, is it like a, like a, how can you get hurt?
How can you get, I mean, I know you can get thrown off of the horse.
That's probably the biggest fear.
Yeah, that's probably the biggest fear.
The biggest fear for me is probably like getting thrown off of a horse if I'm like in the in the first and in the front runners because then you have, you know for sure you have people coming behind you, you know?
And like I said, these are like 1200 pound animals.
Bad drivers.
Yeah, you don't want none of them to catch you mid-air or like on the floor.
So that's probably the.
So that's almost one of the scary parts I bet about taking the lead is that it's somewhere in your head, you're like, now if something bad happens, all these horses are going to come up behind you.
Yeah, but you don't think, I think the moment that you start, that you had those thoughts, that's probably a good time to retire.
Yeah, if you're like going in the front and you're thinking about, oh my God, you know, like you should be focusing on how to win the race.
I think the moment you start having those type of thoughts, I think you should call it quits.
That would be me.
I'd be like, you guys, go on ahead.
How ex how, okay, so you get into the paddock, or you get into the gate, right?
After the warm-up, yeah.
So after the warm-up, you guys...
Thanks for that.
They got one guy, and then the guy in the pink hat comes out.
I'm like, why is the guy wearing the pink?
I don't even know what's going on.
I feel like it's a gender reveal.
But then finally, they get everybody lined up.
Is it easier to be the first horse that gets lined up in there or the last horse?
Or does it even matter?
I think it does matter.
I particularly would like to loan last, but you don't always, well, we don't choose that.
It's like whoever number you have is by number.
So whoever is like, you know, if you have the 7, 8, 9, 10, you know, you're probably going to be put on the gate last.
Right.
So I prefer that, you know, because then my horse doesn't have too much time to think inside the gate.
It's just basically go, ready, go.
Yeah.
And so once your horse is in the gate, what are you doing in there?
Like, I see you brought a, is this a saddle?
Yes, a saddle.
Yeah, that's what we use to ride them.
Can I pick it up?
Yeah, you can pick it up.
Dang, dude.
This is the lingerie of saddles, huh?
My God.
Japanese saddle.
Is it?
Yeah.
Wow.
Shout out to Japan.
Yeah, shout out to Japan, dude.
Very ironic that they have a driving instrument that they have put together.
No shade, but that's wild.
So how does this even?
I know, right?
I think I'd just rather wear thick underpants.
I'd be like, this is so small.
So this goes towards the front of the horse.
And you, and what is this?
What is this?
Those are sturds, yeah.
No.
Oh my gosh.
And this is yours, MG right here.
Yeah, MG, yeah.
Oh, that's cool, man.
so, and this is about as this is a pretty commonplace saddle, yeah.
That would probably like most of, yeah, unless you go like, there is a little bit bigger saddles, and they actually weigh smaller saddles.
This is probably like mid-sized saddle, you know?
There is like there is some saddles that probably like weigh one pound for like people, like jockeys, they struggle a lot with weight.
Oh, really?
They're basically just stirrups and that little tiny thing.
Honestly, like, it probably is like this big.
Some chubby jockey calls it there.
Yeah, like.
Okay, and so this hooks into the belts that go.
The gird, yeah, yeah, like it's like a like elastic band, you know.
We call them GERTs, you know that way.
Okay, so you're out there, you get on the you have the saddle, you're on the horse, and you're in the gate, and then what happens?
What are you doing while you're in the gate to keep the horse ready to race?
We just try to your best and to like just have a, we have another person that is kind of like helping you manage the horse while you're in the gate, and this happens more than maybe like 15 seconds you're in the gate, you know, 20 seconds, 25 seconds the most, you know.
So for that time, you have a person kind of helping you control the horse and kind of like make sure he's looking forward.
Just like a rodeo, almost like a rodeo when they're getting on the bull.
like that you know and then um hold on and wait till wait till the that they get open and then it's Liquid death.
You know, the summer gets the most out of you.
Physically, it drains you.
It'll suck the water.
It'll purge it.
Get it out of your skin, out of your body, out of your arms and legs.
It'll get you.
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And so once the gate opens, what is the first thing?
Does the horse automatically know to go?
Yeah, they know to go.
And then sometimes you have to encourage them, you know, and then whoever the plan, whatever the plan was with the trainer, whatever the trainer told you, like, hey, I want you to be in the front.
I want you to be, you know, mid-pack, you know, let two, three horses go.
I want you to be last, you know, then right away, then you try to do the best you can to stick to the plan.
Wow.
Is that the most, what's the most exciting point in the race if there is?
Like, is it right when that gate opens?
Is that frenetic?
It feels like it would be so, like, there's so many things happening at once.
Is it hard to kind of just stay in what's going on with you?
Yeah, the most definitely the gate because it's like an F1 race racing, you know, like the start, right?
Everybody, you want to get your position as soon as you can, you know, and then from that point on, so then you're able to like chill, relax, save your horse, or like, you know, those type of things, you know.
So the start is definitely like very crucial and very excited, but like a lot of adrenaline, a lot of rush going on.
To me, that part, and then, you know, like the last quarter of a mile of the race, you know, especially if I know, oh, I still have a lot of horse.
I still have a lot in the tank, you know, that's that's probably the most exciting thing.
How do you know if you have a lot in the tank?
Is it because you've previously tried that horse and got an idea of what's in that horse?
Or is it because in that moment you can kind of tell what's in the tank?
Both, you know, like because like you get to know the horse prior, you know, on training.
And I consider myself lucky, you know, because I can tell by just holding my reins, you know, like being in being in sync, being in, how do you say that's like synchronized or being in a mutual female?
Female volleyball squad, kind of, yeah, yeah, I feel you.
But, yeah, I know, you see, it's like synchronicity kind of, yeah, yeah, so and uh, all that, you know, like um, I get to feel my horse, you know, you feel the energy.
Like, they have a lot of energy.
Horses have a lot of energy, so you feel them, you know.
So, like, choose, they'll tell you if they're tired, or that's that's all.
Hey, you know what, that's that's all I got, but you know, I have you, you can tell when the horse give you everything, or you can tell when your horse is like, no, no, we have something, you know, there is little tricks that you can do mid-race to kind of test how much horse you have left, you know?
Okay, so what are some of those?
Take me through some of those, like just even small little things.
Small little things is like, for example, you know, you don't, you're um you're like comfortable holding him, you know, he's obeying what you're saying, and all of a sudden you kind of go like and just like you feel the push, the push, you're kind of shifting gears in a car.
You feel that, okay, I have it, so you can like you ease up on him and be like, okay, don't worry, I'll see what's up, baby.
We're gonna do it when we need to do it.
Yeah, yeah, okay.
Then sometimes you're asking the horse, and he goes nowhere, and he's like, oh, bro, it's gonna be a rough trip.
He's like looking at the concessions to his face.
Yes, basically, yeah.
Is there a way to turn around?
Say a horse kind of feels like it's not into it or it's gassed out or it's not having that flair in that race.
Is there a way to recalibrate that kind of horse or is it just kind of like sometimes that's just the way that it rolls?
Well, there's like horses, right?
It's a living creature.
So like, no, like in that, and that is nothing you can do to shift that.
You know, when a horse can give you all the air, when a fire is tired, there's no way you can pump air into him and all of a sudden.
Wouldn't that be great if they brought a pump out?
No, right.
So no, like basically you, I mean, it's our responsibility to just kind of like wrap up, you know, save him, you know, and.
Right, save him.
So then you're thinking about a chance for him to run a few weeks from now.
Yeah, yeah, you know, regroup, you know, like maybe he wasn't feeling good that day, you know, that's the other thing, you know, you can be on the favorite, but what if that horse that is specific day that he's going to run, she's not feeling it, you know, like, oh, he is about to get sick, you know, you know, sometimes when we are about to get a cold, you know, like you can feel it, you know, two, three days before that, you kind of feel a little bit.
So the same thing with horses, you know?
Wow, that's so interesting, man.
We got a question that came right here for you, Mario.
Yo, Mr. Gutierrez, got a question for you, big dog.
What is it like straddling one of those land sharks with millions of people watching you?
How do you stay composed and not absorb the pressure that is being a jockey in the Kentucky Derby?
Yeah, are there races like the Kentucky Derby?
Thank you, brother Gang Babby.
Are there races like that Kentucky Derby where it's that just you just feel the energy so much bigger?
Yeah.
I think the Kentucky Derby should be on your bucket list, you know, choose to go and experience like 160,000 people, you know, all ice looking and like the 20 horses that are competing there.
The build up to the Kentucky Derby is like, it's a different bass.
So take me through.
Can we see your race when your first win there?
And would you say it was 2016, 2012?
12. And how many times have you watched this a lot?
You know, not very many times.
I haven't re-watched it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Larry Colmas with the call.
Okay, so where are you at in this one, Mario?
19?
They're off.
And the purple?
And as expected, Triniburg had a great start.
Gemologist is all about the first time.
Okay, so let's stop when we get to that.
I'll go back next to the side cam again so we can see.
I'll go back next so we can see that wall where it's like the flock.
Okay, right here.
So what's kind of going on right here?
Like, horses are coming out.
Some of them, I guess, like, are some of the, like, some of the riders are in the lead here.
Like, is that because the jockey has kind of commanded them to be in the lead, or did the horse just come out strong?
No, a lot of horses are like being command to go to the lead, you know, and everybody's trying to be.
It's like, not necessarily that you want to go to the lead, but you want to get a clear path so you can be like, maybe like to be in front of a horse, whatever horse is behind you, because that way you can get your position faster, you know?
Okay.
And now if a horse comes up, say you come out of the gate and another horse kind of gets in front of you a little bit, is that bad for your horse?
Yeah, because then you had to regroup.
You had to check your horse.
Now you have to weigh whatever that horse in front of you is going to do.
And then you hop in the, after that, then you get to do your strategy or basically choose plan B or plan C. Now you're there.
Now choose what you do.
You chose to stay there or you chose to go around that horse in front of you.
It's just a lot of, like you have to adjust in the moment.
Is there a moment?
There's a horse here that's in the back and he's only in the back by about three lengths, it looks like.
And is that right, you think?
How many lengths has he been in the back?
Yeah, he's probably like around six, seven links behind.
My length math is what he used to be.
I was just trying to sound like I knew what I was saying.
So he's about six or seven links back.
Does that horse, he still has a chance to win, though, huh?
Of course.
Yeah, no, of course he has.
Unless that horse strategy was to go into the front.
He's not going to the front.
If that was the case, then he's totally screwed.
He's not liking his chances.
And the jockeys realizing at that point, oh, this is probably just not going to be good.
This is not going to be good, yeah.
Okay.
Okay, cool.
Let's keep it cruising then.
And where are you at right here?
On the outside.
Oh, there you are.
You're kind of in the middle right now, right?
Isn't that the purple helmet?
Yeah, the purple helmet.
I'm in the middle.
I'm going to bunch a little gas.
It's going to have some gas in it, huh?
Hansen's hard to control early.
Jemologist is fifth on the outside.
I'll have another as next.
Okay, so let me stop it up here.
So you have turns here.
Like, how much turns do you have?
Two.
Two turns.
So you have this one, and then coming out of this one, yeah.
Now, what do you do during the turns, man?
Well, you try to save as many turns.
Yeah.
Yeah, because you can't do much, like even if you're playing a racing game or something, like on the turn, you're like, Yeah, you just have to be in the turn.
There's not, you can't.
I feel like it's hard to use strategy.
Yeah, no, you have to, you just have to help your horse to take the turn the best way possible, you know, and then like set up your coming out of this first turn because you're going to get a stretch again, you know?
Okay.
And then line up to get the second, the last turn, you know.
Okay.
Okay, let's keep it cruising here.
The rail will take charge Indy as they move into the turn.
And then it's Daddy Knows Best on the Far Outside Liaison, Creative Cause, Optimizer along the rail.
Now, do you feel like you had a chance in this race right here?
What were you feeling like?
I did that I have a chance because this is a horse that I like I was I was I got very familiar with him before going to the Kentucky Derby and you have to understand like this never happened to me it never happens to nobody all of a sudden a kid coming from a C racetrack or D racetrack you know like uh and all of a sudden he is in the Kentucky Derby first of all it was a lot of doubts it's like you know like well is he even have it you know is it really that can he be good enough to be in this type of right does he even have his adult teeth a lot of people are wondering you know like
a lot yeah oh they're probably thinking oh he's totally gonna melt down you know or things like that or the pressure and all these things was there a lot of pressure no no i i'm very lucky that i don't the pressure i i'm very good under pressure you know and i couldn't i couldn't like commute and you're in fourth right here yeah i'm in fourth right now so this is the second turn this is the second turn wow i thought i was gonna finish second because it's if you see that horse in the in front okay he's like super super in front of me oh totally and then but
i might horse still has some guys so i'm thinking like oh my god you know i'm gonna finish second in the kentoki there i was you know i was so stopping right here right here okay what do you do on the horse here so you have now you all we also have i just want to show this here this is called a what whip crop okay whip or crop and then we have your helmet here okay and so that's pretty light everybody wears kind of the same type of helmet yeah okay do you now at this point how much times can you whip the horse as
much as you want this yeah uh but a lot of rules have changed it now now we're we're not allowed you know but i i'm never like uh um um known to hit my horses a lot you know so if you see here like i hear once and then you push your horse you know you had to give him a chance to respond you know but um back uh back in 2012 there wasn't like a a restriction on how many times you can whip a horse it was like a stepdad out there if you want yeah you could have gone like ta-ta
like you know but does the horse does it hurt the horse much it doesn't what do you think well it depends i think back in the days it used to if i if i show you one of the the the the the um whips they they used to use the the old timers you know like they used to use some serious huh yeah that's interesting it's not as like i mean if this were lead it would be tough oh yeah yeah yeah yeah okay so here we go let's go through this man this is crazy so what is your strategy right here like do you have any well no that does
it like as soon as you go to the last stretch that's just like try to go as far like try to ask your horse to finish like to be yelling at the horse yeah verbally what do you say come on here come another has won the kentucky terrainister nullahan and with the day one must have been i was already trying there like a little bit doug o'neal accepting the hugs all around oh
man that must have been awesome yeah that was recorded then that this is a horse that i guess like you know like you say compared that's like our super bowl you know like so my whole life i was 24 years old i think most of my whole life like just flash in front of me you know thinking that maybe this is why i don't watch this replay because then i get emotional a little bit dude i'm emotional i wasn't even in it i mean i've done steroids and that's the closest i've come i used to do them in high school i think watching the race here with you i understand
why i don't watch the race a lot oh i'm sorry man but it's really exciting i think also it's a way to kind of channel with just that that it's even a possibility for people you know of course it's inspiring like if there's young men out there who think about being jockeys young latino men out there we have a good latino audience um who think about being jockeys or uh it's interesting or they might have a kid who's like a more of a petite size kid and like what could i get my kid into yeah you know you don't think that man it's really almost the last thing you think about
probably i feel like it's either hide and go seek or being a jockey i feel like if you're kind of more uh petite size you know um what uh so take me to through your journey as like how you got into like doing horror like how did it start for you yeah well like you say winning this race it's kind of like it flashes you know i thought about myself like you know we're back at home you know my dad tried to you know provide better from us you know like uh um what part veracruz oh i've
never been there where is it's nice it's nice it's nice it sounds nice it's nice it's nice you know it's on the beach or no it has we have a lot a lot of beach yeah so but i'm not from the from from the beach part of the state you know like uh i'm more like um to the inside i'm i'm not maybe like two hours oh you're on the gulf side yeah yeah oh wow that's interesting right up in the top around there that's where i'm from exactly around there yeah that's where i'm that's exactly where i'm from it's a big place no
i mean when i was there it's probably like you know the the town was around probably 10 000 people oh wow so you must be like a hero huh oh when i was there yeah all my friends and everything you know yeah so because 10 000 is pretty small i mean it's a small town small town you know it was very small very poor town too yeah very very poor you know a lot of uh horses like um a lot was horsing like a big business there no no no for like uh That's how it's very crazy that I got into.
Like, you know, even from my town, like that and anything around there, I was the only one doing it because, like I said, my dad, we were like really poor.
We're very, very poor.
So my dad landed this job and this farm.
And the owner of this farm happened to own a code horse, you know, and then he saw my dad.
And my dad is a little bit smaller than me.
Oh, really?
He probably looked at him and be like, oh, he could be a jockey.
So he went and asked my dad, hey, are you interested in learning how to become a jockey?
You know, I want you to ride my horse.
And then my dad said yes, because that's probably like a way for him to do better and earn more money for us.
What a rare job, too.
Yeah.
So my dad said yes.
So then I was like probably seven years old when I was watching my dad becoming a jockey.
So I was like, I love my dad, you know?
So I was like, no, I'm going to be just like my dad.
I want to be a jockey.
And since that early age, I just knew that's exactly what I wanted to do.
Your dad must be so proud of you, huh?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Very proud.
Does he still live there in Veracruz or no?
Yeah, my whole family.
I'm by myself here.
Me and my wife.
And your wife, yeah.
Okay, so your dad gets into it, then you.
So how do you get on the horse then?
Well, then.
Was your dad good?
Was your dad a good jockey?
I think so.
I think my dad was you.
I think he was better than what people wanted to give him credit, you know, as a jockey.
He did it for very short, probably like six, six, seven years, you know.
Hey, you want to pull your jacket down in the back?
It's just right.
Just so you've no, you don't take it off.
You can leave it on.
No, I'm just saying pull it down, I think.
No, just on the edges.
Sorry.
I can take it off.
I'm a little bit hot.
I was going to ask you, yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
I turned the AC down.
How are you?
No, that's fine.
That's fine.
That's fine.
Yeah, it's a cool jacket, man.
What is that style called?
I don't know.
My wife dressed me.
Yeah, she did.
She did a good job.
It almost has like an authentic, like, I don't want to say Mexican look, but authentic.
Something like that, yeah.
Something like a, I haven't seen it in a long time.
But it's cool.
Okay, so then how do you get on the horse?
So your dad's jockeying.
Is he jockeying in races?
Is he jockeying?
No, yeah, and quarter horse races in Mexico.
Very popular quarter horse racing in Mexico.
All over Mexico is very popular.
Bring that up.
I want to see where that quarter horse is.
And what?
It's like the little ponies, the little ones?
No, no, no.
Big, big horses.
Oh, it's full horses.
Oh, it's a normal size horse, quarter horse, but it's a very short race.
It's like, you know, like one of those cars that you go like a quarter of a mile, something like that.
Oh, dang.
So it's like drag racing.
And they're more bulk, you know?
Yeah, yeah.
So it's like drag racing.
And it's a popular event, too, in Mexico?
It's very popular in Mexico.
Like in all the states in Mexico, there's a lot of coro horse.
That was like how it started when I was 14. I was doing a lot of coro horse racing in Mexico before I went to Mexico City.
Is it like a, what would you compare it to like a sport here?
Because it's more popular there than it is here?
Cora horse racing?
Probably.
Yeah.
I think it's illegal here.
Oh, right.
No, no, no.
No, I shouldn't say that.
No, it's not illegal.
We have cora horse racetracks here, but there is not a lot of them.
Right.
I was saying match races.
What match racing means is like in Mexico, like anybody that has a farm, you know, could build their own racetrack and they can put together a car, like five, six races, you know.
Right.
And then you charge people to come watch your event and then that's match racing, you know?
I think that's, I don't think that's legal here to do it.
Yeah, because I think a lot of horses, like it's all kind of, it might be owned by a lot of like bigger groups and stuff, you know.
So they don't want like the smaller guy getting up, you know?
Okay, cool.
So then you get, you start doing the quarter horse racing, and do you do well at it?
Yeah, I was doing really well.
That's, I was doing really well by this time.
I mean, from I was seven, now I'm 14, now I'm started racing my quarter horse for my dad.
And there's now people calling my dad every weekend, every 15 days.
Hey, is your kid available?
We want him to run these races this day.
So my dad kind of wasn't my first agent.
So he will, like, people will call him.
Okay.
And then my dad will say, hey, you know, we're going to go race here and there.
You're like, my kid's not available.
Like, we want him to ride a bear.
And you're like, that's not, we don't do that.
He has horses.
That will happen.
So that's how I got into it.
Four years, I did it until I finished my high school in Mexico, in that little town.
And then I asked my dad, because now I'm like, I'm like, oh, wow, like, I know I'm good here.
Like, I know I'm good here.
And by this time, I think we were a little bit better off.
So I think we finally were able to put in our farm a satellite TV.
And then we used to get ESPN.
And then ESPN on the weekends, there will be a...
There will be a show that a half an hour show will talk specifically about the Hipotromo in Mexico.
About horse racing in Mexico.
Uh-huh.
We only have one racetrack, official racetrack in Mexico City.
This is the Mexico City, the Hipotromo de las Americas.
So there will be 30 minutes.
30 minutes of kind of giving you the highlights of the weekend, you know, only highlighting the big races.
So I will watch that show every week.
I will watch the show and I will see names and I will see like these top jokes.
And now in my head, I'm like, you know, okay, I know I'm good here, but am I like, how good am I?
This is it here.
Yeah, this is it.
Oh, that's for that's an old picture.
Wow, so then you get it in your head, can I go there and do it?
Yeah, so did you go perform?
How do you say it again?
The podromo?
Podromo?
Di las Américas.
Américas?
That one?
Down a little bit more down.
You'll see it like that one.
No, the one next above down.
That one.
Oh, Repodromo de las Emericas.
See, that's a big place, huh?
Yeah, so.
And it's only in Mexico City.
And it's only in Mexico City.
So you went there?
Yeah, as soon as I finished my school.
Did you play any other sports in school or anything?
I used to play soccer, goalie, you know, but I was so small, you know, with my friends.
The craziest, yeah.
Who would put you as the goalie?
I know.
Not to say that, but hey, we have one of the best goalies on Mexico, Jorge Campos.
You do?
He was smart.
Oh, he was smart.
Yeah, he was smart.
Oh, wow.
So maybe you're looking.
What do I know, man?
Yeah, come on.
So, yeah.
So, Jorge Campos.
Let me see him.
Yeah, see?
Oh, he's a legend, huh?
Yeah.
I want a picture of him in gold.
He's a flashy guy, huh?
I like the colors.
Yeah, he likes the colors.
Oh, that was like, I remember when I was growing up, that was like everybody wanted to go to Campos.
That's cool, man.
Okay, so then you get there.
So I asked my dad, I said, like, dad, I really don't want to go to school.
You know, I really want to go and, you know, challenge Michelle, try it.
You just please give me one year.
I was begging him for one year opportunity.
And then I convinced him.
I packed my stuff and I went to Mexico City.
And yeah.
Was it scary or no?
It was very, well, it was, but like, you know, when you're so young and you really want, you don't really think about that.
You know, I wasn't thinking how was it going to be when I was there.
My goal was like, I just want to convince my dad to let me go, right?
I really want this, right?
So I convinced him.
So the moment that I got in Mexico City, I was like, geez, okay, now what?
You know?
That's such a great statement.
It's so much when you're young, you don't think about what it's going to be like when you get there.
You just think about what you're thinking about.
Yeah.
And that's one thing that's kind of a bummer is you get older.
You start thinking, what is it going to be like when I get there?
Actually, I think that's one of the bummers.
We start thinking too much of like, you know, like, I think that's probably what hold us a lot of people to like really go for what we really want.
Yeah, because you're right when you're young, like, I just got to get there and then I'll see what happens.
Okay, so you get there and how do you get into the race?
Has your dad already agented you onto a horse or what's going on?
No, my dad stayed home, you know.
So now I'm like, you know, my, like, even though we're known in our little town and like the region that we were like match racing, you know, my dad stays home.
You know, I'll go by myself to the racetrack.
And you're Grande Pescado in your town.
Yeah.
So now I'm going there.
And then, like I say, I didn't talk about how I was going to do things, you know.
So all of a sudden I'm in Mexico City.
I want to go to the, I want to somehow ride horses in Mexico City.
And then I'm like, okay, well, I guess I go to the racetrack, right?
So I go to the racetrack.
I'm like asking people, hey, how do you get in the racetrack?
Blah, blah, blah.
You know, they, oh, there's this gay, go to this gate.
So I'm walking through the gate.
I have a garbage bag full of some my pictures and things like that to show people that I'm fucking like I'm legit.
I can ride horses, right?
So and then there is a security guard in there and be like, okay, I want to go in.
He's like, where's your license?
I'm like, well, I don't have a license, you know?
This is like Rudy.
It's like Rudy Rutieris.
So I'm like, well, you know, like, but I want to work.
How do I do that?
He's like, oh, you first have to get a license.
And the guy doesn't give me any information on how.
That guy never does.
Yeah, goddamn, you know.
So now I'm like, he sent me back.
He doesn't care.
So somebody else told me there is like multiple entries.
So like the next day I go try another one.
Same thing happens.
They reject me.
And finally, I land to a gate where like the guy is somewhere kind of nice, you know?
And then he told me, no, you know what?
You know, like come, tell them, you know, come tomorrow.
I'll let you in tomorrow.
And then you're going to go to the stewards.
That's the judges, you know, everybody.
And then just tell them what you want to do and things like that.
And are there other guys like you trying to get in there?
No, no, I don't think, no, I guess everybody now I know once I got in, you know, how you got into the racetrack is like you had to have somebody in the racetrack that kind of brings you in, you know, like even if it's like a writer, a person that is an exercise rider, you know, a trainer, they can bring you in, be like, hey, you know, I want you to introduce you to this, or I want you to be a jockey, or things like that, you know.
I didn't know anybody there, so I just so I go.
It's like trick-or-treating.
He knew three security guards and two weren't.
No, exactly.
Exactly.
So finally, I went into this.
It's good to know, first of all, that security guards are assholes everywhere.
That's the best thing to know.
Yeah, they put it in the business.
But they do their job.
No matter what country, where it is, they're the same guy.
Yeah, exactly.
Okay, so you go in, so you finally get in front of the right people?
Yeah, well, no, they weren't even the right people.
I went to the judge, you know, to the stewards.
We call them stewards, you know, the ones that regulate and make the rules to apply to the trainers and everybody.
So I went to their office and they're like, okay, I hear you want an interview with us.
And I'm like, yeah, yeah, I want to be able to, you know, to, I want a license, I want to ride horses, I want to know, like, and they were like looking at me.
And I guess nobody does it my way, you know, or the way I was doing it.
And they're like, oh, kid, no, you're super lost.
It's like, you know, this is what you have to do.
You had to go to each barn, you know, you had to first try to land a job.
Let's see whoever employs you, you know, to be an exercise rider or to be, to ride a pony.
First, you have to have a job, you know.
Once somebody is willing to employ you, then you can come.
He's going to have to sign some papers and like that's how you're going to get a license.
So I'm like, he's like, so I encourage you to go to each barn and just like knock on the door and see who.
So then you're going barn to barn, huh?
And you found someone?
I found someone.
The same day I found someone that was like, okay, I'll give you a chance, you know?
And then it went well?
It went well.
It went well.
I got my license.
I thought it went well for me.
I got to exercise horses in the morning for him, you know.
And then that provided me somewhere to sleep.
I was living at the Mexico City Racetrack for my first six months.
And do they have lodging for the riders and stuff?
No.
Where were you guys sleeping over there?
I was sleeping on the stove.
Really?
On the stove?
No, in the stable.
Oh, in a stove?
Really?
In like hay or something?
It was like a little camping little mattress.
It was there, you know?
And was there a lot of guys in there?
No, no.
I was shooting myself.
Because I'm coming from a small town, right?
So everybody's from the city.
So I didn't know where I don't have anywhere else to go.
Dang, it's so wild.
It's interesting that, like, stories from Mexico are now like stories from America, like 50 years ago or 70 years ago.
You know what I'm saying?
It's just interesting.
Yeah.
It's interesting, man.
So that happened, but like quickly, I went there and in 2005, I was able to ride my very first race in Mexico City.
And Hippo Drone?
Yeah.
Wow.
It didn't go well.
It didn't?
Yeah.
No.
I think it's last probably by a lot.
And did you feel like what?
Well, this, I remember the trainer.
Now I had changed different burns.
I think that when I was getting ready to finally do my debut, the guy handed me some pump and he was like, kid, you know, I'm going to, when I put you on a horse, I'm going to make sure at least you finish top four.
You know, you don't have to, you're going to finish top four.
You know, and I was so pumped.
So finally, you know, when I was walking into the Yocke's room and I was so excited, I was like doing this and everything.
I was so excited.
You have on 11 rosaries.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
So I'm going to the race and the guy, the trainer told me, you know, I don't want you to do anything.
I want you to look down and just push your horse.
Try to change whips, you know, like change your whip from the right to left, left to right.
You know, I want you to look pretty.
I want people to look at you and I want you to look good, you know.
Don't worry about anything else, you know?
So I'm pumped.
I'm going to finish top four.
So he's not guaranteeing me that we're going to win.
But I'm pumped, right?
So race goes, you know, we're coming down the stretch and I'm like putting my head down and I start riding my horse and I'm switching sticks, everything.
I finally see the wire.
I'm going to stop my horse and I got, I'm not even kidding you.
There is some horse.
I'm not even kidding you.
There is some horses were coming back.
I was like, I was so devastated.
I was like, I wanted to go home.
I was like, oh, maybe I should go right quarter horses.
Maybe I should just worry.
Oh, my God.
It's so funny just to imagine somebody all they can.
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Let me think about another question here.
Okay, so then you get up to, so how do you get up to Canada then?
And why Canada?
Well, because I got the opportunity.
Well, then, like I said, then it took me a while to people to know me and start giving me the chance.
But once people give me the chance in Mexico City, I started doing really good.
Okay, so you started picking up STEM.
I'm picking up STEM like right away, you know.
I finished top apprentice on 2005 and I finished top apprentice in 2016.
And I only wrote 2016, like maybe like half of the season.
2006.
2006, sorry.
Yeah.
To the mid-season because like on early 2016, somebody from Canada came down to Mexico City and asking, looking for an apprentice and a professional writer.
So somebody said like, hey, there is guy from Canada.
He's looking to bring some.
And he took you up there?
Yeah, he took me up there.
Was that cool?
That was really cool.
Well, it was the whole experience was cool.
Like, again, you don't think about what you get, how is it going to be there, right?
So now I'm excited.
I'm like, okay.
I call my dad.
I remember I called my dad.
I said, like, hey, dad, what are you thinking?
He's like, well, you're doing this.
by this time, my dad is like, I don't see you ever coming back to school.
So just go, go, go, try to go all the way, see how far you can go, right?
And is there money?
Are you making money there in the Mexico City?
In Mexico City, I was making, because like I said, look, we're very, very poor.
So I was making, I thought I was like, now I'm really helping my mom.
I'm finally buying some furniture for the house, you know, some cows, some new TPs, you know.
I'm upgrading.
I'm helping my dad, my dad, like now we're like finally living and like, you know, we can buy shoes, you know.
Right, you're helping out.
Yeah, I'm helping out.
You're helping out.
So yeah, and like I said, I'm picking up steam, you know, so I'm good right now.
So when this opportunity came, you know, everybody was like, you know, well, yeah, we encourage you to go.
My dad, once my dad told me kind of it was good, like he gave me the, not the okay, but kind of like the reinforcement of like, you know, like do the jump.
I knew I was going, right?
So I had to wait for my papers.
Did you have to ride up there on a horse or you fly up there?
No, I flew there.
My first time in an airplane, too.
No.
So now, like, it's finally like my day to go.
I remember I was so, I was, well, I was always like a mama's boy, you know?
So I remember asking them to please, please come to Mexico City and sleep with me before I was going there.
Before you go?
Before I go, you know?
And y'all slept there?
Well, in my room, you know, they came and stayed with me, you know?
Oh, yeah, to wish you off, right?
Yeah, yeah.
And do you have siblings too or no?
I have three siblings.
I have a younger brother and two older sisters.
And do they ride or no?
No, no, nobody rides.
Is it a female sport as well or no?
Yeah, of course.
No, no, it's female.
We have female jockeys here in California and everywhere, everywhere, all the way.
And Mexico, not much.
But now my brother now became an agent, a jockey agent.
And yeah, there is probably like seven girls being jockeys in Mexico City.
Is he your agent yet, your brother?
No.
Okay.
No, no.
He has to improve a lot.
Dude, put Nick on a horse or put me on a rehab, dude.
I'll see when I come in.
So yeah, that's how I ended up in Canada.
With no money, I took, I don't know, I think I took like 10,000 pesos.
And my goal was like with this 10,000 pesos, I'm going to exchange for Canadian money.
And then I'm supposed to have an agent.
I supposed to have a place to stay.
And I supposed to have a car to travel around, right?
This is what they offered me.
This is what they told me.
About 500 bucks, you had.
Yeah, but when I got there, I exchanged all my money.
I think I got like 400, 450 back in the day, something like that.
I don't know.
No more than 400.
So there is like no agent, there is no place to stay.
So they go and they put me in this hotel, very close to the racetrack.
Now I know it's very close.
I didn't even know where the racetrack was back in those days, you know.
I had to pay for my own hotel, right?
So I stayed there three nights and all my money.
Basically, I just spent my money in the hotel.
And then I had no food.
I don't speak English.
I basically was living on chips from a vending machine.
Somehow I knew what a vending machine was.
What kind of chips was it?
You remember?
Potato chips and like some other type of chips.
I don't know.
I was drinking water to the fish.
I do Fritos.
If I do a vending machine, I do Fritos.
I don't even think Fritos were in Canada back in the day.
They might not have been.
You know what?
You could be right about that.
So I was starving for three days.
Couldn't speak.
But that helps your weight, dude.
So you get on a hole.
I'm pretty sure I got a super guy, you know?
Yeah, so I was like, God damn.
You show up at nine pounds, 10 ounces on the old horse.
Exactly.
This is really funny because finally my agent shows up and now he's taking me to the racetrack, right?
Oh, that's exactly what.
Now, this is a typical agent.
That's just like Hollywood.
They show up just when it's time for you to try and make some money.
Okay, yeah.
So he took me to the racetrack and then he showed me the racetrack.
And when I look at the racetrack, I was like, I'm used to in Mexico City run, ride in a mile racetrack, you know, a mile.
This racetrack is five foot lengths.
It's like compared to a mile racetrack.
Now you go like in a very tiny circle.
And I was like, oh, this is the racetrack?
And I'm like, Jesus, what am I doing here?
You know?
And I was like, okay.
And right then in my head, I made my plan.
I was like, no, I'm going to ride one week.
If I win, whatever I win, buy my ticket.
I'm going back.
I'm out of here.
I'm not going to stay here.
So that's what happened.
I rode there the first week.
I won like four races, something like that, you know?
And then I couldn't wait for like payday, right?
And then I was like, okay, where's the check?
So they come with the news.
They'll be like, no, we pay here every 15, every two weeks.
So I'm like, oh, god damn it.
I had to stay another week.
Stay another week.
Okay, I'll wait another week.
I wait another week, win another four races.
I don't know how many races I won, but I know when the check came, it says like around like 16,000, 15,000, something like that.
And then the first thing I did is like go to the calculator, how many pesos are these things, you know?
And it was a lot of pesos.
And I was like, I'm going to stay here.
I'm going to stay here.
This is not too bad.
That's crazy, man.
And so you stayed in Canada for how long?
I stayed in Canada all the way up to 2011.
That's cool.
I love Canada, man.
So nice.
He's in Vancouver, too.
Vancouver.
Oh, yeah.
Vancouver is cool, man.
Kitts Beach or something.
Is that out there?
It's a different, it's not, it's not, it's not, that's not the name of the beach.
St. Kitts or something?
Is there a Kitts?
I should know.
I live there like.
Yeah, you probably.
I should have known, but I'm horrible.
But do you go to the beach there sometimes?
Like, they have rocks and people biking and everything.
Biking and everything, yeah.
A lot of lakes, too.
I love Canada, yeah.
And the people are so nice.
People are super nice.
People are super nice.
People are so nice in Canada, man.
I don't know how they did it.
Now, they can't solve this COVID thing.
Canada's still closed from COVID.
Has Mexico Been closed for COVID?
I don't think they never really closed.
I don't think they never really closed.
It's the biggest bunch of bullshit.
I feel like it's such a biggest bullshit that they pop.
I used to have those talks when this COVID began, you know, because I was like, I think everybody was really following a lot.
And I was following a lot what's happening in Mexico.
And I hear like the new president talk and how he was like, you know, his explanation for this virus and everything like that.
And his reason why he wouldn't close the borders.
Yeah, people will be some restriction, but he would not close the borders, you know.
And then I was like, why can't the United States do this?
And even my wife was like, you know, this president doesn't know what he's doing.
You know, he's going to like, because the healthcare system in Mexico is not the same as here, right?
So I was like, well, we'll see.
We'll just, we'll see, right?
And it's fine.
It's fine.
Unbelievable.
It's unbelievable, man.
What they do.
You can even see it here.
Like, you look Florida, you look Texas, you look, or even, even, even California, you know, like how many, you know, we went like super crazy, shut everything down.
Now that everything is going back to normal, you know, everything's fine.
Everything is fine, you know?
Yeah, it's weird.
Everything's just suddenly back in everything.
Yeah, it's like nothing really changed, right?
Like even in our job now, like going into Delmar season in San Diego, now they're it seems that it's gonna, it's nice, but now for us in this regard into COVID, it's almost like that.
Now they say they're not forcing us to get the vaccine, but they really are, because now it's like if I want to go and do my normal training in the mornings, I have to be vaccinated.
Oh, yeah.
Otherwise, I'm not going to be allowed to go in the mornings and train.
I'm going to be allowed to race, but I need to be in a separate room.
And to me, look, I'm not educated, highly educated or anything, but to me, it's like we all the same family.
We're riding here in Santanita.
Nobody's getting tested.
What's different for right now?
Why it has to be so strict in Del Mar than what it is right now?
So, but now those are the rules and we need to apply to the rules.
It's the same thing.
This guy, Cole Beasley, who plays for, I think, Buffalo now, he just said the same thing that he's a wide receiver for NFL for American football.
And he has to, he doesn't want to get vaccinated, but now he has to like practice separately.
It's just ridiculous.
Like why?
He can play, but he's still allowed to play in the game.
I know.
It's just crazy.
It's like right now, right now, I'm allowed to go in the mornings, do my, and we're not testing.
You know, we're just, we're still, we're not doing anything, you know, you know, even the restaurants, you know, why don't you, why can't you just, if everything is open up, I think they're going to have a little bit of restrictions.
I don't know.
Well, it's just, it's also crazy, like, the mask manage lifted in LA, right?
Also in Tennessee.
But if you're on an airplane, you have to have a mask on in between.
It's like, for what?
And also the whole time, like, so I've been living in Tennessee a lot during the pandemic.
And like everyone in Florida isn't dead.
Everyone in Tennessee actually has been having a great time.
And it's just, I don't know.
It doesn't really make any sense.
You could say whatever you want about the science, but even the, if you test the science in reality, which is how you create science with hypothesis, certainly huge cities not getting sick has to be a valid test.
Yeah, no, definitely.
But it's amazing that Mexico didn't even shut down.
I knew that.
I knew they didn't.
I'm thinking of myself.
I've been to Mexico.
And I'm sure there's still restaurants and things like that.
Yeah.
People even like Africa.
I was thinking I've been to Africa a couple times.
Like, I'm like, you telling me that they wandered through Africa and got masks on everyone in Africa?
You're out of your mind.
It just all seemed kind of crazy.
Let's get into a couple more questions.
We had one right here that came in from these two.
Well, here we go right here.
What are these called?
These track racks.
Track tricks.
I don't know if you call them track rats.
Beautiful ladies, I'm going to call them.
Hey, Theo.
Hey, Mario.
We just had a quick question.
We're from Mobile, and we were just trying to figure out where did all the rich horse trainers and owners hang out at?
Oh, dang.
There are any bars or restaurants or golf courses that we should start going to.
And Theo, we'll see you September 18th to celebrate my best friend's 21st birthday in Cincinnati.
Oh, congratulations.
Yeah, gang, gang.
That Cincinnati show is going to be great, man.
Yeah, I guess these ladies are looking to meet some of the owners.
How do they somehow manage to get into suites and ready?
Yeah, no, like I say, the people that own the horses, they're, you know, like at the different level, you know, so yeah.
Actually, but now there is like something called popular they're doing like these syndicates, you know, like when there is like a group of people.
There is a guys, there is a couple of guys that are doing it here in Santanita too, where like there is two guys, they get a bunch of people chip in a little bit of money, and then they own like small pieces of a horse, you know?
Oh, interesting.
Could Theo just like buy a horse that is already?
I don't think he can afford a horse.
I'll tell you this.
If I can, I'll tell you what horse it is.
It's named Tom Thumb, and I met him one time at the Pasadena Fair, and it's the world.
You get to name your horse whatever you want.
No, actually, you just have to, you have to, what is it, like, we have some type of, Send the name to a company, and then they will give you the okay.
But there is a bunch of little tricks that you can do.
But could Theo just buy one that's already like trained and ready to go and then have you as this rider?
There is different.
Does it really complicate to explain that?
Because we have like all type of races, like in a whole car.
If I can show you up, you know, we have what it calls claiming racing.
Okay.
And then I think the lowest we have here in Santanita is like 25. This is the horse I met right here.
And it's Tom Thumb.
This is right there.
He is so tiny.
You may want to take him home to the music.
It's a little four-legged superhero right there.
How long are you going to be here today for?
He'll be here all day.
How small is he?
Dang, boy.
He's so small, baby.
He's so small.
And he's alive too?
You got to give him a great.
So someone can buy.
Say, how does someone get in a claiming race?
What is that?
But that's kind of like the low level races.
You know, Horses that cannot compete in an allowance race, you know, they're a little bit lesser, you know, that you try to put them where they can win, you know, so you don't want to break the horse heart, you know.
So, you kind of had to first find where his level at and then raise them there so he can be competitive, you know.
So, there is, I think it's $20 some thousand dollars, the cheapest we have here, maybe, maybe a little bit cheaper.
And then, so you just contact you trainer or a trainer there and say, hey, I'm so-and-so, and I want to claim a horse, and you can claim that horse.
And put him in the race?
Well, you had to do this, you had to do that while he's racing.
Oh.
So, so after the race is yours.
No, if you put the claim in before, before he's going to race, right?
So, now if the claimant goes true, that means the horse, nothing happens to the horse, the horse clears the veterinarian and everything because they want to make sure that the new owner gets a sound horse.
So, because you already put the claim and the horse came back from the race, good, now you won't, you're just yours.
Really?
You just pick him up?
That's it.
You just pick him up and call your trainer and get him going, huh?
Get him going.
Damn.
That's how you do it.
That's what I said.
You can own a horse.
We could do it.
We have room here, I think, maybe.
I would name it.
I have one horse, actually, Brendan, that we keep back here sometimes, but that's a different show.
He eats kratom and nicotine.
Yeah, yeah, he does.
He's definitely on a unique diet.
What are the fitness things that you do fitness-wise to stay in shape, man?
I train boxing.
You do?
Yeah.
Yeah, I train boxing.
Just because that's what I love.
Right.
And then that's the only thing that I'm actually excited to go and do.
I try, do the normal training, you know, the cardio and weights and these things, but it's just like it's not exciting for me, you know.
But I go boxing, it gets me the cardio, it gives me the strength.
So something.
And are there other exercises that they ask you that help you be a jockey?
Or is it just about kind of keeping your weight down?
Keeping your weight down.
Well, we gallop, we ride, like I said, we train a lot of horses during the week.
So that kind of we get our fitness somehow from there too.
Like we can do some type of squats, you know, a lot of leg work.
You know, our legs need to be strong.
Our core, our arm.
Because the position you're in, can you bring that up, Nick?
Do you mind?
Just when he's on a horse?
Yeah.
Because you're in there.
The goal is to stay as small as possible.
Oh, yeah.
Aerodynamic too.
And is there a certain like a nucleus point on the horse you want to stay on top of, kind of?
In the center, yeah.
Okay.
Wow, man.
And some, now, can a little person, like a, or they used to call Midget, but a little person, can they be a jockey or no?
They could.
I think that would be difficult because the arm length, you know, it probably.
Okay, so you have to have more.
So the arm length is a little bit limited.
Yeah.
Or maybe they wouldn't be as strong as, you know, the push would be like.
Yeah, I'm just curious as if why wouldn't more men or women like that be jockeys?
And what about a child?
Anybody ever try to sneak a child in there?
Can a child do it?
No, no, you had to be, I think you had to be 16, I think, is probably the youngest you can assign, probably 18, but you have to be assigned by your parents.
And so does the horse get easier?
Yeah, that guy is going to have a hoot, but he could do it.
Hezbollah, dude.
Yeah.
He could do it, man.
Yeah, no.
I would like to see him do it, huh?
I think that would be dangerous.
We didn't send him down to the Hipodro.
Mexico, yeah.
Yeah, we need to send him down to Mexico City, man, and see what happens to him.
Very funny.
So the horse gets excited when it wins?
You feel like the horse knows that it won?
Oh, yeah, I think so.
I'm not going to tell you.
Every horse is, you know, but yeah, they know when they win.
They even get, probably, you know, because they have a groom, right?
The groom is the one that they probably spend the most amount of time with the groom, you know, every single day from super early to super late in the afternoon, you know.
So, I mean, these grooms love these horses, right?
So if their horse wins, you know, they probably get the extra carriage, the extra.
So they really know.
Everything.
Everything.
Bobbing for apples, whatever they want.
Yeah.
Wow.
I'm trying to think of some other questions that we had.
Nick, did anything pop in your head or anything good come in?
Here's a question from a beautiful young lady, obviously, and this is from the Dust Bowl era.
This question, and that's just a joke, ladies.
A beautiful kid.
And that one kid looks a little bit like, I'm going to say it, like Hasbullah, who just sent in, who we just saw the picture of.
What's up?
And Mario.
We are from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in Canada.
And we have a question from Mario.
Our racetrack in town is closing down and they are opening a new one outside of town.
The First Nation people are going to open it up.
And I was just wondering if you have any superstitions riding on an old track that's tried and true versus riding on a brand new track.
Gang Gang.
Gang Gang.
Oh, that's good.
That's so good.
Superstitions, yeah.
I think we all have little superstitions, you know?
One of mine infers, like, let's say, like, we have big days of racing, big days when like the expensive races, you know?
And if whatever I'm wearing, if I'm have a, if I don't have a good day, you know, I never wear that for a big day.
But I think we all have that little superstition.
Is there more superstitions, do you think, between Latina riders or any other type of riders?
Do you notice one or the other, really, or no?
No, but I really think everybody will have a little bit of something, you know, like even if it's settled, you know, like it's you don't do this type of thing before you're going to race.
You know, there is some people, there is a very common thing to say to owners or trainers to say, hey, I see you in the winner circle.
And some people hate to say certain things, jinx themselves, jinx themselves and things like that.
Do you is there, will you wear socks and stuff during a thing?
Like, do you wear, what do you wear to keep yourself as light as possible?
Well, our equipment is super light.
Yeah, I mean, this weighs probably, all this total probably weighs three pounds.
So probably like our pants, socks, vests, and undershirt alone is probably like only two pounds.
Less than two pounds.
And will you eat that morning or you usually will kind of just have something light or I have something lighter too because you don't want to go right with your belly full, you know?
I have a coffee and I have like, you know, like a piece of bread or things like that, you know?
Walk out of that one.
This is an accident?
Yeah, so I was going to ask, Mario, have you had bad accidents?
I just saw this on your Instagram.
You were sending a message to your fans telling them you were okay back in September 2020.
Yeah, back in September.
I think that was a very hard one.
I got a good concussion out of that one, you know?
So I landed on my head.
It just landed and I didn't move.
I got scared because I never landed that way.
And then, what is it?
Like I just felt a pain that I didn't feel before.
And I was like, oh my God, I'm as good as gone.
That's exactly what I tell.
You're going to be doing the chariot races.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Unfortunately, we have a lot of fellow jokies that, you know, they get hurt like that and then they're up in a wheelchair.
And so what happens?
What is the number one accident that happens with horses and with racing?
Is it that the horse stops and you fly off?
Is that you get knocked off?
Is it the trampling?
Like, what's the top deal that really gets you hampered out?
It's like, for example, you can get trapped like my last fall.
I have a little clips, you know, there is like inexperienced riders.
Or not inexperienced riders, sometimes a rider can be a little bit careless, you know, get too involved in the race and start shifting, you know, and then you get sandwiched in between horses and now your horse clip heels, you know, trips with the other horse legs.
I think that's the scariest part, you know?
And then sometimes Yeah, that would be the scariest thing, you know?
Because then there is nothing in your control, you know?
There is like you just waiting.
I remember back when that happened, I can see the guy shifting, but he was shifting a lot.
And I'm like, okay, he's going to realize he's doing this a lot.
And then so I kept riding my horse, right?
Because I had a hole to go through.
I kept riding, kept riding.
He kept going.
And by the time I'm like, I realize, okay, he's not going to stop, right?
Another horse was coming way faster in my outside.
And that's how the sandwich happened.
And by that time, it was too late for me to do anything.
And I was just trying to hold as hard as I could.
My horse tripped.
And I went flying.
And is it, where can the horse see when it's running?
What can it see?
Well, horses go, they can see to their side, but the eyes are a little bit on the side, so they're aware of horses coming behind, you know?
They can look backwards, that's all.
And is it only man horses that run or female horses?
Female horses.
Really?
Only female?
Only female horses.
You can ride, like, you can mix each other, you know, you can, but they're not very common.
But Phillies run with the Phillies.
Males run with the males, but we have equality on a sport, so a female can run with the guys.
So like in the Kentucky Derby, move this a little closer to mine.
In the Kentucky Derby, like, is it men in that race?
Is it male horses or female horses, or is it both?
I don't know, you got to get out of here.
It's both.
It's both.
I think one female horse won the Kentucky Derby.
Wow.
Yeah, I don't remember what's the name of the horse, but yeah, a female.
It's not very common, you know, but like, yeah, no, they can run.
There's no restrictions whatsoever for a female horse not to enter.
You just have to qualify.
If you're good enough to qualify, you can run.
So more commonly, a lot of the horses that you ride are male horses?
I know, both.
Both, both, both.
Yeah.
Do you notice a difference in the horses?
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Really?
Oh, yeah.
The girls are more feisty.
You have to treat them different.
You have to treat them different.
Freaking do it, dude.
Oh, they're so.
You got to take them to the movies.
Oh, you have to be so kind and nice to them.
Open the door.
Yep, yeah.
They're more.
Yeah, you have to be so different.
They'll stand outside of the stable just waiting for you to open the door to it.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, they're so, so different.
So, so different.
Really?
Yeah.
Wow.
I have a lot of luck with Phillies, with female horses.
Really?
A lot of what, Phillies?
Luck.
You know, but they tend to run really well for me.
Really?
Yeah.
Maybe they like you, huh?
I guess.
I can see it, man.
Handsome guy.
I could see it.
Winning colors, genuine risk, and regret.
The only Phillies to win the Kentucky Derby.
It doesn't look like any female jockeys have won.
No, they haven't won.
I don't think there's a female jockey.
Nick, did you have something else that kind of popped up?
Just with the gambling, like how there's always such a heavy favorite.
Where are they getting that information from?
What is that based off of?
Because the horses don't have a ton of history behind them.
From what I understand, they race for like a year or two.
So how do they know who's the favorite?
And they have the past performances.
You can see, for example, or they record the workouts as well.
So if a horse is working in good times, how they're doing it, there's cameras filming them in the mornings, how they're working and things like that.
And is all that available to the public if you want to research it?
Yeah, yeah, that's available.
There is people, there is like the hardcore handicappers, the hardcore gamblers, you go, you buy this book and you study this book and you can see the past performance, they have all kinds of descriptions, whether the horse did, if he got in any kind of trouble, if he broke leg from the gate.
Oh, they have all kinds of things, you know.
Dang.
Spit figures and all this type of thing.
It goes too crazy.
And can a horse spit?
Do they spit?
I don't think so.
No, I don't think.
Those are like llamas, I think.
Yeah.
Right?
Yeah.
Yeah, you're right.
Could you see yourself venturing out and getting on the back of a different animal?
You ever think about it?
Oh, she was like, make a like a switch?
No.
Like, as time goes on, maybe when you know, when the horsing days are over, maybe getting on, what's the one?
Sometimes they put kids on the thing, the little cheap or something.
Once I retire.
Once I retire, I think I'm going to choose to stay, like, you know, focus on my family.
Because like horse racing, the only difference about that is like we are all year round.
No breaks.
No breaks for us, you know?
And no breaks.
It's not that you can't take a, you, I can't, I can say, you know what, I want to take a month off.
But the thing is, like, I cannot afford to do that.
Because if you're doing good, you need to keep that business.
You need to keep that business.
Because the moment you're gone, there's somebody else that is going to be riding those courses.
It's like podcasting, man.
I think it's like any business.
You want to stick it with it while you can.
Yeah.
And if you're doing bad, then you have to stay there every day to somehow.
To get better.
I know.
And that's fun.
I'll probably put my kid in that.
Yeah, it'd be fun, huh?
Could you imagine how fun that is if you're a kid?
Because you're probably not going to get that hurt.
Yeah.
And you're just, the crowd loves it when those kids come out.
That would probably be really fun.
I could do that.
I could see myself doing that.
It looks so warm, too.
So fluffy.
Yeah.
That looks like Brendan's kid a little bit, doesn't it?
It really does.
Here's a question right here from a young man.
I believe he sent in a question before.
I feel like this fella, I've seen him, but it's nice to see him again.
Zap Theo, it's my birthday, so I wanted to send a little question for your little equine piggy bag fella you got there.
When I went to a horse race, I did a little betting.
So I was wondering if maybe the jockeys got in on that and maybe talking to the friend, hey, I'm going to beat you.
I bet you $10.
Or maybe, you know, maybe they just talk shit all the time when they're up there on that in them horses.
So, dang.
Thank you, brother.
Happy birthday, man.
Good question.
Is there any?
Yeah, is there any Greg Williamsing going on?
There's any cross-betting amongst the group?
You guys do any?
We don't cross-bet, but we're so competitive with each other because that's another thing.
As jokes, we're freelancers.
We don't make money.
If you really want to make good money, you have to be winning.
Really?
Yeah, that's the only time, you know?
That's the only time you really make money, you know, winning, you know?
Like, say, if I ride five horses in a week and I finish last in all of them, I'll probably get $600.
Okay, so you get a small amount for racing.
And if you win...
Like say Kentucky Derby, so that horse won.
Yeah, I get 10% of whatever that horse made.
Okay, what did that horse make?
Let's look it up.
Maybe like $1.6 million or something.
So you get $160,000 or whatever.
You get a 10%.
And now, is that on any race you win?
10%.
10% of the purse, yeah.
Wow, interesting.
That's really cool, man.
So, wow, so it's really on you.
You got to get out there and do it, huh?
Yeah, yeah.
So, yeah, so to ask that question, yeah, there is like, like, because there's a lot of competition between us riders, you know, I can be like, I bet you can buck, I beat you in this race, you know, that type of thing.
Right.
Is there some riders that are just like all ego and just maniacs?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
There is a lot of fights.
There is all kinds of, you know, like if somebody cuts you off in front of like, you know, we have fights, we have all kinds.
It's hilarious.
It's hilarious, dude.
It's really hilarious.
What's a purse?
So the derby is $1.8 million, so that's a huge payday.
But what's a like a regular, you're doing these horses races weekly?
What are the person?
Regular barriers is like from like, I think $25,000 per here is the lowest one.
And then it goes up to, in a normal, in a regular day, it goes to like, you know, $65,000, $70,000.
And so if you have four races today, right?
Say you have four races today, and if the average race is a $40,000 race for the day, so if you won all four of them, then you could make $40,000 then, right?
Is that right?
No.
$4,000 times $16,000, you could make around $16,000.
Something like that.
That's great.
Wow.
That's cool, man.
And does all their money come from the betting?
Yeah, the racetrack.
I think the betting, the racetrack puts up that money.
The racetrack puts the purse money, you know?
So, no, actually, it doesn't come from the bet.
The racetrack keeps all the money, all the betting money.
Yeah, the racetrack does put the purse, but the purse don't necessarily come from the bettings.
Otherwise, we'll get a percent of betting.
It will be probably much better for us.
Yeah.
You get that pay-per-view money then.
Yeah, yeah.
So then where you guys' money comes from what, the entry fees, you think, or something?
Who knows?
I really don't know that part of it, but somehow the racer puts up that money.
I think it's a share of the gambling.
It's not all the gambling money is the purse.
But they probably take apart from there, you know.
But like I said, but they don't share the shit.
They never are, dude.
They never are.
People paying for parking, you ain't getting a share of that.
There's a lot of things.
Limonada, you ain't getting a share of that.
Nicholada.
Yeah.
There's a lot of things you're not getting a share of.
Yeah, so.
Wow, Mario, I'm just trying to think of any other thing that really.
Anything, bro.
So now, when would you switch hands with the whip?
Does that matter?
Yeah, sometimes, yeah, it matters because some horses like it better, you know, or sometimes when, you know, the horse is still trying, but you need that little extra push, you know, you all of a sudden touch him from the other side.
They get a little bit, they're like a little extra kick, extra push, you know, like, so all those little like type.
But now we go into like super little details, you know, that, yeah, little details matter, you know.
Sometimes if you move a little bit too early, you're not going to be able to get there.
Or you get there too late or you move too soon and then somebody, you don't get there enough at the same time.
It's so interesting because a car, like a race car, you're in, you have an amount of gas that you know.
Everything is so finite.
Yes.
But with a horse, it's like kind of, you don't really know.
So there's this.
But that's our job.
That's why we have to know, you know?
Unfortunately, yeah, we don't know.
If we don't have an, if that horse give us all mid-race, yeah, that's nothing we can do.
But sometimes that happens.
Sometimes you just get on a horse mid-race.
Yeah.
Yes.
Or you don't, or sometimes you don't work with the horses in advance?
Yeah, no.
Sometimes you don't.
Sometimes you choose get you choose that day.
You choose riding that.
Or somebody put you on a horse that you never ridden, that you never have even training, you know?
So now it's our job to try to figure it out in 10 minutes what that horse is like, you know, or even through the race, you know?
Try to manage to see, okay, how is this horse?
Am I still having something?
Is this horse still have something?
He's going to have something for the end.
All of that, you know, we have to be able to tell, you know?
Did you, when you chose your wife, did you choose a smaller woman because you want to make another jockey kind of?
No, my wife is tall.
She is.
Actually, all my audience.
They're tall.
Yeah, all my girlfriends.
I don't think I ever had a girlfriend.
Shorter or the same height as me.
Yeah, I like that.
I like big girls.
Taller girls.
Big difference.
Hey, whatever.
Big difference.
English, yeah.
Any other good questions that came in, Nick, from the videos?
You said it's when your body tells you how you feel and how long do you plan on going?
I'm personally, my goal is just to do this another six years.
To 40?
Yeah, to 40. And that's it.
Like you said, you sacrifice a lot, you know?
Like you're always traveling.
And like my wife, like, you know, we have, it's very hard to make friends, you know, because like friends usually do things on the weekend, on the weekend when I'm writing, right?
So even if my wife, hey, let's make plans, like this, I'm never available for those type of things.
Even for my kid, you know, like I can't be just a part of the community of his school.
I'm not available for those things, you know?
So it's a lot.
This is the type of things that I know I'm sacrificing right now.
That's why I want to try to give my all.
By the time I reach 40, I want to be able to have something where I can lay back and be able to live off that and just be with my family.
Yeah.
How often do you get to, so you live here in Los Angeles?
Yeah, in Los Angeles.
Okay.
How often do you get to be at home then?
Right now?
Most of it was Santa Nita?
Yeah, most of it in Santanita, but then like I said, we go to San Diego, then back to Orange County.
There is another racetrack in Orange County.
But this is local.
So locally, we're moving a lot, right?
But then before, let's say before COVID, you know, like I ride for this guy that owns a lot of horses.
So usually he gets good horses.
When you get a good horse, you don't necessarily compete just here at Santanita.
If there is a big race in Louisiana or Kentucky or New York, Miami, you know, you travel to these places, you know, so there's a lot of traveling going on, you know.
It's cool, man.
Is there one place that's not the, is that like the is it fun to race in Louisiana?
Is it fun to race in Miami?
Is it like the place that's really kind of cool to race?
Miami seems like real beautiful.
Yeah, Miami is cool.
Like I like going to Dubai.
Dubai is good.
Dubai?
Yeah.
Wow, really?
Yeah, Dubai is cool.
What is it about it?
It's like too extravagant.
You know, like it's like rich.
People eating gold.
Basically.
Yeah, the racetrack is like costing.
People eating other people.
I think it costs like 2 billion to beat the racetrack.
There is like the hotel you can watch the race.
Oh, it's just beautiful.
It's fancy, huh?
And a lot of money, too.
That's crazy.
Sometimes it's crazy to me how much money some people have.
I know, me too.
Isn't it crazy?
What are they going to do with it?
I mean, you're not going to live eternally.
Yeah.
It seems so crazy.
And then you would see other people be poor.
It just is crazy to me sometimes.
Yeah.
But I don't think you really realize.
Like, I remember I was very poor, you know, like, I mean, we were struggling, you know, a lot.
But all the way up to maybe 12, 13 years old, like that never really occurred to me.
I was happy.
I was laughing.
I know my mom loved me.
Yeah.
It's just my dad loved us, you know, like, yeah, we know that we didn't, because you were aware of things that you don't have, you know, we didn't have TV.
But that wasn't like something to be asked to be depressed about.
I think the older you get, you know, even now, you know, like sometimes I feel guilt.
Oh, I feel like I try to think what my parent, because now I'm a parent, you know, my kid, and we're going to, you know, to the store or we're going to this.
And my kid, I want that, I want this.
And for me to be able to provide for him and kind of like whatever he wants, I buy him, you know.
And then to think, geez, you know, what are like, I remember me as a kid, when I was a kid, asking for things, but I never got any.
You know, I never got any.
So now I go back and be like, you know, how hard I will feel right now if my kid is asking me for something and I just don't have it in my pocket.
It will break your heart, you know?
So I give it to my dad for that, you know.
I mean, that probably was probably one of the hardest parts for a parent to be able to give something that a kid is asking for, you know.
Oh, yeah, I bet, man.
Yeah, I remember some of the gifts we would get even growing up were just like regular shit.
I remember my mom gave us something one time that we already had at home.
She just wrapped it up.
Oh, really?
Listen to me.
This is ours.
I have a little bit of a sad story, funny story.
I tell people sometimes now.
I always used to write to Santa.
Freaking Santa never got me anything, right?
So I probably was around like eight years old and I was writing to Santa.
And I don't know what I was asking for.
I know he didn't give me what I asked for.
But I remember riding, put in the car, and then the next day I woke up and a present was there.
So I was like, holy shit, you know, it worked.
Like, he didn't forget me this year.
So I'm all excited.
I go, unwrap the present.
And I remember I had like this little soldier, you know, and I think I asked for a remote control car or something like that.
And I was so mad.
I was so pissed off.
I was like, you know, this is how can you got it wrong?
And I was like, unbelievable.
You never came.
And when you came, you give me the wrong thing.
you didn't even give me what i asked for you know and i was like making this huge tantrum and i didn't tell anything about it you know until now that i'm an adult i'd be like you know like my dad probably boss his ass to be able to provide that thing for me to be able to that kind of brush my heart a little bit when i think about that yeah it's hard to fit it's hard sometimes it's weird to think how kid like what parents want for their kid and then how kids sometimes are just unappreciative but there's nothing you can do you're just a kid you don't know anything yeah you don't know yeah when you're a kid you don't know any better you know and sometimes it's like a clue
my my mom would give us a soldier be like hey you should join the military okay i guess i see the only way prepping you yeah yeah um i think man dude mario thank you so much man i really appreciate it dude i really appreciate you coming in and just talking to us it's so interesting just to think about what's going on now and now when i watch the race i'm gonna have such kind of a different inkling is there any point my last question is there any point in the race where you
would stand up on the horse or no the goal is just to oh no yeah like if you like if you kind of send something like wrong with the horse you know like all of a sudden you feel funny steps on the horse like yeah you you pull up that horse you know like you don't want to like you try to like i said this is this is our partners you know like i horses give me everything i have you know horses took me from property sent me to canada give me give me give me my uh i i got my wife got my child beautiful home now that i own so
all through horses all through horses you know so i have an amazing amount of love for them so every time that i i feel you know something is just not right you know i'll stop the horse you know i'll stop the horse because you know like i say that's i'm so grateful and thankful that i like i'm able to do what i do you know yeah wow that's so interesting man one day you're gonna have you had to come if you're not to the racer gala you'll have to come to the farm where my my wife has that yeah can i go one time yeah of course dude i would love that man you you'll have a lot of fun i would
love to go get on a horse that'd be freaking crazy you should come to uh i don't know if san diego's gonna i think san diego is gonna have open open full crowd you should come to opening del mar when is it do you know it's a uh july 16th opening day you should come to opening day on del mar well i can even make that it's a lot of you you'll like it a lot of people del mar is cool too oh i'll take it del mar is beautiful yeah del mar is a beautiful area most of the girls are drunk before the first race so
that's a neutral note yeah long as the horse long as long as the horses are sober yeah no they're they're gonna be sober i think that's what matters yeah you should definitely definitely should dude yeah we'll swap information man i'd love to come to one that'd be cool and thank you a lot thank you for having me i was like i couldn't believe i was so i was when you guys reached out i was like i come i was like like i say like a little groupie oh that's cool man well yeah and thank walker bueller man he's the one who was telling me he was we were just talking about jockeys the other day and uh i was like yeah we gotta have a jockey and
thank you nick because i know nick reached out and connected with you so more of yours man thank you so much for coming in man thank you thank you yeah good luck in the races now i'm just floating on the breeze and i feel i'm falling like these leaves i must be cornerstone oh but when i reach that ground i'll share this peace of mind i found i can feel it in my bones but
it's gonna take a little time for me to step that pocket break and
let myself moving way
too fast on the runaway train with a heavy load of past and these wheels that i've been riding on their walls so thin that they're damn near gone i guess now they just work built a little ladies and gentlemen i'm jonathan kite and welcome to kite club a podcast where i'll be sharing thoughts on things like current events stand-up stories and seven ways to pleasure your partner the answer may shock
you sometimes i'll interview my friends sometimes i won't and as always i'll be joined by the voices in my head you have three new voice messages a lot of people are talking about kite club i've been talking about kite club for so long longer than anybody else so great i sweetheart is a deal anyone who doesn't listen to kite club is a dodgy bloody wika jar mine i'll take a quarter bottle of cheese out of
