New Female Jockey interview up on our page

[chrisforbes]

4 new interviews have been posted.

janice blake
allison hershbell
sarah gibson
cindy noll

coming soon a chat with diane crump, the 1st female jockey EVER!!!

www.geocities.com/f_o_t_h/foth-main.htm

we welcome feedback on the page good and bad and what u want to see on it

chris

check out my other site for over 30 female jockey pics in the picture pages

www.metalcorefanzine.com

click on links and pic pages to see the girls he he

[alyingthief]

what's the deal with women jockies? they lack the hands necessary for truly superb riding, and strength likewise is a big issue.

it always amused me to see julie krone on any kind of horse other than a need to lead or turf one run type horse...like that time in the belmont, when she, not her horse ran out of gas.

but then, this is politically incorrect, isn't it?

[PaceAdvantage]

I think that probably the biggest thing against women jockeys are the male attitudes that refuse to give them the break they need.

Considering that we are talking about a group of humans (jockeys), where the men and women are of equal weight, I really don't see where you can say the men jockeys are substantially stronger than the female jockeys.

[JimH]

alyingthief,

Sorry but your comment about female jockeys lacking the hands needed for superb riding is way off base. Have you ever ridden a thoroughbred? Soft hands are better because the objective is for the jockey and the horse to work in tandem, not against each other.

Do some female jockeys lack in the strength department? Yes, absolutely. But so do a lot of the guys. With weights being what they are, a lot of male jockeys need to do some serious reducing to make weight. After spending 2-3 hours in a sauna and flipping his last meal, I wouldn't say that a guy is going to be overwhelmingly strong. And some of them, sadly, do this every single day. There was a guy who rode a Penn National (I believe his name was Chris McKenzie) who died last year because he had reduced his body to the point where his body fat was zero percent and then he kept on trying to reduce below that. The women, on the other hand, aside from a couple who need to pull a pound or two while they still have their apprentice allowances, don't have to worry about reducing. Many of them work out to be stronger, in fact.

You'll note that in England, where jockeys are allowed to weigh much more than they can here, you don't see successful female jockeys. Over there, the guys are allowed to weigh in the 120's or 130's and don't have to be worried about reducing. The women, meanwhile, are packing a lot of dead weight in the saddle because they are naturally lighter. But in America, where you have to be 110 or so to ride on an everyday basis, the women probably have an advantage because of nature.

If a doctor did a strictly medical evaluation of an American jockey colony, the female jockeys would be pronounced as much healthier specimens than the guys. So many male jockeys are malnourished, bulimic, and dangerously underweight.

As Americans have, as a whole, grown bigger and heavier through the years, and racing has kept the same weight scale since the dawn of time, the number of female jockeys in the sport has increased geometrically. Coincidence? I think not.

[karlskorner]

I have watched Rosemary Homeister through my glasses for the past couple of years, even though I might not have a wager on the horse she is riding.

She is a perfect example of what to expect from a Jockey. She maintains an arch over the horses withers (pivot point) so to evenly distribute her weight and never shifts her weight in any manner. Most Jockeys will "set down" on their horse while still on the turn or at the head of the stretch, but Rosemary will maintain her position till just before the 1/8th pole, giving her horse every advantage she can. I guess this is one of the reasons she is the leading female Jockey in the country.

There is no doubt in my mind that she could be one of the 10 leading Jockeys in the country, if it were not for the prejudices by a group of trainers against female Jockeys.

Karl

[alyingthief]

i enjoy a decisive advantage at the windows because of these biases.

i heartily agree, and may you continue to believe as you do.

amen.

[chrisforbes]

i totally agree with jim and from working in the jock's room i see what male jockey's go through and what female jockey's don't have to go through. as far as strength i would say janice blake, mary doser,
rosemary homeister jr and charlene hunt are very strong and would do just as well as male jockeys if they got as many live mounts. also with the females you get a nice price when they hit.

chris

[alyingthief]

one of the more amusing attributes of democrats everywhere is the belief that two yeas beat a nay in any race for truth. the parimutuel process for selecting horseracing's favorites demonstrates in the most succinct fashion the flaws in such a social system: mostly wrong about everything, and where right, utterly inconsequential--i.e. you can't make a dime off of it--while the game's inconoclasts, the long ballers, the individualists, these take home what part of the pie is profit. one might say, where the topic is arguable and the circumstances of it obviously impossible, men will nonetheless, and happily!, voice it as a truth--why, did you know, for some two thousand years, billions and billions of folks have insisted that, nay, lived in profound expectation of, the return of a dead man would work their salvation? is this mere laziness? wishing someone else to effect their hope rather than labor for it themselves? just as men are communists because in truth they don't like working for a living, and men are democrats because they don't like thinking, and voting is a way of comforting oneself for all the stupidity one holds to so absolutely, since many do likewise? i'm with mr. goldwater! surely 24 million americans can't be all wrong! (though, where the hell that 50 to one shot came from is a wonder to me) it has been reported by anthropologists that pygmies deny tall men, and in fact do not even see them. myself, i don't know--but for me, i say, may the vote survive, amen! may you all believe heartily in equality! and pace analysis! and the invention of the light bulb in 2700 BC by huang tsu!

i agree with you, gentlemen! it is my complete dream that what should not be true may be altered by denial! hurrah for my fellow americans! now, what was that line about a fool and his money?

[horseplayer]

Was surprised to get an email from Janice Blake touting a tip sheet for $99/month - she rode something like 200 plus mounts from 2011 - 2015 - and had 2 winners - so perhaps she is doing better in the touting game

[castaway01]

When I saw this thread, I glanced through the posts and saw it was from 2001. Wow.

Then I saw the first post from Chris Forbes and that one of the people he interviewed was Alison Hershbell. She was a decent rider (and an attractive woman) who I heard nothing but good things about back in the day. She was engaged to Mike Petro. She won a few races at Delaware, did okay for herself. And for some reason I remember when she won a race, that night on the highlight show Rich Glazier would say, "Ring the bell...for Hershbell."

And then she died---way too young, at age 30, in 2007 of what the DRF called a "long illness". So, let's give a quick thought to her today.

Also, this weekend at Winterthur in Delaware, they have their annual steeplechase and pony races. The pony races are named in honor of Ms. Hershbell, and anyone in the area who wants to try something different the day after the Derby might have fun checking that place out.

Winterthur Point-to-Point Steeplechase (http://www.winterthur.org/?p=1142)

[jasperson]

what's the deal with women jockies? they lack the hands necessary for truly superb riding, and strength likewise is a big issue.

it always amused me to see julie krone on any kind of horse other than a need to lead or turf one run type horse...like that time in the belmont, when she, not her horse ran out of gas.

but then, this is politically incorrect, isn't it?
Males are jockeys because they are small. Female jockey are naturally small but they are smart also.