On the track: jockey

Courage, strength and unyielding determination are just a few of the things that make Clare Lindop one of Australia’s top jockeys. Linda Peatling reports.

When Clare Lindop was 10 years old she joined the ranks of thousands of little girls and asked her dad for a horse. Clare’s request was denied, but her parents instead enrolled her in a pony club, in the hope of satiating her infatuation. Little did they know that 14 years later Clare would become the first female jockey to ride in the Melbourne Cup. Now, at 26, she is South Australia’s leading metropolitan, country and provincial jockey.

4am: While most of us are still tucked up in our beds, Clare’s alarm clock goes off as it has done almost every day since she left high school to become an apprentice jockey at the age of 15. “It was a bit of a shock to the system when I first started out but I’m pretty used to it by now,” says Clare. She tiptoes out of the bedroom to avoid disturbing her partner, McLean, who still has another couple of hours’ blissful slumber ahead of him. “McLean is a financial adviser so he keeps much more normal hours… sometimes he gives me a little shove to help me out of bed.”

4.15am: Clare quickly guzzles 500ml of water as part of her long-standing health regime. “Dehydration is a big danger on the track so I have a thing about drinking at least two litres of water a day,” she explains. It’s too early to eat breakfast but Clare makes a thermal mug of coffee to drink on the way to the track. At 149cm tall and just 51 kilograms she doesn’t have to go to the extremes many jockeys do to maintain her tiny racing frame. “The minimum racing weight is 53 kilograms and I’m naturally lighter than that so I’ve never had to go to a sauna or do crazy amounts of exercise to drop an extra kilo, but I do try to eat fairly healthily,” she says.

4.30am: Clare heads out the door for the 15 minute drive to Morphettville Racecourse in Adelaide’s western suburbs. As a freelance jockey, Clare carries out trackwork for various owners and trainers in the hope that they might book her for a future race. She is paid by the racing club of the state in which each race is held. “Everyone wants a jockey who is the flavour of the month so your performance in a race is crucial, but I try to look after the trainers who ask me to ride regularly.” 

4.45am: When she arrives at Morphettville, Clare heads to the female jockey change room and dons a safety vest, riding boots and gloves, along with a specially designed helmet with a light on top. Out at the horse stalls she chats with the trainers about how they want her to ride each horse. “I’m like an assistant coach for the horses, who are the real athletes here!” she says.

5.10am: Clare is on the track as the first hint of morning light appears. “It’s a beautiful time of the day so it’s worth getting out of bed,” she says. Today is a ‘slow’ day where she’ll carry out light exercise with about 10 horses, honing in on their idiosyncrasies. “Even minor problems can cause major upsets when they’re racing,” she explains. Other mornings are ‘fast’, where Clare puts the horses through tougher pacework. “I’m pretty exhausted by the end,” says Clare, who sees a personal trainer twice a week to keep up her own strength for the demanding sport. “I remember the first time I rode a racehorse,” she recalls. “I’d been riding normal horses for five years so I thought I was pretty strong, but my legs and arms were like jelly when I’d finished because he was so much more powerful than a normal horse.”

8am: As the horses are led off for a wash, Clare visits the track cafe for a coffee with McLean and a catch up on the news. “The racing community is very close-knit and there’s always someone to have a good old chat with,” she says.

8.30am: Clare returns home where she’ll jump in the shower and make herself a light breakfast. She might take a one-hour nap if she feels particularly worn out, but usually she’ll potter around the house to relax. “I’ll water the garden or read the paper. I take special note of the racing guide and sports pages,” she laughs. Most days Clare also takes calls from trainers booking her for races. Her current gruelling schedule sees her do five or six track days a week plus three to four race meetings. Last year, Clare missed the first seven weeks of the 2004/05 season due to an injury, but still won Adelaide’s Metropolitan Premiership by bringing home 87.5 winners. “It was strange being away from the track… it seems like the only time I get to take a holiday with McLean is when I’m injured,” she laughs.

10am: Clare packs her race bag then heads back to Morphettville. She also often teams up with other jockeys to drive three to five hours away to one of the 24 provincial and country tracks around South Australia. “I enjoy heading off to the country races. It keeps me in touch with where I started and it’s important to remember the people who gave you a chance when no-one else would.”

11am: As the crowds enter the race ground Clare will walk the track looking for any surface conditions that may hinder her rides. Afterwards, she heads back to the female jockey rooms to organise her saddles and weights for each race. While women are far more common in racing than ever before, the sport is still a male dominated one so she might find herself alone in the change room. “It’s better when there’s other girls racing. We support each other and the atmosphere is usually great.”

11.45am: Clare dresses for her first race, carefully fitting her safety vest and helmet along with the white racing jodhpurs known as ‘silks’ and a racing jersey that displays a pattern registered by the trainer of the horse she’s about to race (called the ‘colours’). She then joins the other jockeys for what they call the ‘weigh out’. Each horse in the race will carry a specific amount of weight depending on the type of race and/or its age, sex and prior performances to level the playing field. Clare stands on the scales holding a saddle fitted with thin slabs of lead to bring the entire load up to the allocated weight for her horse. She then hands the saddle to the trainer who saddles up the horse under the watchful eye of the race stewards.
 
12pm: Clare mounts her horse and is led around the parade ground, past an excited race crowd. “The trainers might give me some last minute instructions,” says Clare, who will sometimes race a horse she’s never ridden. “But once I’m on the horse I can usually get a feel for it pretty quickly... Some are nervous, some are excited, some want to get to the front of the pack quickly because they’re natural leaders and others want to be at the front to get away from the danger of other horses around them.”

12.05pm: As Clare manoeuvres her horse into the starting gate she gets a few nervous twinges, but she’s learned how to block them and everything else around her out. “I don’t think about the race crowd or anything else; I’m just concentrating on keeping the horse calm so I’ll pat it and talk to it and just make it feel as secure as possible.” Clare waits to hear the familiar ‘All clear’ shouted by a steward behind her. A split second later, the starter hits the green light, the gates are released and they’re off. Adrenaline surges through the bodies of both Clare and her horse as they work together in one fluid motion. Clare’s legs are like braces and shock absorbers all rolled into one as they pin her to the horse, which will soon be travelling at speeds of up to 50 kilometres per hour. It’s a game of balance and strength she learned a long time ago.

“The first time I got on a horse I fell off, but I soon learned how to hang on,” she laughs. Clare has fallen during a race four times in her career, breaking her ankle and collarbone, yet she has never feared her four-footed colleagues. “I’d be terrified to get into a race car, but I love horses and I’ve never had any trouble climbing back on one,” she says. Clare doesn’t even hear the roar of hooves around her as she sets her sights on the front of the pack and the finish line. “I don’t know how to explain what happens when I’m racing; I’m just trying to concentrate on reading the horse and what I have to do. It’s like second nature now, I suppose.”

To find out more about thoroughbred horseracing or the career of a jockey, go to www.australian-racing.net.au.

Words: Linda Peatling. Photography: Andrew Lehmann.