You may have noticed that In The Irons took a brief hiatus during the month of November. The fact is, life was pretty busy for the old Spokesman. In addition to creating a column here, I have also been recruiting and working on the start-up of my entertainment agency.
Yesterday, I had an opportunity to slow down and experience one of those golden moments that comes along all too infrequently. It was one of those moments that validates what you have chosen to do in life and reaffirms you are on the right track.
Sharon Soileau (my beautiful companion and fellow contributor to The Real Athlete Blog) and I traveled to the historic Fair Grounds Race Course yesterday to race one of Sharon's horses. The trip is long and tiring, but there is something special about going to Fair Grounds. It is the third oldest racetrack in the nation. The legendary horse Black Gold is buried in the infield. The entire place resonates with the history of our beautiful sport. Yesterday, I realized again why I love it so much.
Horseracing is an exquisite ballet performed by two gifted athletes, horse and jockey. Independently, they are each pieces of the greater picture that is horseracing. Together they are like visual poetry, bodies moving in tandem with one another. They give and take one another's energy in the dramatic struggle to reach the wire first. A team they must be, and function as a single entity or otherwise all is lost.
Bobbyn Bouie was one of the athletes in yesterday's drama. He is a piece of work. Bouie has finished in the money at every distance from 5 furlongs to 1 1/16 miles. He has finished in the money at three different racetracks, and at different class levels. A consistent performer. Think of the NBA here and of a solid player who, while never grabbing the headlines, manages to consistently score 18 points per game and pull down 8 to 10 rebounds. I am reminded of Sam Perkins in his years as a Dallas Maverick. A consistent player who never got the respect he so rightfully deserved, but he showed up every night and did his job. That is Bobbyn Bouie.
Corey Lanerie was the athlete on Bouie's back. Maybe you have heard of him. He has more racing victories than Carter has liver pills (I can, on occasion, "shuck it to the cob" as the old timers like to say and that phrase is an example). Lanerie is a frequent competitor on racing's biggest day--the Kentucky Derby. And here he was, sitting on the lowly gray who was literally laughed at 18 months ago before he figured out his purpose in life. As I led Lanerie out to the track, he was pleasant and kind, and treated Sharon and I with the same respect he would have given Neil Howard or Steve Asmussen. Not only is Bouie a great athlete, but he is a class act.
Sharon and I took a place in the grandstand alongside my client Nick Vandevoorde to watch the running of the race. Bouie was forwardly placed throughout the race and made things exciting as they turned for home. Inside the 16th pole it was Bouie trying hard to overtake the leader. That's when I had my golden moment.
Sharon and I were mere feet apart. As the race neared its conclusion we started to scream encouragement--to different athletes.
"Go, Bouie! Come on, Bouie!" Sharon yelled.
"Ride, Corey! Get em, Corey!" I yelled just as loud.
In that moment I experienced a crystal clear vision of racing as it is meant to be appreciated, as a union between two dynamic creatures who have committed all to the sport they love. Sharon, as a trainer, was focused on the horse. That is her life's work--bringing these beautiful animals to their full potential.
As an agent, my focus was on the human athlete. I left the track with a new appreciation of how important these athletes are to each other's success, of how dependent they are on the other to perform.
It gave me pause to think about how agents do their job, and about how we can do it better. We really need to understand that trainers go through great pains to develop the horses our clients will ride. What we see on race day is a less-than-two-minute culmination of months of preparation. While we're out having lunch they are often in the barn, working on legs or determining the precise mixture of feed a horse needs to compete at maximum level.
How many times do we go by the barn the morning after a race to inquire about the welfare of the athlete? Did the horse return sound from his race? Have we scouted his next racing opportunity and made notes? These are the hallmarks of a good agent.
Successful jockey agents understand that horseracing is a two-athlete sport.
Scotty Rushing is a certified jockey agent who has represented numerous riders including David Elston, Rico Flores, Beverly Burress, and Amanda Crandall. He currently represents Nick Vandevoorde and aspiring jockey Lindsey Barnett.