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The premise of the show is to chronicle the lives of seven jockeys on and off the track as they go about the risky business that is horse racing. The players are as follows (provided courtesy of the Jockeys official press release):
THE ICON – Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith is a living legend and a fan favorite. His fierce riding style and stringent pre-race ritual has earned him a shaman-like reputation among fellow jockeys.
THE HOTSHOT – Joe Talamo may be young, but he already has taken the racing world by storm earning nearly $4 million in purse money in one racing season.
THE BREAKOUT FEMALE STAR – Canadian jockey star Chantal Sutherland is a woman who’s dominating the tracks. And, because she’s dating fellow jockey Mike Smith, it puts her in competition with the man she loves. Can they make this work?
THE WORKING MAN – Aaron Gryder is credited with more than 3,000 career wins and is motivated by supporting his family.
THE ELDER STATESMAN – After racing more than 30 years, Jon Court is the consummate veteran, and he has no plans to quit.
THE NEW GIRL – Fresh-faced Kayla Stra is racing gold in her native land of Australia, but only time will tell if she has what it takes to be a success in the US.
THE COMEBACK KID – Alex Solis bounced back after a broken back injury nearly took his life. He’s been to the winner’s circle 4,000 times, but he’s yet to be inducted into the Jockey Hall of Fame.
Check out a sneak peak of the show:
It's important to note that this show is filmed as a "soap" and the plot synopses demonstrate the producer's intent to engage the audience in the lives of the jockeys:
Episode 3:
Young jockey Brandon Meier hopes to build a racing career to rival that of his jockey father; after failing to find her way to the winners' circle, Kayla decides if she should continue to fight against the odds or pack it up and head home to Australia.
Epidsode 4:
Mike Smith and Chantal Sutherland seek a balance between their competitive working lives and their attempt to create a home together; things heat up between Joe Talamo and Aaron Gryder after Joe gets a win aboard a horse named for Aaron's daughter.
Those of us familiar with the horses, wagering and vocabulary of the game may grow a little flustered with the focus of the show as the narrator tends to slow down race replays with explanations of terms a hardened horse player already knows. As well, the show is shot in a visually structured fashion with races called as a head-to-head between the jockeys themselves. In effect, they've created a man versus man depiction in a scenario where most of us spend our time trying to find the right horse.
Jockeys should be celebrated for taking us inside the game and into the lives of these seven athletes and giving us a perspective into the fear, love and sheer excitement with which racing inspires them. The quality of the racing footage and unique angles offer new perspectives to a part of the game those of us lost in the stats of the Form rarely ponder. While we're looking for a Daily Double, these jockeys are just trying to get back safe one race at a time.
Though the clips I've seen have focused largely on the dangerous parts of the game, I hope that by the end of the series the producers will have addressed the joys of racing as well. The industry needs new fans and this show could go a long way to putting horse racing back in the spotlight in a positive manner.
For more information on this exciting new series, please visit the Jockeys website.
2 comments:
You'd think that they'd also include the rivalry for leading rider in SoCal between BEJARANO and GOMEZ.
just ordered animal planet just for this show. its free for 3 months from rogers! just call and ask for it.
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