There aren’t too many areas in sports that still have the invisible, but obvious “No Girls Allowed” sign; but the fraternity of horse jockeys are like the animals, they are a different breed.
It takes a special type of person of the female gender who can crack that “boys only” club; someone like Helen King, who is just one of the guys competing this summer at Eureka Downs.
“You have to build respect and it takes a while to build that,” King said. “You have to ride well and it takes a while for people to have confidence in you, especially being a female. You have to prove that you can ride confidently and that you’re aggressive and strong and intelligent at the same time.”
How much do the other jockeys respect King at Eureka Downs? After her race on She’s a Demon in the Kansas Bred Futurity race — where the horse came in with the fastest time of 18.1458 — all of the other jockeys congratulated the rider in the “jockeys only” portion of the paddock area for her and her horse’s performance in the 350-yard race.
“I know a lot of these boys and I’ve been riding a lot of tracks since I was 17,” said the transplanted Oklahoman who began her racing career with her family in Canada. “Unlike at the big tracks, in the smaller tracks, we’re like family. We get to know each other and, not like at places like Churchill Downs where they have a big track and nobody cares about anyone, we care about each other. We’re a tight-knit kind of group.”
Respect also has to go between jockey and horse. King has a special bond with She’s a Demon considering the horse is owned by her husband, John King, and Pat and David Pierce. Only she and her husband have riden the horse.
And since She’s A Demon was bred King does most of her racing in Iowa, but considering the horse was bred at Kansas’ Hogoboom Farm; they decided to race the horse at Eureka Downs with King on board.
It wasn’t an easy travel from Oklahoma for the Kings or the horse.
There was a wheel blowing out on the road, so that little horse was in the trailer for 4 1/2 hours on the trip from what King said was the “trip from hell.” Then after working out at Eureka, the race was postponed for a day, which meant an overnight stay.
“Despite that, everything turned out pretty good,” King said.
Considering the success of the filly — it was the maiden win for She’s A Demon — the Kings could go a long way toward building a huge quarterhorse program.
“My husband is starting to train horses now and will, hopefully get his training license,” King said. “As I get older, I’ll quit riding and will have a family; and we’ll train horses together.
“But for a little while, this little team effort is working pretty good. We’re going to try to keep this going a little while longer.”
King said the success of the team could help them get better horses and better clients for them to train, as well as possibly own for continued success.
“She’s surpassed our expectations. She’s really working out to be a nice filly and she’s going to be a future roping horse for my husband. She’s a nice horse and we’re going to keep her.”
El Dorado, Kan. —
