James Wooten stood in the middle of the horse stalls, sipping on a Gatorade that smelled like something the good folks at Gatorade never officially intended, talking loudly to no one in particular.
James Wooten doesn't necessarily need an audience to perform.
Like most jockeys, he is thin, around 5 feet 9 inches and 120 pounds. He runs three miles a day, but no farther, because running is torture. Unlike most jockeys, however, he is black, and pushing 40 years old.
"Somebody died today," he said, loudly.
A few minutes later, he wasn't finished. "Somebody just died."
Another jockey asked who, with concern, and it became clear that Wooten was referring to statistical probabilities, not anyone in particular.
"Somebody, somewhere," he said, all smiles and back pats. "Some dead rich guy would trade places with us right now."
The message? Enjoy the day. It could be worse.
Wooten, an Oakland jockey, has seen worse. The horse races at The Big Fresno Fair are part of his comeback. "Scootin' Wooten," they call him, and he recently came back after two years off, the results of a bad racing fall and his ninth serious concussion.
Most agree he is probably the best jockey at the first week of the fair. The day he contemplated life and death, he raced six times and won once.
The rest of The Big Fresno Fair might have barbecue corn on the cob, and massive snakes, and even free Bare Naked Ladies concerts, but the real entertainment is back where the patrons don't really go. The races and the betting are exhilarating, but the stories and lives of the racing folks are far more captivating.
A former jockey from Spokane, Wash., who goes by "Hot Rod," says he can lose 17 pounds in one day. Yes, one day.
"It's mostly just water weight," he says.
Jockeys are notorious for their battles to stay under 120 pounds, living on vegetables, vomiting, taking laxatives. "You do what you have to," Hot Rod says.
Riding was a side job for Hot Rod. At 37 years old, he is still a professional boxer, with a self-proclaimed record of 17-4-1 and an amateur record of 223-11.
His goatee and Irish nose are equally flat, and he says he'll fight until he's 60 if they'll let him. He fought in Fresno once back in the '90s, though he can't remember the venue or the opponent.
He fought at 140 pounds and rode horses at 115 pounds, thus the occasional need for dramatic weight loss. To cut 17 pounds in a day, you simply rub a women's facial cream all over your body, which opens up the pores, and then you jump rope in a sauna set on volcanic. It's so hot you have to put your head in a bucket of ice with a towel over it just to breathe.
Don't bother consulting a physician on that one.
Now Hot Rod makes a little money warming up the horses, and when he gets the urge to race goes to the "bush tracks" where you can race at any weight you want, and try pretty much any tactic you want, including whipping another jockey down the stretch or knocking his foot out of a stirrup.
The world of horse racing is not filled with rich guys, that's for sure. It does include a lot of men, and a few women, with interesting outlooks on life.
Over there is Bobby Jennings, who rode in the '60s and at 6 feet is still one of the tallest jockeys ever. Walking up now is Jody Davidson, who retired in 1998, and rode one of the fastest horses of all time, Chinook Pass.
They can talk all day -- about horses, about the unfairness of the business, about the cheating that goes on, about the weather down at the San Diego tracks allowing them to sleep in lawn chairs, about what you can do in Tijuana for $20.
Yeah, maybe that's a good place to stop.
A few rules are needed to help foster a feeling of community. We encourage a free and open exchange of ideas in a climate of mutual respect, but any post that violates someone's right to use and enjoy fresnobee.com is prohibited. Before you post, please read the terms of use and obey these simple guidelines.
Here are the ground rules:
Contents of this site are © Copyright The Fresno Bee. All rights reserved.
E-Mail
Print
@Nyx.CommentBody@