The People Behind Preakness, continued...
all the trophies are correctly engraved and get them to the correct people. “You’d be surprised how hard delivering trophies can be,” she said.
Fran Burns–Head of Preakness Tours One of the biggest attractions of Preakness
week is the sunrise tour of Pimlico, which takes place on Wednesday through Friday mornings. Around 400 par ticipants, ranging from f irst-timers to a track to school groups and people who make Sunrise at Old Hilltop an annual event, attend these early morning tours. Fran Burns has been a tour guide at Pimlico for four years and for the past two years, she has been the Head of Preakness Tours. “T is is the best job I have ever had. I get to meet interesting people and educate them on what the T oroughbred is all about,” Fran said. Tour participants get to learn about Pimlico’s
rich history, as well as Maryland’s racing history. T ey get to go behind the scenes and meet trainers, jockeys and other personnel as well as watch horses breeze and meet the Clydesdales. Fran handpicks 10 tour guides each year based on several criteria. “T ey have to be knowledgeable but able to dumb things down a bit to explain what is going on to people who may have never seen a horse before,” Fran said. Plus, each person she hires has his or her own history in the sport to share, giving each tour a personal feel. To read more about this year’s tours, see “Black-Eyed Susan & Preakness Preview” in this issue.
Tommy Enzer–Director of Hospitality, Food & Beverage
Ever wonder who coordinates all the various themed food tents? Or who comes up with the menus? All of that comes under the auspices of Tommy Enzer, who starts planning for the Preakness practically as soon as the previous year’s
is over.
Preakness “We start
thinking about new
themes and generate ideas around June for the following year. By October we are working with distributors and suppliers to make sure our ideas will work,” he said. Tommy oversees a staff of 100 for the regular season but that number jumps to over 800 for
42 | THE EQUIERY | MAY 2013
just one day of racing. Many of the Preakness day staff are hired through various agencies and many are hired internally but all have to be educated on what Preakness is and how to make the whole day seem like an everyday enterprise. “T ere is just so much culture and so many cool things about this race outside of just the party,” Tommy said. T e menu for the International tent changes
each year as a diff erent country plays host. T is year, Japan has been selected as the host and Tommy is tasked with bringing guests a blend of Japan and Baltimore. “We want to do what they [Japanese Embassy] want from a cultural standpoint and put our Baltimore spin on it,” he said. Specifi c to 2013 is the addition of the Farm-
to-Table theme for many of the infi eld tents, an idea that was generated through Tommy’s offi ce and is hailed as the largest Farm-to-Table experience in the country. Celebrity chef Mike Isabella from Top Chef is also involved in the menu. For details, see “Black-Eyed Susan & Preakness Preview” in this issue.
Bruce Wagner–Offi cial Starter
Simply put, the starters start the race. But the job is not that simple and is probably the toughest job in the industry. “T ey
save
lives,” said Mike Gathagan. T e starters are the people who you see on the ground getting the horses into the starting gate and sitting on the four-inch ledge above the horses in the gate right as the race begins. “Our job is getting all the horses into the gate and off to a safe and fair start,” said Wagner. Potential starters tend to get into the business through other track-related jobs,
whether
having been a groom or an exercise rider. But according to Bruce, some watch the starters and think “no way would I ever do that.” T ings can go wrong in such a small metal box and even with all the padding and safety measures in place, Bruce said “you have to have some courage” to do this job. On a normal day, the start crew is about 12
men. On Preakness day, that number goes up to 18. “Some horses might require two men and we want to have a bit of insurance that things go smoothly,” Bruce added. T e crew for Preakness day tends to be the same group of men year after year with some having done the job for 15 or more years. “We swap out among the crews between the three tracks,” Bruce said about the Triple Crown races. T is allows the starters to know a bit about the horses before
they even get to Pimlico. In addition, Bruce and several other starters use a program called Incompass, which stores information on each horse from every race they have ever run in. “So if we have a problem horse, we know how to deal with it ahead of time. It is a great program for safety,” he said.
Richie Ramlchelawan–Jockey Valet T e Maryland Jockey Club technically
employs the
jockey valets that work at Pimlico, but their real employers are the jockeys themselves. T e valet’s job is a multifaceted one that takes a hard-working individual who strives for perfection. At Pimlico, there are 12 valets who do everything from saddling the horses to making sure the jockey’s room is in tiptop shape. “We are like a babysitter in some ways, making sure everything is nice and neat and ready for each race. We make the jockey room a home away from home for each jockey,” Pimlico valet Richie Ramlchelawan said. But the most important part of the job
according to Richie is overseeing the saddles. Richie explained that each jockey has diff erent- sized saddles that are used, depending on the weight needed for each race. T ey also make sure the jockeys have the right-colored helmet covers and silks, that their boots are clean, and the like. “We take that pressure off the jockeys so they can go out and win,” he added. Each valet works with a specifi c jockey
or jockeys and Richie, who calls himself a perfectionist, said, “I work for some of the elite in the business,” adding that the valet business can be a bit cutthroat at times, but his interactions with jockeys have been good ones. “T ey don’t get enough respect, in my opinion. T ey are classy and stick together like a family. Everyone I work with is so polite and they respect me as well,” he commented. As for Preakness Day, it is business as usual in the jockey room. Richie admits he puts a bit more pressure on himself that day. “T ere is a lot of money riding on that one race and I want to make sure my job makes everything go smoothly for the jockeys. It is not just about one race, we take pride in Maryland racing,” he said.
800-244-9580 |
www.equiery.com
Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club
Katherine O. Rizzo
Jim McCue/The Maryland Jockey Club
Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club
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