Page 143 - September 2020

THE BACKSIDE
WHAT CHALLENGES DO YOU HAVE AS A JOCKEY, BEING SO MUCH TALLER?
“It’s not easy making weight being this
tall, but I watch my diet and can comfortably stay about 130 pounds now without killing myself. I’m still winning races and setting new track records and winning leading rider titles, so I don’t think the extra five or six pounds is hurting the horses either. When I first started, I was making weight easy. As I got older, it
got harder and harder and everybody worried about me because I am so tall. A lot of trainers, they’d say, ‘I can’t use you on race day, you’re just too tall.’”
WHAT’S THE BEST HORSE YOU’VE EVER RIDDEN, AND WHY?
“I’ve been on so many good ones. Probably my favorite Quarter Horse I ever rode was
Auto Rotate. A friend of mine found me one day and asked me if I happened to be close to Fremont ... he asked if I would stop and work a horse for him. We started him in a maiden race a few weeks later ... came back to the Rocky Mountain Spring Classic Futurity in Pocatello. He won his trial heat and qualified, then came back two weeks later and won the futurity as the longest shot on the board. Then he got hurt and we didn’t get him started until later in the summer as a 3 year old. We won the Bonus Challenge at Elko and set the track record at 400 yards. They sold him and bought him or traded him back, and we won the handicap [at Wyoming Downs] three years later.”
WHAT’S AHEAD FOR YOU IN 2020?
“A bad day came on March 9. I was working one of the green 2 year olds and had an accident and broke my neck, nose and the left clavicle for the third time. Everyone figured I was definitely done riding racehorses. I didn’t want to quit. The doctor told me to take three months doing absolutely nothing. At 10 weeks, I had my wife’s stud horse tacked up and went for a nice gallop. I felt good again. He was my first gallop back and my first race back. On August 2, he gave me my first win this year in our hometown of Malad on my 48th birthday with all of my family and friends there. It was a special day. I should have retired then, but I couldn’t. I still want to ride and race!”
Todd and Cody Jensen at Heritage Place.
Nakia Huffman and Todd strategizing before a race.
Todd aboard JC Wonder Woman, being ponied by Wes Smith.
“I have been galloping and working 20-25 horses a day, riding a lot of races and still setting track records and getting more leading rider buckles.”
SPEEDHORSE September 2020 141
© Ralph Hartline © Ralph Hartline