Page 34 - August 2017

RACING, BRAZILIAN-STYLE
Some of the people who visited Brazil in July were making their first trip, while others are frequent travelers
to South America. In addition to the changes in climate, time zone and culture, all noticed the differences between Quarter Horse racing in the U.S. and in Brazil. Here are some of their comments about the differences, and the similarities, they saw:
The facility is well-designed and friendly to the race fans, who get caught up in the sport at a very young age.
Butch Wise:
The biggest difference, obviously, is the lanes. It presents so few problems! In many ways, I think we could use lanes in our races for the first 30 yards out of the gates.
The other major change is they run most
of their races at a quarter of a mile, the classic Quarter Horse distance. A lot of times they’ll run the trials on Saturday and the finals the next day on Sunday -- no drugs and running them twice a quarter of a mile in two days. It works very well for them.
They’re very passionate about their sport and they have a bunch of great horsemen.
Vince Genco:
You see a lot of young jockeys. The owners buy the barns, and then they set them up with BBQ places and party places for after the races. It’s a very social atmosphere at the barns. We went to three or four different parties the night we were there. That was how it was designed in the beginning by the original people. It was a place they were going to go for the weekends. So, when they first built the barns, they had apartments and the owners would stay there. There are some 20-horse barns there, and they’ll buy two barns together and connect them with a breezeway. It’s mostly inside and it’s
all on cement, so the stalls are bedded pretty deep. There are no hot walkers. All the horses down there are hand walked. When they’re led to the race, they’re led with two guys, one on each side. There’s no ponies, there’s not even an outrider.
There’s no licensing to get in the barn area. There is a guard at the gate at the racetrack, but it’s open to anybody. If you’re going to the races, they let you in.
It’s still like the U.S., it’s a very expensive sport, but it’s something that we all love and we’re hooked on it.
Jim Heird:
The first thing that you notice is the quality of the facility. It’s an excellent grandstand -- well designed, well cared for. The grounds are well cared for. It’s obvious, as you’re down in the paddock looking at horses, that these horses
are comformationally equivalent to what we have here. They’re quiet in the gates; they’re broke; they go to the gates quietly. It’s a quality operation from start to finish.
Janet VanBebber:
There are no pony people. Because of the nature of the lanes, the whole way they warm up is different. They spend a lot more time
in the paddock and they walk them in the paddock. Then when they leave the paddock, they head straight down toward the gates
and there is a person leading them. So, that contradicts what we do here. But I think a lot of times, we take a longer warm-up period because it’s more about getting the handle and affording the people who are wagering an opportunity to get to the windows. So, while it’s different, it’s not a criticism.
I’m really glad to see that they’ve implemented what they call anti-doping. They’ve implemented the testing procedures. As I was walking in the paddock, it was good to see a guy in a white coat that said “anti- doping” on it.
John Bachelor:
At the Jockey Club de Sorocaba, we saw a horse fully saddled and a jockey on him being led over from the barn area. You won’t see that here! After they run a race, all the horses will line up on the track, one behind the other, and then a horse will go into the winner’s circle, unsaddle, weigh the jockey, and then that horse
32 SPEEDHORSE, August 2017