Page 100 - June 2018 Speedhorse

NAKIA RAMIREZ
“. . . a Quarter Horse race is what I picture flying must feel like.”
by John Moorehouse
Since Nakia Ramirez made her debut as a professional jockey in 2011, she is closing in on 200 wins and nearly $750,000 in prize money.
Ramirez got started in the horse racing business
at a young age—mucking stalls at the age of 13 for Wyatt Ellison, and making her Quarter Horse debut at 15 at a fair race. She won her first race in 2013 aboard the Thoroughbred Quick Light at Rupert Downs; her first Quarter Horse win came that same year with a wire-to-wire victory aboard Hazy Memory at Black Foot. She said her first big break came when she began riding for Jimmy Hanson at Les Bois Park.
Ramirez posted eight stakes wins before breaking out of familiar territory in the Northwest and moving to Oklahoma. She hasn’t slowed down. So far during the 2018 meet at Remington Park (as of press time), Ramirez has made 16 starts, including an explosive victory aboard Stripper Dust and qualifying the Appaloosa Cajun Prize to the Speedhorse Graham Paint & Appaloosa Derby-G1.
To Ramirez’s number one fan, her five-year-old daughter Jewell, every time she’s out on the track is
a triumphant trip. “I was a tomboy growing up, but
my little mini me is a girly girl through and through,” she said. “Every time I see a video from the races, I
can always hear her screaming, ‘Go Mommy,’ and no matter how the race ends, I’m still smiling because I can see and hear her cheering. A win is always great, but they are never better than when I get to meet Jewell in the winner’s circle for a victory hug and kiss.”
Ramirez describes her daughter as a “tiny princess” who coaxes her tomboy mother into plenty of girly time when she steps away from the track. “I let her paint my nails, play with my hair, play with dolls, pretty much do anything she asks me to, but she is still my mini and absolutely loves the horses and loves being at the barns with me when she can,” the jockey said.
We got to know more about Ramirez in the latest installment of our Lighter Side series.
Q: Where were you born?
A: I was born in Blackfoot, Idaho, in December of 1994. No one in my family was involved in horse racing. After I was able to buy my own horse and tried 4-H and rodeo, though, I loved it. But, I just never felt like it was enough. I always felt like there was more I needed and wanted to do.
Q: What are your hobbies outside of horse racing?
A: Other than horse racing, I love to play soccer. I played all my life and was on a state championship team in high school. The year we won, I broke my ankle two days before tryouts (a horse tried to run over my little sister and when I grabbed her, he got me). I healed up and exactly two months to the day, I was released to play and we won the state title. I also love to break horses and work on my natural horsemanship. I’m the typical horse-crazy girl, so for some people I may seem boring because I live and breathe horses.
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SPEEDHORSE, June 2018
John Moorehouse
Tic Tac Attack and Ramirez win the 2016 Portland Meadows Fall Derby.
THE LIGHTER SIDE