Page 19 - November 2008 The Game

Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper The Game, November 2008 19
By Michelle Rainford
Outside the Jocks’ Room...With Daniel David
Daniel David winning aboard Cawaja Beach
Winter is fast approaching and with it comes the end of the racing season at Woodbine Racetrack. For all those who work at Woodbine many will be heading south for jobs or for well deserved breaks spent in the sun. For me, I cannot say that a break is needed at all; I am looking forward to beginning my training once again to prepare for the 2009 season. These last several months have been dif cult spend- ing it at home attempting to recuperate and only one word can be used to describe my time: boring. Not that I am looking for sympathy, but it is nice to have a monthly column to occupy my time and also to continue getting to know some of our jockeys better. This month I sat down with Daniel David and dis- covered some very interesting things about him.
tual, yes. I try to live by spiritual principles as much as I can. It’s not easy for me but it’s necessary for me. One, not to drink, and two, it’s a way better way of life than I’ve ever known.”
Danny D, as he is often referred to, is quiet and re- served and admittedly dif cult to know well. Funny how things go for different people, while I have been living the life of boredom Danny prefers it that way. “I don’t like surprises anymore, I much prefer boring now,” he tells me during our interview. This may be because of the life Danny has lived so far. Exciting? De nitely. Full of adversity? No Doubt! But boring is de nitely not a word that could be used to describe Danny’s existence to date.
On June 1, 1984 Danny rode his rst race and three days later he won his rst, a Quarter Horse race at Picov Downs which also happened to be a stake race. “I won the rst eight races I rode at Picov’s and had a fantastic year there. It got me my rst car, a Plymouth Reliant. It went fast enough for me, if
it had gone any faster I would probably have killed myself,” he says with a laugh.
to the news did not affect Danny immediately, “I knew so little about it that it didn’t hit a nerve at rst. Once I got the sense of how devastating this thing can be I didn’t really want to live anymore. The dietitian came and told me how I was going to have to eat the rest of my life and I just crawled under my bed and cried for two days. That was devastating.
I gured I wasn’t going to be able to ride again.” Danny of course rode again and told me of how he learned to let the diabetes help him with his weight, “That kind of helped with the acceptance part. I
was still able to ride and had a great way to control my weight.” Twenty years later Danny has come
to accept his sickness, “Sometimes it’s a pain in the butt, take a shot, check my blood, but it’s necessary and I have to do it. I’ve come to accept diabetes pretty good. It’s part of my life.” With all the trials and turmoil Danny has suffered and conquered, if
the reward he wants is a boring life then I’m sure he deserves it.
Born on June 24 in a town called Lachine, Quebec and brought up in Brossard, outside of Montreal, Danny is the oldest of six children, four boys and two girls. They had a close family and very few dull moments, Danny looks back fondly on his child- hood. They were a French speaking family, “My dad was one of those Quebecers who didn’t like English spoken in the house. But my mom did some babysitting and sometimes the kids were English
Danny lived on the backside of the track for his rst few years as a jockey and during that time became a heavy drinker. “I always had alcoholic tendencies from my earliest recollection. I like to be alone, I guess being raised in a big family that alone time just never happens. It wouldn’t have mat- tered where I was. It just escalated. From the time
Danny was sent back home to nish school but only made it a few months and returned to Woodbine.
As if alcoholism isn’t enough to deal with, Danny was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes twenty years ago. Danny told me how he rst discovered he had the disease. “I was very sick. I slept 18 hours a day, the only time I was awake was when I was on the back of a horse. It’s funny because I was leading rider at Greenwood, I was doing just great and the sicker I got the less I wanted to go to the doctor’s. The more I was winning, the more I ate and the light- er I got because I didn’t understand how the sickness went. I was going to the bathroom between races and sleeping ve minutes. If I had a couple of races off I’d be out. I was very, very, very sick. It got to the point where I just couldn’t function.” Danny did nally go to the doctor and after a misdiagnosis of pneumonia they discovered the diabetes. Reaction
so I learned to communicate. When I rst came to Ontario it was a bit of a culture shock, though.” The summer of his sixteenth birthday Danny headed to Toronto to work at Woodbine, he had family there and he knew that he wanted to be a jockey. After three months of working at the track as a groom
I was eighteen I was a weekend warrior. I’d get my paycheque on Friday and spend it all getting drunk, I’d have to nd ways to feed myself during the week, which wasn’t hard on the backside. You’d just have to walk a couple of horses.” I asked Danny how long he had been sober. “I was sober for eight years during the early nineties but after a separation from my kids’ mom I went on another four of ve year stint, I went back to that life. But I’ve been sober for ve years now.” I was curious if Danny had turned to religion to help him get clean, “Religion, no, spiri-
Outside the Borders - By Nigel Grif ths
fences and again on the at, before lin- ing up again for the 2m 2f Cesarewitch, a race he was second in last year. Now an 11 yr old and carrying 6 lbs more than last year (and giving 21 lbs to the bottomweight in this 32 runner eld), the horse appeared to have it all to do in this C$320,000 handicap. He belied his age and after traveling like a dream throughout this historic race and was produced to win his race, running on well for a convincing three length win at a tasty 50/1.
was beaten into second on his sea- sonal debut. He ran well considering the ground was a bit fast for him and
it was his debut, but a at speed track like Kempton doesn’t really play to
his bottomless, never-say-die qualities and when he turns out at his favourite Cheltenham in December with it’s ris- ing ground nish, we should see a more competitive horse.
She came with the reputation, the ground was a question and along with the fact that in all of her six unbeaten starts ( ve of them at Longchamp), she had never raced against the colts. Yet such was the style of her victories, she entered the stalls a strong 13/8 favou- rite. There have been many excellent race horses victorious in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and Zarkava was without doubt another. This daughter of Zamindar was bred by the His Highness The Aga Khan and has now been retired to join his extremely productive and successful breeding operation and will soon visit stallion Dalakhani, himself an Arc winner in 2003. Whether she would have held the temperament to maintain her high standards as a 4 y.o we will not know, but she did everything asked of her and did it with the style and class of an outstanding horse.
2 yr old, has been retired. Unbeaten at 2, including two Gr1 wins, he made
his debut in the 2000 Guineas over
the straight mile at Newmarket, being beaten into second by Henrythenaviga- tor. The result was replicated at The Curragh in the Irish 2000, but stepping up in trip was to his advantage and he claimed a rightful victory in the Derby. The rescheduled Juddmonte Interna- tional at Newmarket saw him nish third behind Duke of Marmalade, but he bounced back to take the Irish Cham- pion Stakes and nish his career with a demolition job in the English version. It wouldn’t be classed as the best renewal of the race, but he was so dominant and exuded the class that he undoubtedly processes. This son of Galileo will now stand at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmar- ket.
Although the Grand National is some way off, the Eastern European version was held recently and not without a small amount of controversy. Although the UK raiders didn’t factor in the shake up, last years winner, the 8 y.o. mare Sixteen did take the crown, courtesy of the disquali cation of Amant Gris who was deemed to have gone the wrong side of a marker. Josef Yana also trained the third horse home Juventus.
Thinking ahead to the Festival, an early one to put in the notebook is Ouzbeck, a stablemate of Katchit. He put up a really nice performance to take his race at Cheltenham on Saturday (Oct 18th) and the six year old should continue to improve.
Youmzain, as usual gave his best and repeated his second place as last year and the judges called a dead-heat for third between Soldier of Fortune and the big priced German raider It’s Gino. Seventh place went to Duke of Marma- lade who recently nished ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita, and is reported to now be retired.
It’s always good to see the old stagers hold their own against the young ‘uns and better still to see a jumps horse beat the at horses at their own game. Caracciola, a son of Lando was bred
The jumps season is starting to gain momentum now and some of the big guns are showing up on the track or in the extensive news coverage of the sport.
Down under, everything is being geared towards the Melbourne Cup. Godolphin snatched the Caul eld Cup with All The Good, beautifully ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, but it may be worth watching out for second placed Nom Du Jeu over from New Zealand who apparently suffered from travel sick- ness earlier in the week and the Luca Cumani (UK) trained son of Lemon Drop Kid, Mad Rush. Keep an eye on the Moonee Valley Cup and Geelong Cup for further clues and good luck.
New Approach, last years Champion
in Germany and was familiar with the winners enclosure a number of times in his formative at racing years. He moved to the UK and started his jumps career with Nicky Henderson at Lam- bourn. Caracciola won over hurdles,
That terrier of a horse known as Katchit, winner of the Triumph Hurdle and Champion Hurdle at the Festival,
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