Page 7 - April 2009 The Game
P. 7

Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Brent Harris Content in his Role By Jennifer Johnson
The Game, April 2009 7
In recent years The HBPA has offered an award for Outstanding Assistant Trainer. The Assistants
are nominated by trainers and other backstretch personnel based on their achievements and work ethics.
Brent Harris was one of three assistants awarded the honour in 2008, for the second consecutive year.
foreman, paid his dues and spent a
lot of time traveling with the horses to different racetracks. Harris wasn’t afraid of the dedication and work it took to have a successful career in the industry, “You learn from the ground up, it makes you a well rounded horse person.” said Harris.
“I appreciate them (my staff) for working as hard as they do, everyone gets along, and we’re like a family”
Harris has been involved in the racing industry for the last 25 years in every aspect including riding races as a jockey to his current role as Assistant Trainer for Mike Doyle.
Brent eventually left the United States and headed to Woodbine in 2000, where he was hired by Mike Doyle as a gallop boy. As much as
he loved the horses he wanted his afternoons off, and galloping allowed him the freedom to both be around the horses, and have a social life which for him consists of a lot of golf and pub crawls.
You’ll catch Brent smiling and laughing a lot, and especially making cracks about a skiing accident that happened to him this winter which “nearly made him a candidate for the Barbados Special Olympic Team.”
Brent Harris was born in Bridgetown, Barbados, where he was  rst introduced to horses at the age of eleven by his family as an extracurricular summer activity for him and his brothers.
He’ll also tell you that his happy outlook on life is due to the love of the horses, the outdoors, and especially the people.
Assistant Trainer Brent Harris at Woodbine
It was at that young age that he began riding show jumpers and participating in gymkhana games.
The next year Brent had a change of heart and took on the role of Assistant Trainer along side Jeff ‘Skippy’ Bowen. When Skippy moved on, Brent was left to manage the shed row on his own. “I jumped in with both feet.” He said of the opportunity the position provided.
Although Brent would like to start training eventually he said, “You need to have good people behind you, owners that will stick with you thru thick and thin.” and Harris considers himself a safe player and is still quite content with the job that he is doing now. “I love my job, it’s more of a hobby, it comes naturally, and I’m happy doing it”
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Harris graduated high school with aspirations of becoming an accountant however at age 17 he attained his jockey’s license, while working part time as a bank teller to help subsidize his growing passion of horses. His goals of becoming a “suit and tie guy”  zzled as the racing industry took him by storm.
Brent spent the next seven years working and Woodbine and traveling to Fair Grounds in New Orleans with Mike Doyle in the winter, at which point he began to realize that the people at the track were now acting
as his Canadian family. “I’ve met a
lot of people; I can go to any track from Miami to New York and know at least one person on the racetrack” said Harris, who now takes the winters off to visit his two brothers and parents who still reside in Barbados.
Brent contributes much of his recent successes to his boss, Mike Doyle, “He’s a good boss, I’ve learned a lot from him, and I owe him a great deal of thanks, for hiring me, teaching me what he knows, and not coming down on me when I make mistakes.”
Harris was brought to Canada by now steward, Bill McMahon and he spent the  rst two years in the country riding races at Fort Erie; where he would go on to win about 40 races
as a jockey between 1989 and 1991. Harris was always a heavier rider, so eventually the weight was no longer maintainable and he moved on to be an exercise rider.
Brent loves his job, and believes that it’s a hobby that you get paid to do. “I’m fair to work
for; I give my
Upon receiving the award for Outstanding Assistant Trainer Brent said, “I feel appreciated. I do the work because I love it, I do the job to my best ability and the recognition just comes along, which is great.”
Brent was bitten by the travel bug and wanted to see the U.S. so he took a position galloping horses for Roger Att eld at Payson Park in Florida
and then travelled the circuit up and down the East Coast. This is where he would meet a very in uential woman named Holly Robinson.
staff a lot of lead way, and I’m very approachable. said Brent about his skills at being a boss. And although his shed row isn’t run perfectly, his staff take their time with the horses, get to enjoy a
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Harris said that he owes a great deal of appreciation to Holly, who was then an assistant for Roger Att eld. “It was Holly, who taught me everything I know today. From bandaging, to working them, the whole training aspect.”
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Brent worked as Robinson’s barn
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The Game April 2009.indd 7
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