Page 13 - August 2005 The Game

Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper The Game, August 2005 13
A young girl’s dream
By Pauline Block
A groom can be described as "THE BACKBONE IN THE HORSE INDUSTRY" for the essential role they play in caring for the horses on a daily basis. Patience and tender loving care plays a major part in the well-being of the horse.
Irena Chupova, a petite, blue-eyed Ukraine, known on the backstretch as "Little Irena", is currently employed as a groom for trainer Shelly Fitzgerald.
Back in Keiv, Russia, her home country, Irena quit school at age 15 and landed a job working with Standardbred horses. At that time she desperately wanted to drive them but was told she was too young and had to wait until she was 18 to get licensed. In the meantime, she was given the responsibility of grooming 10 horses which she continued to do until her eighteenth birthday, then she went on to become a standardbred driver for the next ten years.
The people back home were poor in the sense that they had little money to wager on horse racing, which resulted in Irena realizing that this was not the industry to choose as a career, or at least in her country.
Irena searched the world-wide web and researched the horse racing industry and discovered Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto in Canada. And
Groom Irena Chupova
that was when she made it her goal to move across the ocean and work with horses at Woodbine.
When she arrived in Canada, Irena had a spokesperson call the HPBA office and inquire on the necessary procedure to secure employment at the racetrack.
Irena's name and phone number were left with the person on the other end of the line and they were also informed at that time that "Irena did not speak English" to which they responded, "horses don't speak English either."
A month later Irena received the call she had been waiting for and within two weeks she started working as a hot walker. Unfortunately though, on her third day of employment, a horse backed up and stepped on her foot.
Because she could not speak English, Irena was unable to explain what had just happened. Fortunately a passer-by had seen the horse step backward onto Irena’s foot and she was then taken to hospital.
There were no broken bones just some badly bruised toes which required her to take three days off. Working with horses was her passion and her dream and Irena was grateful for her job.
The rest of the staff were very impressed when she returned to work, as they didn't really expect her back. Quite often in the past, when a new employee (usually in-experienced) had been injured, they never returned.
After more than two months of walking horses Irena mentioned to her boss she would like to groom
however she was told that she was not experienced enough. Shortly after she was offered a job with trainer Scott Fairlie which she graciously accepted. She continued walking horses for another two months before taking on the position of a groom which is what she has been doing for the past 4 years now.
Eight-year-old, Line of Defense,
was the first horse she groomed and of course she became very attached to him. Her eyes lit up when she spoke about him, simply saying,"he's amazing."
The horse was claimed in 2004 and Irena was sad and devastated at this loss. This was her baby and she wanted him back so she made it her goal to be reunited with the horse. So Irena partnered up with John Attfield and they claimed him back. He is currently with her a Woodbine being trained by Les Frost.
Irena's day begins around 4:30 am and she finishes around noon time. Every other day she is responsible for feeding in the afternoon. Some of her other responsibilities include mucking (cleaning) stalls, preparing the horses for their morning runs, personal care such as bandaging and brushing as well as feeding the horses.
Irena says he just plain loves spending time with the horses and comments on all of their individual personalities.
As for the future, Irena’s goal is to eventually become a trainer.
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