Page 16 - The Game March 2006

16 The Game, March 2006 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
Mike Luider:Agent With A License to Thrill
By Peter Gross
At the Sovereign Awards last December, I was minding my own business, trying to adjust the suspenders on my tux, when suddenly a huge man was towering over me. Mike Luider flashed me a smile about half a furlong wide as he watched champion jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson showing off her newly-won Sovereign Award to friends and family.
"That's my girl," quipped Luider and the remark was neither paternal nor romantic.
The 48 year-old Luider is Wilson's agent and 2005 was the kind of dream year than makes agents believe the world is a perfect place. Aside from handling the book of the apprentice who became the first woman ever to lead the jockey standings at Woodbine, Luider also hustled for the affable Jim McAleney. There were times last year when horseplayers wondered if anyone else was even allowed in the winner's circle.
"Between the two of them, we had 287 winners at Woodbine," says Luider, "And a few more at Fort Erie."
Typically an agent's take is 25% of the jockey's earnings. Emma-Jayne's horses ran off with close to $7,000,000 this year. Jimmy Mac enriched his owners to the tune of $6,600,000. If a jockey gets between 5 and 10% of the horses' bounty, it's easy to see that Luider, who, at 6'4", probably weighs as much as Wilson and McAleney together, had a very good year on the backs of thoroughbreds.
The route to becoming a successful agent does not have a pre-described template. There is no Agent 101 at Humber College. For 23 years, Luider trained horses and in the mid to late 90s, the business wasn't doing him too many favours.
"I went through a transition, unfortunately where several of the people that were supporting me as owners passed away," he recalls ruefully, "Joyce Bears (Double B Stable,) contributed 90% of the horses I was training and when she passed away, that left me short of horses."
The stock that Luider still worked with might have been trying to send him a message about his career.
"I went to New York for the winter of '97," says Luider, just a hint of self- deprecation in his voice, "I had a very unsuccessful meet and I remember the last horse I entered ran a dismal race."
Around this time, Luider had talked casually with McAleney about becoming a jock's agent. The fruitless experience in New York prompted Luider to pick up the phone.
"I tracked Jimmy down in Florida and asked if he was still interested and he was
and that's how I started my agent's career." McAleney had a good, but not fantastic season in 1998, winning 55 races and piling up about $1,900,000 in purse winnings. Luider's share of that was probably well under $50,000. Enough to pay the bills, perhaps, but the guy wasn't hanging out at the boat show eyeing a
60-foot yacht.
Still, Luider had several very productive
years persuading horsemen to put Jimmy Mac on the backs of their steeds. Through 2004, Mcaleney had won 551 races and more than $27million in purses thanks to the horses Luider had hooked up for him.
In 2004, Luider's star started to glow with a little more lustre. On the advice of trainer Cliff Hopmans, Luider came to watch a young woman working horses. The lady's name was Emma-Jayne Wilson.
"Cliff said 'I have a girl galloping horses for me right now. She may be a couple of years away, but you should have a look,'" recalls Luider.
"The first time I watched her gallop, I thought she's got a good seat on the horse and I could see a lot of potential here. So I went back to the barn and chatted with her and that sealed the deal because everything she said to me made me believe she could get this done."
Wilson convinced Luider that more than anything else, she wanted to learn.
"She was full of questions," he says, "She was hungry for knowledge."
Wilson and Luider took the route typical of many apprentices and their agent: Talk the horsemen into mounts, see how long it takes to win four races, then call it a year. The fifth win jeopardizes the length of the jockey's apprenticeship. Wilson won her four races near the end of 2004 and it was the final of the four that really impressed Luider.
"She was in a difficult situation," he says almost as if the replay is etched permanently in his mind," She was pinned in along the fence and the outside horse actually went by her at the 16th pole and she just got down and started riding and refused to lose the race and she won in a real tight photo."
That was remarkably similar to Wilson's first win of 2005. She tried to drive Bold Clover up the inside in the final furlong, but Constant Montpellier had his horse on the lead and was having none of that.
"It got tight along the rail,"says Luider, "Her horse didn't want to run up the inside so she switched to the outside and won the race. Montpellier came to me the next day and said, 'She's alright.'"
She sure was. Wilson started 2005 winning races with stunning regularity. In fact, Luider experienced a most pleasant
amendment to the traditional agent-trainer relationship.
"At first it was just me knocking on doors," says Luider, "But from mid- summer on, it was trainers knocking on my door. It would be very typical on a day where Emma would ride 9 races that w e would have as many as 30 offers."
That would explain why Wilson set a record by riding 1096 times in 2005. She easily captured the jockey's title and in December, she was the runaway winner of the Sovereign Award as the top apprentice in Canada. A month later, Luider and Wilson were in Los Angeles, hoping to complete a spectacular daily double by winning the Eclipse Award as best apprentice jockey on the continent.
"I don't think any of us at the table even heard her name," says Luider, recalling the once-in-a-lifetime moment, "The only thing we remember was that Chris McCarron was giving the award and he said, '.the Eclipse goes to a very talented young lady.' and we didn't hear her name because of the excitement. We were cheering and the words just melted off into the night."
Strangely with the remarkable success he is having at the track, Mike Luider prefers not to be at Woodbine, especially when the live racing is taking place.
"I very rarely go to the races. I find I get a lot more work done at home where I can sit with my computer and the condition book and the proof (early condition book). I'll have an idea where the next races are going to appear for these horses."
The reason for that, explains Luider, is that they're not giving anything away for free at Woodbine.
"I have found Woodbine to be a very competitive place for jockeys and agents. It's not a job that you can get away with sleepwalking."
The world of jockeys and agents is a constantly evolving one. At the end of 2005, McAleney elected to work with a new agent. To start the 2006 season, Luider will be the agent for just one jockey.
"Jimmy's got another agent," he says without a trace of rancor, "He's got Danny Williams who was assistant trainer for Lorne Richards."
As for Emma-Jayne Wilson, Luider is confident she will pick up right where she left off. Work ethic is not a problem with Wilson.
"She's worked really hard this winter at fine tuning her game," he points out, "She has an equisizer and she videotapes herself working out. She's just working on the technical aspect of the game. She's a consummate pro; very much a student of
the game."
Wilson also has one very convenient
advantage over many of the best jockeys. "She has no weight issues," Luider points out, "She could have five pizzas before a race and that's one of the reasons
she can handle the work load."
And, soon, says Luider, it will be time
for Emma-Jayne Wilson to test her mettle in the most competitive arena possible. Luider wants his jockey to ride in the U.S.
"We have great riders at Woodbine, but when you go to a new place you have an opportunity to learn new things and expand your riding skills. You can model after the riders who are the best at those racetracks."
If that means that Wilson will ride in New York, Luider emphasizes that will happen only when the thoroughbred season is over in Toronto.
"Woodbine is our home. She will be based here on a daily basis for the next several years."
Luider is actually one of those very rare guys who has two wonderful women in his life. For eleven years he has been married to Renee Kierans, and for a guy who loves horses and beautiful women, that's the perfect exactor. Kierans (just my opinion here) is this country's most skilled and appealing horseracing broadcaster. Her work on HPI TV is bright, informed, energetic and, of course, real easy to look at. Luider may be proud of his jockey, but he goes into rave mode when Renee's name is invoked.
"From the first day she went on television, I've been so proud of her," he says with no shortage of affection, "She knows the racing game inside out. She knows the players. She knows the breeding of horses and she's got a great memory."
In a sense, Luider is what every horseplayer aspires to be: A guy who picks winners and is surrounded by winners. Happily, he doesn't allow his special situation to escape him.
"I do take a moment every day to say, 'I'm a lucky guy.'"
Jockey Agent Mike Luider
News In Review
Prominent thoroughbred owner, Bob Lewis, passed away peacefully from heart failure at his Newport Beach, California, home on February 17. The 81 year-old was reported to have been in declining health for some months. Bob is survived by his wife, Beverly, and their three children, Jeff, Nancy and Jimmy.
purchasing yearlings at the sales and had enjoyed much success with horses such as Eclipse Award winners Timber Country (1994 2-year-old male), Serena's Song (1995 3-year-old filly), Silver Charm (1997 3-year-old male), Charismatic (1999 3-year-old male), Orientate (2002 sprinter), and Folklore (2005 2-year-old female).
They captured an Eclipse Award themselves as
Outstanding Owners in 1997.
Bob Lewis had followed his father into the
brewing industry in Northern California and he first ventured to the racetrack at Santa Anita as a child with his parents in the 1930’s.
Santa Anita has plans to rename its G2 Santa Catalina Stakes in honour of Bob to the Robert B. Lewis Memorial in 2007.
Bob and his wife built up their stable of horses