Page 9 - The Game February 2006

Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper The Game, February 2006 9
Making it on her own
Beth Hancock was exposed to the world of horses at the age of nine after her older sister, Cindy began riding lessons in their home town of Cornwall, Ontario. The pair of sisters would spend their weekends hacking around on western pleasure horses through the trails and farms until the age of seventeen which was when Beth became serious about a career with horses.
At age eighteen Beth began breaking yearlings and working the sales for Windfields Farm and the three years that she was there would prove to be instrumental in shaping the rest of her life.
While at Windfields Beth met her future husband, Bob Hancock, who at the time was a foreman who rode around with the resident veterinarian.
Beth and Bob then travelled to Florida to work with the racehorses at Good Chance Farm in Ocala, Beth was galloping while Bob was a groom. After a year the couple had returned to Canada and began working for Bill Graham’s Windhaven Farm in Caledon.
That was twenty-four years ago.
Today, Bob Hancock manages the farm while Beth looks after the bookkeeping for both the Windhaven Farms in Caledon and Kentucky as well as the books for veterinarian Alan Young. During foaling season, you will also find Beth in the barn taking her turn on night duty.
“We’re like a family around here.” said Beth, “We do everything together.”
nominated.
To say that Beth
knows a lot about pedigrees and successful matings would be an understatement. For the past fifteen years Beth has also run the yearling and breeding stock sales for Bob Anderson’s Anderson Farms in St. Thomas, Ontario. Other
outfits such as Millridge, Eaton Sales, Michael Byrne and Niall Brennan have used Beth’s expertise in handling and showing horses over the years and she has gained many friends and contacts in the sales business.
This year Beth has decided to strike out on her own and has hung a proverbial shingle as Beth Hancock, Agent.
“I felt it was time to go on my own.” said Beth of her decision to offer her services as consignor for the all the major sales in Kentucky and Ontario.
Beth will also offer sales preparation and says that her plan is to keep her consignments small enough to remain hands on, preferring quality over quantity. “I want to be hands-on to teach the horses how to stand and walk,” says Beth, “A horse can’t show himself properly if he can’t walk beside you.”
Beth knows a good pedigree match when she sees one and says that she enjoys seeing the results (the foals) of the stallions and mares she has helped to match up at Windhaven over the years.
Beth and Bob live at Windhaven Farm in their own residence with their three children, 20 year old son, Drew, and 19 year old twin daughters, Stephanie and Jessica. Jessica was accepted to the Irish National Stud and recently left for Ireland in January for the 6 month program with plans to also apply to the Darley Flying Start Program. Stephanie is getting set for
a backpacking excursion in Europe and Drew is studying Graphic Design when he is not working on the farm.
Beth is confident that she has the expertise and the contacts to do well for her clients at the sales and is looking forward to a successful future.
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Beth’s responsibilities also include helping with the decision of the selection of stallions for the mares, along with booking the stallions and getting the foals registered and
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Beth Hancock with the Windhaven Farms owned mare, Heart Lake, by Unbridled, and her filly by Lion Heart who was born Jan. 9/06
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Retirement doesn't end early wake ups for Jorge Pizarro
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Serving Ontario’s Leading Farms and Trainers
By Harlan Abbey
Jorge Pizarro retired as a jockey at the Fort Erie Racetrack in 1996, it meant the end of dieting to keep his weight down. But it didn't mean he could sleep late in the mornings.
So, just as he did at age 18 in his native Argentina, Pizarro is up around 5 a.m. to exercise horses.
"You get into this because you love horses," he said one recent morning. "And I still do."
The Argentinian jockey school was a two-year program "and not everyone got to be a jockey, only if you were approved by the faculty," he explained. But he was, only to suffer a horrific accident soon
"Now I ride up to 14 or 15 horses in the morning," he said, "and I can take more time with them, teach them to relax when running. You couldn't do that as a jockey, you had to save some energy for the afternoons. I'm not in a rush now, I'm not going anywhere. I ride horses for Armand Concessi, Paul Nielsen and Bobby Griem. I tell the trainers when their horses' action indicates they're not happy, that something might be wrong."
CONTINUED NEXT PAGE - SEE JORGE PIZARRO
Brigitte Desourcy & Jorge Pizarro with Miss Filibuster
after:
"I was schooling a
horse from the starting gate, he stumbled, I went over his head, and he stepped on me. I had to have a kidney removed. Later I developed a thyroid problem, which
hindered me in keeping my weight down."
In Buenos Aires there were races on both dirt and grass
courses, but an uncle knew trainers in Canada and Pizarro moved his tack there, spending two years in Winnipeg and then moving to Toronto's Woodbine racetrack and then to Fort Erie in the early 1980's. He was among the top ten riders at Fort Erie and was the champion rider in 1994, two years before he retired.
"Of course I miss racing," he admitted. "Riding with the other boys, winning races... there's nothing more exciting. The thrill when they open the starting gate, it's another world."
When he was a jockey, he'd ride eight to ten horses, more if he wanted to lose weight. It was a way of keeping in contact with trainers and being assured of riding their horses in the races in the afternoons.