Page 18 - March 2007 The Game

18 The Game, March 2007 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Outrider Robert Love –
There’s a New Cowboy in Town
Robert Love turned 43 years old on February 12 and he did it in the very best way possible – by waking up at 5 am on a frigid Monday to make sure the horses working out at Woodbine did so in a safe and orderly fashion. Love is the new head outrider for Woodbine and the moment you see him, you figure central casting came up with the perfect guy. He sits straight up in the
On a typical race day, the outrider comes out on the track for each post parade. It’s Love’s assignment to make sure horses and riders stay under control when they’re warming up and to get the field to the gate without incident. When the race is over, the outrider has to make sure everyone gets pulled up and gets back safely to the paddock or unsaddling
saddle and looks so natural on the horse, it’s almost as if one is the extension of the other. With his enormous moustache and warm, smiling presence, Love could be a dead ringer for veteran actor Sam Elliot, who is often called upon to play tough, wiry cowboys.
Love certainly has the perfect resume for his new position.
“I rode on the ‘B’
circuit in Alberta and
British Columbia,” he
says. “Both quarter horses and thorough- breds for about 20 years and I’ve been exercising on the ‘A’ tracks for a few years as well.”
When his buddy Tim Rycroft was invited to outride at Woodbine, Love inherited Rycroft’s position in Alberta.
“Last four years I’ve been head outrider in Alberta,” he said. “Last fall, I heard that Woodbine was looking for an outrider and I decided to try it out and they made me an offer last fall. We worked everything out and I’m back here this spring.”
Director of Racing Steve Koch is succinct about the decision to put the safety of the horses and riders in Love’s capable hands.
“He’s the man who makes the decisions,” states Koch, “He’s a true horseman.”
“Basically we’re out here for safety purposes and to help out when people need to catch loose horses and kind of keep people in order,” says Love in his easy going fashion. “Most of it is common sense, like lots of times you get inexperienced gallop people who don’t understand how the traffic works on the track and where they should be with what they’re doing. They learn. It just takes experience.”
area.
Inevitably, a horse
spooks or stumbles, dumps its rider and runs loose. This tests the skill, strength and stamina of the very best outriders.
“Some of it is instinct and some of it you can learn,” says Love. “You’ve got to be able to read the situation to get the jump on them, because if you don’t, it’s hard to catch up.”
A big smile creases his face as if he’s recalling a particularly difficult circumstance.
“When you have more than one horse loose at the time, it
makes it hard.”
It looks as if Woodbine got a package
deal when they hired Love – he brings the outrider horses as well.
“I have a string of eight horses,” he says. “I have four horses with me at Woodbine right now and four more will come later in the season.”
On the bitterly cold Sunday morning when we met him, Love was on Grouch, a six year old quarterhorse gelding. The two looked as if they’d been together for years.
“He’s turned out to be a good outriding horse,” says Love, giving Grouch a friendly rub along the side of his head.
Woodbine always has at least one out- rider present during the morning workout and as many as three when the races are being run. From now until December, Love will be spending many long days in the saddle.
“I work the mornings seven days a week and during the races as well,” says Love without the slightest hint of regret or dismay. “If the track opens at six, I’m usually here an hour and a half before that.”
Hard to imagine the man being anywhere else. - PG
New head outrider Robert Love and his horse Grouch
New Agent for Landry in 2007
Woodbine-based jockey Robert Landry, who finished thirteenth in the standings in 2006 (40-50-32 $2,197,105), has appointed Doug Gibbons as his new agent for the 2007 season. Doug had the books for jockeys Chad Beckon and Dale Hemsley at Fort Erie in 2006 and says that Chad will be represented by Scott Lane for 2007.
Dale Hemsley, who is currently nursing a broken collar bone, which he suffered in an incident behind the starting gate at Tampa Bay Downs in January, will, according to Doug, be taking his time getting back in the saddle.
Robert Landry parted ways with his agent, Gary Kemplen, at the end of the 2006 Woodbine meet.
Backstretch Kitchen Smelling Sweeter
In the weeks leading up to the opening of the new racing season, there has been a buzz on the Woodbine backstretch. It’s not about a hot two year old or a flashy rider; it‘s about the improved caliber of the food in the back- stretch kitchen. And there’s a good reason for this.
Rick Raposo has taken over managing the kitchen and, unlike many of the dedicated people who have served the horsepeople in the past, Raposo actually brings to the Woodbine environment a wealth of experience in the catering and food service.
Raposo, 36, was born in Portugal and moved with his family to Canada in 1973, when he was just three years old. He attended grade school at St. Helen’s in the Dufferin-College area and went to Central Tech School of Commerce. His post-secondary employment record is a past performance chart of a guy moving up in class in the food industry.
“I’m a pastry guy and I’ve always been a cook,” says Raposo. “For 6 1/2 years, I worked for Michelle’s Baguettes in the Eaton Centre. I used to own the City Sports Bar in the Portuguese community.”
After selling his sports bar, Raposo made the connection that would eventual- ly take him to the racetrack. For a while he worked in sales for Humpty Dumpty snack foods and that led to a position with Sysco Foods where he learned a lot more about the food industry in sales and marketing.
“Sysco Foods is the largest food service supplier in North America,” says Raposo. “Anything that has to do with restaurants, they supply it.” In fact, Sysco supplies to Woodbine and, for the past three or four years, Raposo had made many visits to the backstretch in his capacity as a sales and marketing rep. When he heard, through word of mouth, about the opening for a new kitchen manager, he applied and was the winning candidate.
This is good news for every hungry body working behind the scenes to get horses ready for the March 31 opening. Raposo has made a vow that everything must be fresh and all the food must be tastier and healthier.
“It’s all homemade – eggs, bacon, ham, home fries,” he claims with more than a hint of commitment in his voice, “Everything here is all off the bone, all homemade food from scratch. For example, we are no longer bringing in the frozen burgers. We’re making our own.”
This is much more than a little ‘mom and pop’ hamburger stand. Even in early February, business, like the weather, has been brisk.
“I’m finding it busier compared to last year,” reports Raposo. “This year we opened February 1 and we’re getting 120 people going through everyday. The backstretch looks busier this year. That might have to do with the polytrack.”
Raposo has also taken it upon himself to upgrade the oversized coffee truck that will make regular tours of the backstretch.
We’ve painted it and we’ve cleaned it all out,” he says proudly. “And there’s a coffee machine in it now instead of old thermoses all over the place. Now the coffee will always taste hot and fresh.”
The truck will make the rounds seven days a week from 6 am to 11 am and those unable to make it to the kitchen will have a satisfying variety.
“You can get everything - hot meals, sandwiches, coffee, tea, noodles,” claims Raposo.
Right now, the truck is completely white, but there are plans for a name to be painted on the side. Possibilities include Backstretch Express, Awesome Coffee (Again), Java Man, Shillelagh Brew, Northern Sandwich...
Meanwhile, Raposo is preparing his kitchen for some heavy traffic. By the time the racing season begins, there will be around 3,000 horses stabled to the south of the new synthetic surface and the hard work necessary to keep the four-footed ones fit means a lot of hungry two-footers will be seeking sustenance.
“When we’re in full throttle, it will be at least 6-700 people a day,” calculates Raposo, “You figure a third of everyone back here will come in for sure.”
That’s a lot of eggs, bacon and home fries. - PG
Backstretch kitchen manager Rick Raposo (c) and his staff from l to r: Luigi Gentile, Anna da Silva, Billy McDermaid, Domingos Ferrara
Rick Raposo and the unnamed coffee truck