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THE BACKSIDE
NIK GOODWIN
“You need hard work and a good work ethic. If you want to make it in racing, you’ve got to work hard.”
by John Moorehouse
HOME BASE:
Ocala, Florida
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE: 28
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
AND ACHIEVEMENTS:
Won the Canterbury Park leading jockey title in 2020. Holds more than 1,000 victo- ries and nearly $17 million in earnings on Thoroughbreds, and has 150 wins and nearly $1.8 million in earnings on Quarter Horses.
FAVORITE HOBBY: “Fishing and hunting.”
Nik Goodwin takes pride in his heri-
tage as a member of the Minnesota Chippewa tribe. He also thinks his early
childhood, spent on the Whitehurst reservation in northern Minnesota, helped shape him and helped him thrive as a professional jockey for nearly a quarter century.
“It was a struggle,” Goodwin said of life on the reservation. “My parents were schoolteach- ers, so we moved off the reservation when I was going into third grade and we moved to Bemidji.
“It brought light to the fact that you can succeed in life with a humble upbringing,” Goodwin added. “I excelled in academics. And then I excelled when I started riding horses.”
Goodwin has spent the vast majority of his life riding. He started out at small bush tracks in northern Minnesota. Goodwin’s father trained horses—never more than a few at one time. He made his debut as a pro in Winnipeg, Manitoba, when he was just 17 years old.
“I had a full ride scholarship to go to a lot of universities. I graduated with a 3.95 GPA. And I passed all that up and went to ride races,” Goodwin said. “I went out west, went to Santa Anita, found a home in Maryland, and stayed in Maryland for many years primarily riding Thoroughbreds.”
These days, Goodwin splits his time between riding on the track circuit in the Upper Midwest, and breezing horses for sales near his full-time home in Ocala. The list of horses he has worked with includes American Pharoah, winner of the 2015 Triple Crown.
Dividing his time between opposite ends of the country isn’t the struggle you might think. “In this day and age, all you’ve got to do is
get on an airplane. If you’re needed one place, three, four, five hours later, you’re where you need to be,” Goodwin said.
He took time to answer these questions for Speedhorse in this latest installment of our “Backside” feature.
YOU’VE GOT EXPERIENCE WITH
BOTH QUARTER HORSES AND THOROUGHBREDS. WHAT IS IT ABOUT EACH BREED THAT YOU ENJOY?
“I enjoy riding a good horse. I started back in 1993 when I first got my license.
I broke a lot of Quarter Horses out of the gates, but I didn’t ride Quarter Horses
for many years. I rode on the east coast at Pimlico and Laurel Park in Maryland. When I came back to the Midwest and started rid- ing at Canterbury Park, that’s when I started on Quarter Horses. Ed Hardy gave me a really good chance. Over the years, I’ve had a lot of success for a lot of different clients up here.”
FOLLOWING UP ON THAT LAST QUESTION, WHAT, TO YOU, MAKES A GOOD HORSE?
“Good mind. Good motor. And sometimes the bad minded ones you can trick them and make them into a good minded horse. I really enjoyed riding the Quarter Horses; I enjoy getting them out
of the gate well and getting them set up properly in the gate. I guess that’s maybe
my strong point as far as riding them, and the gates in Quarter Horse [racing] is a big thing. Leave the gates better than everybody, then usually you have a pretty good chance to win the race.”
YOU’VE BEEN RIDING FOR ALMOST THREE DECADES. HOW HAS THE SPORT CHANGED SINCE YOU STARTED?
“From a jockey’s standpoint, it’s gotten more competitive. I don’t want to be a Debbie downer, but I grew up on the backside cleaning stalls and taking care of horses and doing it the hard way. A lot of young riders don’t really have to do that anymore. They just put a helmet and boots on and off they go. I grew up cleaning stalls
“I had a full ride scholarship to go to a lot of universities. I graduated with a 3.95 GPA. And I passed all that up and went to ride races.”
80 SPEEDHORSE July 2021
Coady Photography