In search of the millions: the merciless weight filter to enter the Jockey School and the sacrificed life of a jockey

The Jockey Club Argentino Apprentice School has been operating in a venue at the San Isidro Hippodrome since July 2004. Its director is Héctor Libré, a former jockey born, curiously, in Caballito but who trained in Rosario and who for 15 For years, he dedicates his days to training the best race jockeys in the country, a profession that augurs recognition and money for those who have sufficient perseverance and professionalism, but which requires the permanent renunciation of most of life's moments of enjoyment.

“The jockey is a person who works 365 days a year. Rain, shine, hot, cold, flooded or dry. There are no weddings, no birthdays or parties, no vacations. I remember that one year my mother came to spend the end of the year party and I just had to run a mare on January 1st. Do you know when I celebrated the end of the year so as not to despise my mom? December 30th. In other words: I invented an end of the year for myself”. Héctor Libré sums up the sacrifices that a jockey must face in order to succeed. He made them during his career as such, which consisted of more than 20 thousand competitions of which he won nearly two thousand, and they are made by the boys who go through the school he directs, recognized as the most important breeding ground for race jockeys in Argentina.

“I don't usually congratulate the boys. I always tell them 'this story continues' and that means that if I won four races today tomorrow at 6 in the morning I have to be back on the field riding, because if I don't realize that this story continues, my future is truncated”.

How is the day to day of a jockey?

We get up at 6 in the morning and ride horses until 11 or 12 noon. We can mount 10, 12, 15, 18, 25 horses, whatever is available. If you happen to have a space left, you have a coffee but in general that does not happen or a jockey who does not have such a problem with weight can do it, then when you finish you go home, put on your gym clothes with a plastic cover over it, as if it were a protector for the rain and you go jogging 4 or 5 kilometers to get rid of the extra kilos (ndr: in that distance, through perspiration, around 2 kilos can be lost). Then you go to the scale, you weigh yourself and you may still be half a kilo short. Then you go to the sauna and you sit at about 85 degrees to get off that half kilo that you lack, which, depending on the liquid you have left or the time your body eliminates it, is what you spend in there. This process has even led to suicides.”

What are the conditions for admission to the Jockey Club Argentino Apprentice School that you run?

There are some. In principle, the age, weight and height of the applicant are taken into account, requirements that are very clear for anyone who wants to read them on the school entrance blackboard. That is the first filter, along with the obligation to have a finished primary. Then, in the exam that is done on the field, the boy is seen vareando, this means driving a race horse and doing the jobs that the caretaker asks of him (stride, trot, gallop, run, etc.)

You are the author of a text called "Weight Scale Project" from which you argue why today the scale in force since 1859 is inhumane and that in Argentina it was never updated. Why do you give this fight?

The weight scale that governs our country was established when the owners of the horses, the landowners of that time, said that it was inhumane for horses to carry 90 or 100 kilos on their backs and yes, it was true, but today it is also inhumane that a male jockey has to weigh 50 kilos. Nobody considers that in the 160 years since it was implemented, the bodies have changed their texture. Before, people were small. Napoleon, for example, did not reach the meter seventy...

How is the scale in other countries of the world?

Abroad there are different graduations; today the minimum here is 48 kilos and I think it should be 52 kilos. But abroad, for example in Ireland, the minimum is 57 kilos, which also ends up being outrageous, that already seems too much to me, but the figure that matters is that there are 30 countries in the world that have changed and updated their scale of weight.

Where does your history as a jockey come from?

(Before starting to answer, he laughs) He is very crazy because… Do you know what neighborhood I was born in? In Caballito, and that's where I grew up. I met the horses because my brother played soccer in a paddock and next to it there was a field where there were always some black horses that carried mortuary carriages. We talked about 1953, 1954 when I was 5 or 6 years old. The two hours that my brother played ball I spent looking at those horses.

And when was the first time you climbed?

There, when I was six years old and I remember that I fell, that I hit a barbaric blow. But today I am here as director of the most important jockey school in Argentina thanks to the fact that I was always fighting in the street. I remember that at that time a man who was a neighbor of mine asked me, when I was 14 years old, what I wanted to be, a boxer or a jockey. I had already had contact with common horses, I had learned to ride a horse and I told him that I wasn't a boxer because the other also hits and so I was left with the option of being a jockey but I didn't really know what it was. “Those who race horses”, he told me, and I replied that I wanted to be that. I loved horses but ended up being a jockey a bit accidentally. Since then I have prepared myself all my life, I have spent 55 years dedicating myself to studying the racehorse and transmitting that knowledge.

Who are the boys and girls who come here with the dream of becoming jockeys or jocketas?

They are generally from the interior, from working but very humble families who suddenly see this as a job opportunity that can make them earn a lot of money. And yes, it is true, but it always depends on them, how far they think they can go and how they behave to achieve it. When a jockey begins to believe that races are won by them and not by horses, that's when they begin to fall and then disappear. Because as the sign I have up here says (it says and points), "races are won by horses."

What do you mean when you say that boys can earn a lot of money in a very short time and you consider that this is a double-edged sword?

Here the boys can get to buy the house in a year. It is usually when they go through the boom stage of the apprentice, who is that boy who runs well and the owners and caretakers want their horse to run. In those 120 races the boys have at least the possibility of having their little apartment and some small, old car, because today the prizes are smaller, but if they keep winning they can have a lot of money.

How is this possibility in practice?

The apprentice's career lasts two years and in the first competition they win they can take 10 thousand pesos. The prize always depends on the race; In general, the boys who start run the ones that have prizes of 100 thousand pesos of total prize. In the last Pellegrini, for example, which is the most important race in Argentina, the prize was 7.5 million pesos and therefore a boy can win 70 thousand but they are almost never there. In which they run, in the daily sum (ndr: there are races from Monday to Monday) they can collect a lot of money, although that depends on how they have conducted themselves and if they are intelligent, lively, hard-working people, which is what goes for them generating an image in all the people. Why is it so important to know how to relate? Because you depend on everyone, even to win a race you depend on the horse but also on the pawn, the foreman, the watchman, the owner, the caretaker and with all of them you have to be fine. With only one of them that you walk badly, you don't run that horse. The one who chooses you is the caregiver but everyone has an impact. Others are the ones who see you every day and know if you're a good jockey, bad, if you're a good person or bad. Here you do not know who is your friend and who is your enemy.

What advice do you give to the boys to avoid dizziness or temptations with sums of money that perhaps they never had before?

That's where I play the role of ogre a bit because I always tell them to settle down first and then help the family. It is that if they begin to distribute what they achieve, first it seems that it never ends but it lasts a short time, barely 120 races, which are the ones that run until they become apprentices and then go on to compete kilo by kilo with the other jockeys. When they meet that amount, many realize that they did nothing, that they came to have something but they have nothing again. After the 120th race comes the reality: if the boy is really in a position to be a good jockey or not, then that is why my position is sometimes very strict when I tell them not to send money to the family, to buy dollars , keep it. That if they have a roof over their heads and a bicycle they can now move or that if they get hit or something happens to them they have a place to live, for me that is paramount. Some understand it, others don't.

To understand: what are the famous 120 races

It is the amount that apprentices dispute until they become professionals or see their career cut short. At that time the races are held like this: until they win 60 races, they run with horses weighing four kilos less. Until they win 100 they run with horses three kilos less and from then until 120 they run with two kilos less. When they win 120 races there are no more advantages and they run at the same kilo with the other jockeys. That's where the good riders stay and the rest don't.

On what fundamental factors does the success of jockeys depend?

Of perseverance, effort, work but fundamentally humility. 70% of the kids who come here fail because they don't understand what this story is about. They are guys who go from having nothing to earning a few bucks, they think they are more important than the horse and that is the end of it. The first thing you have to have is humility and recognize when there is something you don't know.

Aylén Spinella: the story of the only woman aspiring jocketa

Aylén is 20 years old, she is a native of the Buenos Aires city of Caseros and entered the school in June 2019, which makes her the most recent student there.

“I had always wanted to come to school but my dad wouldn't let me. He was a jockey and he told me that it was very dangerous, that it was a sport for men and he took me to horse riding for 10 years, from 7 to 17, and he always had horses, since 2009 he has race horses and I was always here (nda: at the San Isidro Hippodrome) and this year when I came back from vacation, in March, I started helping him bring the horses to the field and I started trotting them and everyone told me to come and sign up at school, that I had the weight, that I was the age and I told them that my dad wouldn't leave me until one day someone told me 'you don't need your dad's permission anymore, you're 19' and that's when I came”, the jocketa told Tn.com.ar about how he managed to twist the paternal design.

What reaction did your father have when you told him that you were going to enter the school?

I told him and he replied: “Well, I'll go with you but remember that they won't let you in”. We came and he was convinced that they were not going to give me the place but we got here, we talked to the teacher and he let me (he says pointing to Libré and laughs).

Libra or “the teacher”, as Aylén calls him, recounted about that day: “She was a bit lucky because when she arrived the registration was already closed and I didn't have women but I know that in a group of men the most important thing that there is that there are women because they with their mere presence put a brake. I didn't know her but I saw her with character, she was ideal to be in school and from her I was able to teach the boys a lot about what respect for women means: to give her priority, to give her a seat, etc. Women put into this what the man does not put into it because they have another decision, a much clearer mental strength, they do not doubt, they are convinced, they believe you without questioning you.

How is your roadmap in your career as a jocket now that you achieved what you wanted so much?

Well, the opportunity suddenly fell on me a little because I wanted it from a very young age but because of what I was saying I thought I would never be able to do it and now I am here, at school, with kids who started when they were very young and although I know riding and other things, it's like starting from scratch because with the race horse everything is different. That's why sometimes I wonder if I'm up to the others, sometimes I see them very advanced but at the same time I'm doing it little by little, I'm not in a hurry to go running, I want to do it when I'm ready.

Is turf a discipline for men?

Being here inside I think that in no way. That most of the students are, it is true, in fact now I am the only woman, but I think that happens because from the ignorance of the majority of those who make up the turf because they believe that men are better off because they have more force, or more rigor, or more courage, or more bravery and that is the message that is sent in general but the horse is handled more by mischief, intelligence and intuition than by brute force. But when it comes to brute force, no one beats the horse. If the horse doesn't obey the mouth, it goes at the speed the horse wants and you can't stop it, that's why if the horse wants to do that, I don't stop it, I just started, nor does he (points to the teacher) who has been 15 years studying the racehorses, nor all the boys who are in school.

What state is your career in now?

In these five months what I am doing is varea. I started to trot on the poles, which is the edge of the field, where there are not so many rules to respect, and there I trot, gallop, trot, gallop little by little, a little canter on the field and now I am beating a pair of caretakers in a looser way, with mount and all that. Now I am feeling looser, freer. If they ask me for a specific job, I am not afraid or have a problem doing it. Now I am wanting to perfect my stay in the gateras, where I did not go many times, in fact I went alone, and I have to do more work, that is a simulated race alone, on the field. For now I need to get a little more experience there and then just go to the races.

How are your days?

I'm here every day, from Monday to Monday. Since I live in Caseros, I have an hour and a half to travel on the two buses I take. That's why I get up at 5 because I have to be there by 6:30 to start shaking and I organize myself to be at each position every half hour. When the court closes, not much later than 11:30, on Mondays and Thursdays we come to school at 13, but first I weigh myself. I don't eat, so as not to be heavier, but I do it after that and then we stay at school until 4:00 p.m. Regarding weight, you shouldn't go over 51 kilos, that's ideal. For me it is not very demanding but some of the boys have to kill themselves to gain weight: some do not eat directly.

What is it to be a jockey?

He is a person who above feels sure of what he has below, who knows what he has below and how to handle it. He knows when to make what decisions and that can be practiced by anyone who wishes to do so.

What is it like to be the only woman in a class full of male peers but also male teachers?

First it was very annoying because my classmates were making jokes all the time to stand out among them because being alone they are located. I immediately put a brake and they understood that here I am just like them. Now we are all in the same, I am one more. Regarding the other people who work here, it must be said that there are not many women and that the few that exist are not treated very well either. I wanted them to treat me well, I worked for that and I continue to do so because if I didn't make myself respected, nobody was going to do it. There are many people here who do not know how to read or write and in this context I understand that many do not even have limits, that they do not know about rights or values ​​but because of my way of being they understand the distance and even with some I do not directly have dealings. I deal with the people with whom I do get carried away”.

What is your biggest goal?

I do not seek to be the N ° 1 but to make my way neatly. I think of myself based on the horse, so that the animal knows that if I run it I will be fine, that is what I look for in my horses. In my family we have horses and I don't put the best jockey but the one who treats the animal best, the one who is more serene, the one who understands them more and I look for that. For me the horse is a company, it is what we learned in school, but you also have to know that it is a noble, intelligent, very expressive, loyal, very intuitive animal and in that sense, for me they are better than dogs. Learn everything you want to teach him and what you don't too. They know everything perfectly, they perceive it.

In what activities of the day do you realize that you are doing the right thing?

I've only been here a short time but the most pleasant feeling I have here is when they tell me not to get on a horse, that I won't be able to ride it because it has some problem, because it's crazy, because it pushes or whatever and with me they don't have problem and there they are surprised because I was able to do it and I explain to them that it is because I want to understand it, that I want them calm and I do everything for that. Mainly I treat them well

Aylen completed her primary and secondary education. That also sets her apart from the would-be jockeys in her class: most of them usually only complete the first segment and leave their hometowns for the chance to save them. Héctor Libré says that many of the classes she teaches with the boys focus on Aylén because she is the one who always listens, the one who is most attentive and that is another characteristic for which she stands out.

The day of the apprentices and of the school comes to an end. There are 70 graduates of the school running in professional turf at the moment and between all of them they have accumulated more than 15 thousand races won. It is that there they teach to be a good jockey but fundamentally to succeed as a person. The rest, say Héctor and Aylén, "the rest comes by itself."