Jockey Change

When you start losing races, sometimes you have to change one or more factors, and often that starts with a jockey change. This is a part of life for a jockey, along with the knowledge that he could go out in the tenth race on a Friday and not come back. Or if he does, it could be in an ambulance and he could be paralyzed. But the jockey often gets the blame. The trainer comes in for his share of the blame, too, and there have been some pretty ugly trainer changes over the years. Recently, veteran trainer Bob Holthus lost the best horse in his stable, Lawyer Ron (who ran in the Kenucky Derby and had won six races going into that race). Holthus lost him to one of the big trainers, Todd Pletcher. Holthus should have seen the writing on the wall when the horse’s owner died in a swimming accident before the Derby. But the new owners let him run Lawyer Ron two more times after the Derby, with a win and a second—not exactly terrible. What was really awful was that ten minutes after Holthus got the call, the van came for the horse. How do you say goodbye to a horse who has taken you that far? How does the groom say goodbye?

It stinks, but as I said, jockeys and trainers know that the joys in the biz are transient. I remember Mike Smith winning race after race on Skip Away, but he lost one or two races and that was it. The trainer went for Jerry Bailey. Jerry Bailey was the go-to guy, and as much as the trainer liked Mike Smith, Jerry was available.

It’s business, but it’s also personal. It’s hard not to take it personally, it’s hard not to see it as a direct assault on your abilities, and even your likeability. It well and truly stinks.

The only thing is, sometimes the jockey change makes an enormous difference. The new jockey suits the horse better. They start winning again. The new jockey can get the horse to relax. There are different jockeys with different skills. Pat Day, for example, was known for his patience. In fact, they called him Pat Wait All Day.

Just like jockey and trainer changes in horseracing, agent changes are part of the writing business. I’ve been dumped by one of the best. It came in a phone call where he said, “I think you should go with so-and-so.” (So-and-so was leaving to go out on her own.) Then he said, “Besides, I don’t do romance.”

Funny, I didn’t do romance, either. Clearly, if he didn’t know that, we were not meant for each other.

So I’ve been dumped and I was briefly insulted. But I didn’t really care for him anyway. Who would like an agent who saw you as a romance writer when you weren’t one? (This falls under the category: sour grapes.)

Breaking up is hard to do. It shouldn’t be personal, but it is. But sometimes you need a jockey change.

Two questions:

Writers – have you ever had to make a change that you thought might make the difference, and if you did—did it work out the way you planned?

And – Does anybody have Jerry Bailey’s phone number?