Saratoga Race Course: The Outrider

Outriders ensure safety on the racecourse
By Thomas Dimopoulos

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- It's the first thing the children see, their faces
planted against the infield fence and craning their necks to catch a
glimpse of the jockeys and their horses entering the track for a race.

At 10 minutes to post, the sound of the bugler's call fills the air and the lead
outrider escorts the parade of colorful silks onto the track.
Mounted atop a horse and dressed in black hat and boots, red vest, white pants
and shirt, a pair of outriders bookend the procession as the thoroughbreds
are walked onto the turf.

A voice over the public address speakers counts down the minutes
to post and announces that the horses have reached the
starting gate. As the blur of thoroughbreds blaze by, the outriders stand watching
and ready. At a moment's notice, they could be called into duty.

'We're here to help the jockeys in case they're in trouble," explains outrider
Miguel Gutierrez, who has been involved with the horses at Saratoga since 1986.

The outriders' responsibility is the orderly conduct of the horses on the racecourse,
which includes everything from escorting horses to the post at the start
of every race to assist in controlling unruly equines.
They also radio in objections to stewards and, when necessary,
call in medical personnel for people and animals requiring attention.

Three outriders work at any one time and share duties riding the entire day's card,
as well as working at the track in the mornings. They are on duty from the time
the horses enter the track until they return to their handlers at the end of the race.
Then there is the ride back to the paddock, where there are about seven or eight
minutes to spare before escorting the field onto the track for the next race.

"As an outrider, you have to have people who really know how to ride," said Gutierrez,
after securing his horse Diamond Flush in paddock barn No. 13.
"You have to be able to ride your own horse and to be able to get over
to catch another loose horse. You really have to be sharp and to be able to work
with two horses at the same time," he added.

For Gutierrez, it is a six-day a week proposition that extends beyond
the six-week season in Saratoga.

"We work at Belmont and at Aqueduct also," he said. "We work all year around."

His equine background dates to his youngest memories, growing up in the
colonial Mexican city of Puebla. It is a place known for year-round spring-like weather
and dome-shaped church roofs, as well as for manufacturing the VW Beetle.

"When I was a little kid I began working with horses on my grandfather's farm.
When I came to America, I got the opportunity to come to the racetrack and
to continue working with the horses in my life," Gutierrez said.

He has a wife and children, but if the lifestyle is difficult on the family he isn't saying.
And at the age of 40, Gutierrez said the job of an outrider is not as age-specific as the importance of being in shape, mentally as well as physically and up to the task of the responsibility the job requires.

"When you have spent many years riding with the horses, you know right away what you need to do and how to do it," he said.

The electronic scoreboard in the paddock winds down. At 13 minutes to post,
fans opposite the white fences are sizing up their bets.

Gutierrez has already climbed aboard Diamond Flush and waits for the jockeys
and horses to approach. One outrider takes up the rear position,
the other the lead.

Gutierrez, the one up front for this race, escorts the silk flurry of hot pinks,
bright yellows and deep turquoise-draped jockeys aboard their thoroughbreds out
for the next race, as the distant sound of the bugler's call echoes in the air.

Published by The Saratogian