Agapito has had a few nice wins at SA lately.
I agree. East would be better, and Agapito can be money! He is a d rider. Works as hard as anyone at any and every track. Gets on some bad horses and gets it done at a price. I am a fan of sorts.
In all honestly, in the “Magna” environment we might all be looking to head east. Kayla might be wise to go somewhere and establish some business before the knee jerk mass exodus. We are concerned in a big way.
The series will return in late summer, and yes, they’ve done away with the stupid back-to-back half hour programs. They’ve added Garrett Gomez and Corey Nakatani as some of the jockeys they follow.
From the Bloodhorse
Animal Planet announced March 19 that the network’s popular docu-drama “Jockeys” would be renewed for a second season of programs. The first season, which concluded March 13, brought Animal Planet viewers into the lives of seven jockeys who raced at Santa Anita Park during its Oak Tree Meet last fall.
Following the successful first season, which brought in more than 9.2 million unique viewers, Animal Planet has ordered a second season of seven hour-long episodes set to premiere late this summer.
“It’s our goal in the second season to bring viewers even deeper into the exciting, challenging and complex lives of the jockeys,” said Marjorie Kaplan, President and general manager of Animal Planet. “Hour-long episodes give us a broader palette to do so and to create a richer experience of the whole world of racing, horses, and the track.”
For season two, the network, in conjunction with entertainment production house Go Go Luckey, will bring back six of the jockeys previously featured and introduce viewers to two new jockeys, Garrett Gomez and Corey Nakatani.
“The addition of Gomez and Nakatani will round out a class of jockeys whose professional and personal stories will pull viewers further into the enticing world of horse racing,” said Jason Carey, executive producer at Animal Planet. “We hope viewers will not only connect with the intense love of competition apparent in these athletes, but also appreciate the relationships the jockeys share with each other and with the horses they partner with in every thrilling victory.”
Returning to the show after appearing on season one are Chantal Sutherland, Mike Smith, Kayla Stra, Alex Solis, Joe Talamo, and Aaron Gryder. Jockey Jon Court will depart the show during the first episode of season two as he moves his riding base from California to the Midwest.
[QUOTE=AiryFairy;3956350]
She is a gorgeous mare, but I laughed out loud at her ‘crab walk’ as she left the saddling area before the race in last week’s episode. She walked just like Brentina did at the Olympics, with the odd reaching of the hind legs. IIRC they said she does that when she’s excited. Maybe it’s mare thing?[/QUOTE]
Apparently Zenyatta is VERY quirky, especially pre-race. She’s got that crazy spanish walk thing she does that no one can figure out. She also doesn’t warm up when the rest of the horses do before the race, she just stands in the track while the others are jogging which I find really hilarious. She’s always dawdling in the gate after the bell as if to give the other horses a head start. I guess overall they figure it’s not worth getting in her way to make her do things she doesn’t want to do since she is so spectacular.
With Aaron being one of the featured jocks with the show - and winning the Dubai World Cup on “Well Armed” - the producers will look to incorporate this into the 2nd season:
The Animal Planet provided Gryder with a nifty hand-held recording device that he would use to document his experience in Dubai. Needless to write, the Animal Planet crew had to be head-over-heels with Well Armed’s emphatic 14-length victory in the World Cup.
In regards to rating for the show - the original debut 1-hour episode did very well for Animal Planet:
“Animal Planet was thrilled with the premiere”
Thali Kouperstein of Discovery:
“The back to back premiere episodes (9-10pm) brought in more than 1 million unique P2+* viewers (1.014M). The ratings were a .6** household; a 50% increase from the year-ago timeslot average.”
Notes:
*: P2t means all persons over the age of 2
**:A household rating is the estimate of the size of a television audience relative to the total universe, expressed as a percentage
***: Live and DVR Same Day Viewing includes DVR playback on the same day, defined as 3 a.m.-3 a.m.
Overall the since concluded Season 1 pulled in solid viewership:
The first season, which brought in more than 9.2 million unique viewers ages 2 and up, wrapped on March 13. The second cycle will bring seven new hour-long episodes to Animal Planet, which will launch the series’ return late this summer. The sophomore season brings back six of the jockeys who were previously featured, alongside two new jockeys who are at the height of their careers.
“It’s our goal in the second season to bring viewers even deeper into the exciting, challenging and complex lives of the jockeys,” said Marjorie Kaplan, the president and general manager of Animal Planet. “Hour-long episodes give us a broader palette to do so and to create a richer experience of the whole world of racing, horses and the track.”
Gone it would appear are the 30-minute espisode format which is a good thing.
On Chantal’s departure from Southern California …
LA Times 4/1/09 “Jockies’ relationship will go the extra distance to reach the winner’s circle”
Sadly, for him and for horse gamblers who love how Sutherland brings in the longshots, he is getting back some of that closet space. Sutherland is moving out. She won two races over the weekend at Santa Anita, including Sunday’s first aboard Bullybullybully, and will ride one horse today in the last race before boarding an airplane and flying away.
The Woodbine meeting starts Friday and will run each Friday, Saturday and Sunday until May, when it adds Wednesday and Thursday and continues through early December.
Smith says he will see lots of her by flying red-eyes – Sunday nights to Toronto, Tuesday nights back. (Gamblers beware of plunking your money down on Smith in early Wednesday races).
“We have done the red-eye so often between here and Toronto that the flight attendants started calling us by name,” Sutherland says. “Pretty soon, we’d seen all the movies twice.”
Smith won’t race at Woodbine as much as he will visit. He doesn’t have a Canadian work visa and can only ride American-owned horses at that track.
Interesting - I never knew that American jockey’s would be restricted to riding only American-owned horses in such a circumstance.
Nice that the L.A. Times gave it so much ink, inside sports cover in actual paper. For awhile this year they dropped racing coverage entirely.
Ah, but would he be riding, or just visiting?
Not that this American owner living in Canada with a horse or two looking toward Woodbine would be wondering… 
I like the show
I enjoyed watching this show with my daughter. It was a fun show. I can’t wait for season 2 to start. It’s so hard to find good shows anymore that aren’t abusing animals or have sex and swear words in them. I like reality shows too. I live around Philly so I go to Philly park when I can. Does anyone race? I would love to chat with you about that. I find it very interesting
[QUOTE=justalittlex;3990515]
Nice that the L.A. Times gave it so much ink, inside sports cover in actual paper. For awhile this year they dropped racing coverage entirely.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, too bad hardly anyone is reading the paper anymore. But yeah, its still a good thing.
[QUOTE=DickHertz;3991347]
Yeah, too bad hardly anyone is reading the paper anymore. But yeah, its still a good thing.[/QUOTE]
Here it is on the L.A. Times website.
You learn so much more reading an actual newspaper than you’ll ever get on the web: not just talking about racing. So unfortunate that newspapers are dropping away.
Several of the “Jockey’s” season 2 cast are in the Kentucky Derby so too are the Animal Planet series cameras.
Courier-Journal 4-30-09 “‘Jockeys’ getting nice ride on TV” - excerpts:
The show has made it to the backside at Churchill Downs this week. A film crew is shooting scenes for the second season, which will begin in August. Talamo, Smith and Garrett Gomez – all of whom will be riding in the Derby – will be on the show.
“We’re so excited because we have Garrett and Mike and Joe all riding in the Derby,” said Animal Planet director of communications Tahli Kouperstein, who is at the Downs with a team promoting the series. “Obviously, we have our eyes on them.”
A lot of eyes have been on “Jockeys.” More than 9.2 million viewers watched the initial run of 12 half-hour episodes, which ended March 13 (it still can be viewed at animal.discovery.com).
Kouperstein said Animal Planet was elated with the first-year response and predicted that the addition of veterans Gomez and Nakatani will be a huge boost.
“People were drawn to this,” she said. "It’s a different type of show for us. We’re all over the board, but this is a real strong show because it shows the real strong relationships, and not just with the jockeys themselves but also with the jockey and horse.
This week the cameras are following every move of Smith, Talamo and Gomez. Smith, who will be aboard Chocolate Candy, said a Derby victory would be a fitting finale for season two.
“Wouldn’t it be something if one of the jocks won the Derby?” he said. “I hope it works out for us – especially for me.”
And it looks like Jon Court, now back in Kentucky, is doing better then he has in years
Courier-Journal May 12, 2009 “Churchill return fruitful for Court”
(Excerpts)
“This is where our heart is,” he said. “L.A. was fun, a great place to be, but it wasn’t a place either Krystal or I wanted to stay on a permanent basis. We always felt the tug to come back here.”
With the exception of Borel, no jockey seemed happier after a race Derby week than when Court won on Orthodox. That horse and Court had been highlighted on Animal Planet’s “Jockeys” reality series.
"It’s not only that, but when I win these maidens and claiming races … so many people are hollering, ‘Welcome back home,’ " Court said of his postrace exalting. “I’m pointing to them and saying, ‘Thank you, thank you.’ That’s been very touching, overwhelming.”
About Orthodox, who was badly beaten in his two prior starts with other riders, he said “I didn’t know he was going to win, but I was confident he was really going to move up.”
I missed the show over the winter, and just saw the marathon over the weekend. Two things:
Did they ever actually show the two jockeys wrestling on the track, or was it just in the coming attractions for the drama factor?
Even though I know it’s a tough business, I was pretty sad when the trainer used the young jockey on the horse named for the older jockey’s daughter! That was harsh. And if Joe was actually that rude about it after the race, he was lucky not to get a broken nose.
On the whole, I thought it was interesting. Hopefully the next season will be better with a different format and fewer re-caps. I could also live without the very distracting bogus race calls.
Best/worst bit of trivia had to be that the one jockey generally has to drop 3 pounds a day to make weight, or 1000 pounds a year! Yikes. :eek:
I suspect the AP cameras will also go to Pimlico to film the cast members of Mike Smith aboard the Kentucky Derby winner, Mine That Bird, and Gomez on Pioneerof the Nile, the runner up.
In the Belmont Stakes jockey Joe Talamo has agreed to take the mount of Summer Bird.
Perhaps for the cameras they’ll play up the curious backstory of Smith’s girlfriend getting jilted by the previous owners of Mine That Bird and dumping her - despite her success at Woodbine with him. In fact it was Chantal in the irons which got the graded money for MTB to go to the Derby …
New York Times May 10, 2009 "Mine That Bird Also Left Two Riders Behind "
NY Post 8-18-09 - “‘Jockeys’ Return on Animal Planet Series”
One of two jockeys new to the cast this season is Corey Nakatani, who was seen briefly in season one breaking his collarbone in an accident at the start of a race.
Nakatani, who’s referred to as the bad boy of horse racing, needs to win to show he’s recovered, but when he thinks another rider compromises his chances, his temper flares.
Nakatani hits Iggy Puglisi in the face in the jocks room. The cameras miss the contact but pick up the verbal exchange that continues.
Nakatani was too busy to talk about his experience on “Jockeys,” but during the show he had this to say: "I don’t regret anytime I’ve ever gotten in an altercation with anybody. I felt that at the time, they put my life in danger.
“I have that passion that I don’t like losing. People think that I’m hard to deal with. Put my life in danger and have a comment to me about it and there’s going to be a problem. That’s just the way it is,” he said.
Show “Statesman” Jon Court has known Nakatani for some time and thinks his portrayal could be a bit exaggerated.
“Corey is a bad ass and they portray it a little worse,” said Court. “He said you know they’re playing me bad and that’s some of the old stuff and I go, ‘You allowed it to be.’ He said that’s how I am, but I don’t want them to think that’s how I always am or that’s how I still am, and I go, ‘Well, a lot of people still see you that way Corey.’ But he’s never been that way with me.”
Two-time Eclipse Award winner Garrett Gomez, like Nakatani, is featured this season. He recognizes that sharing a locker room with the competition can be difficult sometimes, but at the end of the day they all like each other.
“You trust that guy sitting next to you with your life everyday and so when somebody threatens your life somehow out there by a mistake you’re forced to kind of let him know about it and after all is said and done, we’re all pretty good friends again,” said Gomez. “But once we get back out on the track again I don’t care if it’s my dad out there, you’re out there to win.”
The jockeys believe they will be properly portrayed this season because they have West Coast Regional Manager of the Jockeys’ Guild, Darrell Haire, looking out for them.
“I feel like the second [season] is five times or 10 times better,” he said. "They told me they couldn’t give me 100 percent editing rights but they would do it right this time around. I went over and over these [episodes] trying to pick up all the mistakes. Little things, like [they said] they’re qualifying for the Kentucky Derby. I said you don’t qualify, that’s in quarter horses, you become eligible. There are a lot of changes that I made and they told me they were going to do it so we’ll see because they don’t send it to me again after we’ve made all the changes. But I feel pretty confident that they made a lot of the changes because that was the deal. If they didn’t do it then we’re not going to do this again for sure.
“All I can say at this point is that what I’ve seen compared to the first season this is way, way better. It has good stories, it’s got suspense and it’s not staged,” he added.
New to this season will be hour-long episodes allowing for more detailed story lines.
Debut episode “Life Is A Gamble” is per the Animal Planet site Friday August 21st at 10:00pm EST
Episode 2 of Season 2 “I Want Revenge” debuts August 28th …
Jon Court, who left CA for KY, will be in just a couple of the episodes said this in regards to the filming:
Court said he had mixed feelings about leaving the popular reality-television series “Jockeys,” which was set to return Friday night with the premiere of its second season on the Animal Planet cable network. By leaving Southern California, Court also left the show, which is documented several episodes into the second season.
“I did gain some popularity with fans, although it hadn’t become overwhelming in a daunting kind of way,” said Court. "I’ve run into people in airports who recognized me but had never even been to a racetrack, so it’s always encouraging to know we’re building our fan base in a new way.
“My only regret is that I got really friendly with some of the riders on a different level of employment. I enjoyed that immensely, although it did get a little bit unnerving with the cameras and crew always following you. It’s a little unbecoming of your general nature.”
What a shocker…Animal Planet keeps the most annoying things from season 1 in season 2. Weren’t they supposed to cut out some of the drama/mistakes?
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Saw about eight horses breaking down
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They feature a horse named BULLYBULLYBULLY and in the introductory segment he’s bay, then in the race he turned chestnut
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And, ugh, the Trevor Denman race recuts…Stop !!!
The Nakatani addition will keep the show interesting though.
I thought it was better actually. They did replay the same breakdown over and over like last year and I too noticed the change in color of the horse. I liked that there was more racing and race related stuff than all the stupid interpersonal crap from last year. I don’t care how much closet space Chantal needed.
