Allison Ruffner

Allison Ruffner is a retired jockey that saw the site and I asked her to be part of it and she agreed and I called her up on a night where I lost all my power and did this cell phone interview in complete darkness:

FOTH: Where were you born and where did you grow up?

AR: I was born in Central Virginia, actually Charlottesville, Virginia and I grew up in Central/Northern Virginia and I also lived overseas.

FOTH: Where did you live overseas exactly?

AR: Primarily the United Kingdom, but because my grandparents had careers all over the world, this has become multigenerational, so lots of places.

FOTH: You didn't get a chance to see any horse tracks while you were over there did you?

AR: In the United Kingdom I did. I did some showing and some galloping there too.

FOTH: Do you have any brothers or sisters and what did they think of you being a jockey while you were riding and did they get a chance to see you ride?

AR: My family really didn't come to watch me ride a lot and I rode from the time since I was tiny and we had horse people in the family. My sister thought it was neat and once got Dick Francis to sign a bunch of his books for me. I was still in the teens though, so while my mom wasn't best pleased she said, "She is young let her ride, she will get through this and then decide whether she wants to keep doing this after college."

FOTH: If you can remember, what event or events actually led to you becoming a jockey?

AR: Because I am so small. I'm like 5'1 now and was just under 5'0 when I started. Anyways, I was at a carriage driving event at the school I was at. I ran into somebody who was a trainer of race horses. He said I could come and get on some horses for him.... and that is what I went and did the following weekend.

FOTH: What was it like getting up on a horse? Did this trainer teach you a lot about riding?

AR: Well, because I had ridden my whole life until then it wasn't a strange experience, but it was a different way of riding. I took to it very quickly and in one summer I went ....to galloping about 20 horses a day and breezing them and a whole series of things. I seemed to be pretty quick to pick up the small things.

FOTH: Did you realize how quickly you have to be in shape to work all these horses and were you really tired in the mornings after working these horses out?

AR: (laughs) It is one thing from going to 2 or 3 horses a day as I did hunting and combined training to getting a different horse every 15 minutes. My upper back really hurt, but within 3 weeks I was going.

FOTH: Tell us a little about what you can remember about your 1st race.

AR: My 1st race was at Charlestown, but I don't remember the name of the horse. The horse was basically being given a race. I broke out of the gate and it was nasty as heck. There was sleet, snow everything and just god awful weather. It was the 7th race on the card and I was just left in the dust and the field takes off and all of the sudden we come around the 1/4 pole and this horse starts picking up speed, so I went from like being 20 lengths off the pace to being 4th. I actually thought we could catch them so I started riding him a little and we ended up finishing 4th. The trainer was happy with that and he just wanted to give the horse a race so was happy we finished good enough to get him some money.

FOTH: Were you nervous at all going out for your 1st race?

AR: I think I was more embarrassed (laughs) 'cause your the new kid on the block. Lori Young pipes up "Oh we got a new rider in here 1st time out everybody keep your head up." And I mean come on, you know how many times have we gone around the track together, you really think I'm gonna lose it? When I got done I was shaking all over and I am sure most riders will tell you this, because I was that tired. No matter how many horses you work out, you never get fit for race riding until you actually ride in a race. It is not the same, it is very different.

FOTH: Tell us about your 1st win. Was that at Charlestown?

AR: No that was at Delaware Park on a horse named 'Money Walks" and we were in a $20.000 allowance. He was a nice horse.

FOTH: Did you win by a lot of was it a photo finish?

AR: It was a photo finish. He was really sharp and we broke our maiden together and I actually rode that horse for another 18 months until he got hurt at Pimlico. It was a 5 1/2 furlong race and we broke beautifully and we were right off the pace. In the turn I just shook him up a little bit and I said "oh my god I got something under me" and I made the choice to go around 4 horses in the turn of all things and then I started passing by everybody and I had one horse come up alongside me, but we won by a neck. It took me a long time to win my first race.

FOTH: Did you get the initiation after the race and did you know it was coming?

AR: Yes I knew it was coming. (laughs). I got it twice 'cause the horse I was rode was trained and owned by a family called the Stehrs and I was actually their stable jockey. They did a lot of their training out of Charlestown and a lot of people did that because it was really cheap. You could train there and there was all these tracks within a 3 hour drive. There [Delaware Park] I got thrown into a trough of water and I knew that was coming. I had 3 horses to ride at Charlestown that night and after I got off my 1st horse I was assaulted with a fire hose by several other jockeys. (laughs) That I didn't expect.

FOTH: How long did you actually ride for?

AR: I rode from 1986 until 1990, though the first year was primarily galloping. Amazingly I did it while I was still in school, except for taking off one semester.

FOTH: Obviously female jockeys have come a long way since then, but when you were riding do you think you got a pretty fair shake as far as riding goes?

AR: It's hard for me to compare today with then-(20 years). I definitely ran into prejudice, but I didn't experience it from the other male riders so much, I experienced it from trainers. There were trainers that didn't like the fact that I was a woman and that I was VERY light. There were trainers that specifically chose me because I was a woman. Some were female trainers and some were male. Some didn't care that I was a woman, they just waited till I reached a degree of experience before I could ride for them.

FOTH: What tracks did you ride at besides Charlestown and Delaware?

AR: I rode at Pimlico, Laurel, Philadelphia Park, and Penn National.

FOTH: Did you have a favorite out of the 6 you rode at?

AR: Delaware Park was my favorite, but I didn't get to ride there as much as I wanted too. At the time they had a fairly short season, because they were regrouping.

FOTH: When you rode your last race did you know that was your last race?

AR: No I didn't.

FOTH: Where was your last race at?

AR: Charlestown.

FOTH: What actually made you hang up your boots so to speak?

AR: I didn't right then and there, it just ended up that way. I had a bad fall the year before and I trashed my femur and pelvis when the horse kicked me in the groin running over top of me. I recovered really quickly because of my age, but I was getting tired of being put on a lot of sub standard horses while getting a lot of negative feedback. People have a lot of expectations and maybe I did make mistakes, but instead of being constructive, most just complained, "I thought you were gonna do this or that at the quarter pole, etc." I might ride for weeks and weeks without riding a winner in spite of riding a LOT of races. I did get to ride some very good horses for the Stehrs, and some others, but they were few and far between. I felt ability to improve consistently was denied me. So I just went "I have brains and am finishing college. I can come back to this later". What is very ironic about 3 months later my phone was ringing off the hook for me to go ride this horse and that. It was a combination of a number of things, me being young, being under a lot of pressure, and not being able to communicate with these owners and trainers. Other riders faced this too.

FOTH: When you retired was there any chance of having doing a comeback at all?

AR: There was a chance because I really loved doing it and I continued riding. I rode show-jumpers for a few trainers along with some hunters. I had horses of my own that were very good too. I was successful with the show jumpers and hunters going ladies side-saddle (yes really). Primarily the environment was more constructive, and the owners/trainers really liked what I did and thought I was extremely good.However *chuckle* I also was put on some GOOD horses too. I really did think about going back and doing it, but then I stopped my self and asked, "Remember how you felt 4 years ago?" You have to ask yourself if that's where you want to be at 45, because if you go up that path and at age 45 you hate it, you will be far away from education and out of the job market. That is what it boiled down to, even in the past couple of years when I have had a few horses come through my hands that didn't make it on the track. I know why they didn't and two of them I sent on though I was thinking of putting them in some amateur aces to see what they could do.

FOTH: Do you still go to racetracks at all and do you follow the sport much anymore?

AR: I follow it primarily through the internet. I do see riders that are coming and going, but I don't get super involved with it. I think that it is that way because it still has a very strong emotional pull for me. I watch a race like the Preakness and I was very unhappy with what I saw because I can imagine myself being there, tying on, setting my toes. From the post parade to the start and I thought the starter would pop the gates right away and didn't, and so Barbaro broke through.

FOTH: If some young girl came up to you and said she wanted to become a jockey, what advice would you give her?

AR: The 1st thing I would ask them is "how tall are your parents?" (laughs) because size and weight are a factor. I didn't go through what some riders did because of my size and could still tack at 97lbs in a pinch. It would be work for me today at my age if I was riding. I'm only 5' 1, but I am a very fit and muscular woman so it would be hard to weigh 107 or 108 pounds as that would put me at about 15% body fat. I don't think it is realistic for anybody to approach this as a career if they are fill out to a 116 or 117 pounds by the time they are 20. Also there is always the question of whether you should go to somebody's farm or go to the track and I would say go get riding lessons first and then go and find a really good well managed training farm or go directly to the track and get with a trainer that takes good care of his or her horses.

FOTH: Do you think another female rider can win a Triple Crown Race?

AR: Yes I do. Very few male riders even get to ride in one of those big races, but I do think it will happen. For 2 reasons. 1# People keep getting bigger and unless they really start upping the weight you're only gonna have the Latino and the female population riding. # 2 I think women are going to recognized that they have their place, as I rode some horses that weren't successful with a male jockey, that I was successful on. I think your gonna see that happen.

FOTH: If you could change a few things to make the sport of horse racing better what would they be?

AR: Horse racing is expensive and I think what hurts horse racing is people seeing horses break down like Barbaro. I was never a fan of 2 year old racing and I think the best thing horse racing can do for itself is get rid of racing for 2 year olds. 2 years old is too young I feel and God knows I rode enough of them and they are so small and unbalanced. Years ago you didn't have 2 year old races and the weights were even a little bit heavier. When Ruffian broke down horse racing took a gigantic spiral. I think people are going to have to get more involved in the news and talking about horse racing and I think you might see attendance go up.

FOTH: I am all out of questions. Anything you want to say to wrap this up?

AR: I think jockeys are the least appreciated and the least respected for athletic ability in skills of all the athletes out there and I don't understand it. Pound for pound they are the most powerful athletes in the world and they get none of the respect.

FOTH: I would say the reason for that is when people see these big races on TV like the Kentucky Derby and stuff they don't show enough of what goes on in the morning and what these jockeys do. All people see is the jockey's in the paddock and then go up and ride the race and then the winner's circle presentation and that's it. They need to show more of what a jockey go through and the jockey do a lot more than ride a 2 min race. People have no idea what really goes on during the day before the races. You see football, baseball and stuff and you see all of training camp and what the athlete goes through on a day to day basis.

Back to our main page