Racing academy teaches hopefuls about riding

Every morning, Ryan Pacheco weighs himself.

He ranges from 96 to 98 pounds, safely under the 105 he should stay at, or below, as an apprentice jockey.

But he enjoys routines.

At 7 a.m., he feeds the horses; at 7:30, he is in class, which, this morning, is Equine Science 103. Huddled with five classmates in a cold barn - hoodies pulled over their heads, 24-ounce foam gas-station coffee cups clutched in their hands - he listens to a lecture on shoeing a horse.

A native of Canada, Pacheco - just under 5 feet at age 24 - credits an "unknown character" with sparking his interest in becoming a jockey.

He credits the North American Racing Academy with giving him a chance.

"I was always a good size, but I was also thinking about my safety; I didn't want to go straight to the track," he says.

While many other countries require jockeys to attend racing school, the United States has no such prerequisite, says retired Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron, director of the academy. There is at least one school for jockeys in California, but the Lexington academy, opened in fall 2006, claims to be the first in the nation to combine academics and training, offering students who complete the two-year program associate degrees.

In addition to taking classes at a local community college, students are instructed in a variety of equine topics designed to provide them with something to fall back on should they tire of fighting their weight, falling off at 40 miles an hour or otherwise have trouble making it as a jockey, says McCarron.

The school costs $3,300 to $3,600 a semester. If students become successful jockeys, they can earn more than $1 million a year. If they don't, they may make less than $20,000.

Students from the academy's first class are now interning with trainers around the country. Students from the second class are in the barn's tack room putting on their helmets, protective vests and riding boots.

When the class started last fall, there were 10 students. Now there are six, three men and three women. The other four weren't crazy about getting on feisty horses or found it to be too much work, says McCarron.

The six mount their horses and head toward a field to train, McCarron and his instructors following in a white pickup. Driving slowly along the roads around the Thoroughbred Center, a Keeneland property, McCarron keeps one hand on the wheel and the other on a yellow two-way radio, which he uses to warn the students of a rut, a puddle or other obstructions.

The path clear, he falls silent. Then, just as suddenly as it went silent, the radio crackles to life: "Rider off! Rider off!" McCarron calls. "Katie's off."

Polo has spooked and thrown Katie Peddicord. A spunky young woman with a pink helmet, Peddicord lands on her feet.

Like his students - who gave Peddicord an 8.5 for her aerial acrobatics - McCarron makes light of the falls, but, he says, "Every time one of them comes off, my heart goes in my throat."

When he was learning, McCarron had the help of his older brother, Gregg, who also raced. Today, he says, young jockeys have to learn on the job from their competitors.

At the academy, they have McCarron, a two-time Kentucky Derby winner, who has said he wants to see an academy graduate in the Derby winner's circle. Of the 14 students he has taught in the first two classes, he says, "I think I've got some lead riders."

He knows being out in front does not come without its risks. "This is incredibly dangerous stuff, what they're doing."

So that they don't get injured, he tries to slowly introduce them to the more cantankerous horses. Still, he knows injury is inevitable. In McCarron's illustrious 28-year-career, he broke both of his legs, his right arm, right shoulder blade, right hand, several ribs, his back and his right heel.

But, he says, "Tremendous amount of fun; it's a blast; these horses can go from 0 to 40 miles an hour in three strides."

McCarron wants his students to experience that exhilaration and expects all of them to obtain their jockey licenses.

How they'll do as jockeys, he can't predict, but Terry Meyocks, national manager of the Jockeys' Guild and an early supporter of the academy, says, "Chris has given them the foundation to go out there and compete against top riders."

In the future, McCarron says, he hopes to train more than just riders - and has already added a "horseman" option for next year that will train people who want to work around horses but not necessarily race - like being a groom.

He also hopes to have separate facilities, such as a track and an indoor arena, for the academy, which now operates out of the Kentucky Horse Park and the Thoroughbred Center.

The first-year students will compete in their first race late next month. It is a race designed specifically for them, and many people in the industry will be watching, says Meyocks.

The academy has done well so far, he adds. "They got to go out and compete now, and show what they've learned."

(c) 2008, USA TODAY International. Distributed by Tribune Media Services International.