Cheryl Hirst

Cheryl Hirst is a retired jockey that rode along with East Coast in the 90's. She is still involved in horse racing today and I recently got her on the phone for an interview.

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

CH: I was born in Camden, NJ at Cooper hospital and I grew up in Runnemede, NJ.

FOTH: Do you have any brothers or sisters?

CH: I have a brother who is 14 years older than myself and a sister is 12 years older.

FOTH: What sort of girl were you growing up?

CH: I was a tomboy type of girl. I rode dirtbikes, tried out for the football team. Always playing with the guys and wasn't into dolls or anything like that.

FOTH: Did you know early on that you knew you wanted to be a jockey?

CH: When I was 7 was when I decided I wanted to be a jockey.

FOTH: What event or events actually led to you becoming a jockey?

CH: When I graduated high school I went to the farm first and started galloping horses for Mary Jordan and I galloped horses for 7 years cause I was heavy, as I'm 5' 6" and I never thought I could make the weight, even though I always wanted to be a rider. One day I was starting to lose the weight and I put myself on a diet to see if I could lose the weight and I lost 37 pounds and became a rider.

FOTH: Wow that's a lot of weight. Where you taught by anybody how to ride so to speak?

CH: Well I rode horses all my life, like show horses and as far as galloping I learned from other journeymen jockeys and older exercise riders. When I started race riding Tom Bromley was my coach when I was an apprentice.

FOTH: If you can remember where was your first race?

CH: It was Atlantic City Race Track. I was very excited as I was riding a horse for my sister and her boyfriend. The horse was like 60-1, but he was a very safe horse to ride. They put me on her and it was mile and a 1/16 and she came flying at the end and I got 3rd.

FOTH: How long did you ride?

CH: June of 1990 was my first race. September of 1990 I broke my neck and I came back in early 1991 and rode at Garden State Park and then rode again until July of 1991 where I had a bad accident at Atlantic City and that put me out of commission for 6 years from racing. Then I came back and took a bunch of horses to the fairs and I lost some weight and I rode and did ok and the itch came back and I started riding again in 1996 and I rode for another 6 months.

FOTH: What happened with the 2nd accident?

CH: That was at Delaware Park and I was down there to ride a horse for my sister and a jockey agent I knew from Philadelphia Park asked me to ride a horse for him as his rider didn't want to come from Philadelphia to ride the horse. I rode the horse for him and inside the 16th pole he broke his neck and I broke my neck and back.

FOTH: While you were hurt did you think of giving up at all?

CH: Not at all. The first thing I asked the doctor was when can I start riding again. He looked at me like I was nuts. Believe it or not I went back to riding the day I got the bodycast off.

FOTH: Now what happened with the 2nd accident?

CH: I was at Atlantic City on a horse for Annie Hawthorne and I just won on the horse 2 starts back and we were making our normal run at the top of the stretch and the horse broke it's leg and the field ran me over. I broke my sternum and lacerated my liver. I ended up with a staff infection and spent 3 weeks in ICU. The neck and back was nothing compared to that one. After the surgery, they had to leave the infection open and they put a gauze on it and with that I was getting on free ponies, nothing exciting. Just getting on a horse. I still ride to this day. I still break horses and train show horses, teach kids lessons and gallop and break babies.

FOTH: What tracks did you ride at?

CH: Atlantic City, Garden State Park, Philadelphia Park, Suffolk Downs and I wanted to see the country so I went out to California and I galloped horses at Golden Gate Fields. They didn't have many female riders and I ended up not getting many mounts and came home.

FOTH: Did you get much negativeness when you were riding?

CH: Not too much. It wasn't too bad when I go and shake the trainer's hand I would give him a firm shake and I am a very positive person and I don't let men intimidate me. It was hard getting mounts and getting "in with the clique", but when I would start getting some decent mounts, I would get hurt.

FOTH: What was your proudest moment as a jockey?

CH: I would say when I won my first allowance race. It was pouring rain and I don't remember the name of the person who worked for the Courier, but he put on with the odds on the horse "not with this jockey" I got in trouble with this horse last time and she went off 25-1 and I ended up winning by 5 lengths. That made me feel proud as people said I couldn't do it and here I went out and won.

FOTH: Do you remember when you got your 1st win?

CH: Yes, September 21st. That was Delaware Park. I shipped down there for Freddie Velazquez. The next race after that was when I broke my neck and back.

FOTH: Did you get pelted after the race?

CH: Yes, I got the eggs and ice water.

FOTH: I know you are still involved in the horse racing industry as you are a horse transportation company. Do you still watch the races at all?

CH: No I don't. I very rarely go. When I was training horses I had to go, but now I don't go cause I get the itch to ride. At my age it would be really stupid to start riding and I am enjoying the 3 square meals a day too much (laughs) I get depressed when I see other riders. Another friend of mine, he is a retired jockey, we look back and say "it's sad getting old".

FOTH: What advice would you give a young girl who wanted to be a jockey?

CH: I would tell her to get an education first so you have something to fall back on cause your career won't last forever or too long. It is a hard way to make a living. I don't recommend it for young girls even though I did it. It takes a certain breed of person to dedicated to the horses and it's a 7 day a week job. You have to be into with your heart and soul and if your not going to be into it with your heart and soul you shouldn't be into it.

FOTH: How is your horse transportation thing doing?

CH: It is doing good. It is just starting to pick up. We just brought a 2003 6 horse Sundowner. We just made a run to Florida and we do some race and returns here and there.

FOTH: Cheryl I am out of questions. Thanks for the interview and good luck with everything. Any last words to wrap this up?

CH: Thanks for the interview Chris and good luck with the website. 

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