Yesterday was kind of a long day for me.  I live about 40 minutes away from the track so I have to wake up extra early to get there by 6:30 or 7am.  I had to work 2 this morning and then my agent and I walked around the barn area to see some trainers that we would like to ride for.  It is such a short meet here that there are not that many people on the backside(most horses ship in from other tracks) so it only takes about 30 minutes and your done.

I had to ride 5 today, but the kicker was that I started in the second race and then I didn't ride again until the eighth.(thats about 2 1/2 hour wait)  I don't like sitting idle so I brought my computer and did some book work to keep me occupied.  The last four races seemed to go so fast with no winners up to the last race.  (It can get you down when you don't win or get the horse to run fast enough to even hit the board.)  As a jockey its mentally stressful, but you have to stay focused and continue on to the next race. 

The last race was a two year old maiden special weight race.  I had worked my horse last week and I really liked her.  I was very confident going into the race.  I was more concerned with getting a good break and then I knew I would have the horse from there as long as everything went right.  Gates opened and we were off.  She broke good but did not have the quick turn of foot I thought she would have, so I had to hustle her and urge her to get a good position to get her into the race.  By mid turn she was in gear and ready to fly home, problem was I didn't have a lot of room to work with.  I got really lucky that my filly was smart and let me steer her in between a couple of horses.  She made a quick move around 1/4 pole, dropped into the rail and snuck up into a tight hole and won going away.  Phew!  Not as planned but still made it to the wire first.  UH OH!!!  Claim of objection by one of the riders.  Ugh!!!  The worst is getting claimed a foul on or an inquiry by the stewards.  I thought I might have made it a little tight around the turn but I knew that I kept a straight course.  Stress now setting in.  Galloping back to the winner circle is not as fun when there may be a chance of getting taken down.  I still took the win picture and then got on the phone with the stewards.  I said what I thought happened and then waited for the results to be official.  OFFICIAL!!!  Yippee!  What a relief.  All connections were happy.  I was relieved but a little aggrevatted.  After a race we are pumping with adrenaline and it can take a bit to get relaxed again.  Good thing for me my best friend Nikki Smith was there to congratulate me and tell me what a great race I rode and it helped put me back in a happy mood.