Morning Track Stars: Damien Rock

As the rest of the world remains dark and still, exercise riders arise and head to work. Their morning is not spent in an office, doing paperwork or typing on a computer. Their morning is spent on the backs of Thoroughbreds - animals much bigger than themselves, creatures with minds of their own, large beings that could injure a rider in the blink of an eye. Regardless, these riders work together with these horses as a crucial part of the team that prepares the equine athletes for each race. They do not receive the same recognition that the riders of the afternoon - jockeys - do, nor do they garner the attention that the owners, trainers, or horses do. Despite this and the adversity they face, exercise riders lay it all on the line. For this, they deserve respect.

Please enjoy my second installment of a series about exercise riders, "Morning Track Stars,” featuring Damien Rock, Wise Dan’s regular rider. . .

Across the world, teenagers are pressured to make decisions that will determine the course of their lives. They are asked to consider future careers and advised to devise a plan that will allow them to attain that career and be successful in it. Whereas some adolescents know exactly which careers they want to pursue, several have not the slightest notion. For many, they can recall the moment when their future was decided. For Ireland native Damien Rock, that moment occurred when he was around fourteen years old.

“The guidance counselor came by our school looking to see what you want to do in your life and somebody had told me about the apprentice school to be a jockey,” Rock said. “At that stage, I liked horse racing – I liked watching the Derby and stuff – but I wasn’t really into it that much. . . Because I was so small, they said I would be perfect to go on to the apprentice jockey school. I thought that was a great idea because I didn’t even like school. I thought it was a great excuse, and I liked horses, just to not have to go to school! That’s how I ended up getting into the racehorse industry.”

While he had not grown up around racehorses, Rock had been an animal lover from the start, particularly horses. He began competing in show jumping around the age of eleven and oftentimes would ride horses bareback around Dublin for fun. At age fifteen, Rock sat on a racehorse for the first time when he entered the Racing Academy and Centre of Education in County Kildare, Ireland. He then became an apprentice jockey, riding in races in Ireland for three years. From there, he moved to Dubai. In the two years he spent in Dubai, Rock experienced a satisfying career change.

“When I went over there, I had to work as an exercise rider, not a jockey,” Rock stated. “I really liked that lifestyle of exercising the horses and not having the stress of having to lose weight and answer to people all the time about how the horse ran.”

Rock then returned to Ireland, but when the opportunity arose for him to move to the United States, he jumped at it.

“I had some friends that were over in America and I got hooked up with Leo O’Brien and I came over for some work experience with some people like Leo O’Brien, the trainer up in New York,” Rock said. “He took me under his wing and he helped me get a visa and everything. That’s where I landed at: Belmont Racetrack.”

Rock began working for trainers like Christophe Clement and Shug McGaughey, traveling the major East Coast circuit. After several years, however, it was time to settle down in one place. Rock and his wife Erin chose Kentucky. There, Rock became an exercise rider for trainer CharlieLoPresti.

“Charlie’s a very laid back guy,” Rock stated. “He really appreciates what you think about how the horses are going. He listens to what you have to say and kind of lets you do your own thing with the horses, which a lot of trainers don’t. He understands that each horse is different and they all have different paces of going. I really like that. . . He is a true horseman and I think he would rather be out at his farm all day than going around the racetrack.”

When Rock began working for LoPresti in the winter of 2011, he heard horror stories about a chestnut gelding named Wise Dan. He was told the horse was a run-off, the difficult kind of horse that would drag a rider to the outside rail. When he was told that he would likely begin riding Wise Dan when the gelding returned from LoPresti’s farm after a winter layoff, he was slightly wary about riding the horse.

“I really wasn’t looking forward to riding him that much after all the stories,” Rock laughed. “I’ve always been the type of guy to try not to listen to other people and just ride a horse as I find them. When I first got on him, he was pretty tough. I kind of figured out that he’s one of those that has such a big stride. I think that the worst thing to do is try to slow him down too much from his stride. When you try to slow him down too much, that’s when he goes to the outside. He just wanted to run. I’ve always been the kind of gallop guy that likes to go quick, so me and him ended up getting along really well.”

Rock quickly realized that Wise Dan was a special horse. While working for trainers like Clement and McGaughey, Rock had the opportunity to ride several talented horses – including Point of Entry and Data Link – but even they didn’t compare.

“Both of those horses (Point of Entry and Data Link), like Wise Dan, have that class act about them,” Rock said. “They’re big, powerful horses and I always thought, when I sat on those two horses that, ‘These are probably the best two horses I will ever sit on.’ The way they moved, and their strides were so big. And they were hard to judge because they have such a big stride. And then I got on Wise Dan and it was like a whole different engine.”

Of course, Wise Dan has proven to be the superstar of American horse racing. The reigning two-time Horse of the Year, Wise Dan has been honored with a total of six Eclipse Awards. On the track, he has captured 22 of his 30 starts, ten of which were grade ones. Wise Dan has lost only twice since late October 2011 (both of those defeats resulted in game runner-up efforts) and has lost just once going a mile on the turf in his entire career. As a result of Wise Dan’s success and popularity, Rock has been thrust into the limelight.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Rock stated. “I’ve never been in the spotlight like this before. Of course, back when I was in Ireland as a jockey, I got a little bit of press, but nothing like this. It’s just amazing. I feel blessed to be part of the team.”

Earlier this year, however, it seemed as if Rock’s ride of a lifetime with Wise Dan was in danger of coming to an end – not just in terms of Wise Dan’s career, but also his life.

In addition to exercising LoPresti’s trainees at the track, Rock assists in breaking young horses at LoPresti’s Forest Lane Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. On Friday, May 16, he arrived at the farm after a strong gallop aboard Wise Dan that morning – a gallop Rock described as the Horse of the Year’s best gallop since he had returned from his layoff after the 2013 Breeders’ Cup. It was a normal day at work for Rock. Little did he know, a terrible incident had occurred with Wise Dan. The gelding had undergone surgery for colic – abdominal pain in a horse that can lead to varied, dangerous consequences. It is the number one cause of death for horses.

“I didn’t even know he colicked because I was working,” Rock said. “I finished work and I got out to my phone and there were text messages from friends of mine who had already heard through Twitter and such – it had gone mainstream already.

So I heard that he colicked and I called Charlie right away and he said they had him in the hospital, so my first reaction was to get there as soon as I could. I got there and they were just finishing up his surgery. It was awful to see him lying there. He’s such a powerful horse. It was like Superman getting injured; you never expect it. His legs are so sound; he never has leg issues. You think this horse can’t be hurt. And then you see something like that. It makes every day a blessing to be around him.”

Fortunately, the situation could have been much worse than it was. Once Wise Dan had gone into surgery, the entangled intestine that had caused the chestnut’s discomfort had returned to its normal position. As a result, no major surgery was required; it had essentially just been an incision. Nonetheless, Wise Dan faced a rough road of recovery.

“It took him a little while (to get back to himself),” Rock stated. “It was almost like he didn’t feel confident in himself. That’s when we were trying to get him ready for the Fourstardave. He just wasn’t showing any interest. He’d just go around there and he just wasn’t himself. Charlie decided to breeze him a couple times and he was quiet.

Then Charlie decided to breeze him in company. Once he breezed him in company that one time and I had to chase a horse down and pass him just after the wire, it was like his whole demeanor changed. He was like, ‘I’m back in the game now.’ That’s when he really started coming around. It was about two weeks before he ran.”

Wise Dan made his first start since his surgery in the Bernard Baruch Handicap (gr. II) at Saratoga on August 30. The gelding had not raced since his game victory in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic Stakes (gr. I) on Kentucky Derby Day. How well he would fare in his return to the races was uncertain, but it was a miracle in and of itself that Wise Dan had even made it back onto the track. To the thrill of his team and his large fan base, Wise Dan fought for victory in the Bernard Baruch just as he had fought for his life, capturing the race by a determined nose.

“I’d never been to the Breeders’ Cup with a horse before, so it was amazing going out to the Breeders’ Cup and watching him win,” Rock said. “But his last race at Saratoga was the most emotional and the most exciting race I’ve seen him win, just because I sat and watched him nearly four months before, wondering if he was gonna pull through or not. To be back on the racetrack and see him win again. . . I was just happy he was running. That was a pretty big ordeal, coming back from that.”

Now Wise Dan is preparing for Saturday's Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes (gr. I), a race that concluded his winning streak last year when it was taken off the turf and placed over a mile and one-sixteenth distance over the wet Polytrack. Should Wise Dan perform well there and emerge from the race in good order, it is likely on to the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita for a chance at a three-peat in the Breeders’ Cup Mile (gr. I).

“After what happened this year, [a three-peat] would be pretty amazing,” Rock stated. “I’m just like Charlie; I like to think of one race at a time, so we’ll get through this one (the Shadwell Turf Mile) first. But if he gets through this and makes it to the Breeders’ Cup, it will definitely mean a lot more to me than the other two [Breeders’ Cups].”

Wise Dan’s achievements on the track have secured him a place in the record books, but it is more than the gelding’s brilliant success as a racehorse that has left a lasting impact on Rock. The two have developed a strong bond, becoming a team. Rock’s time spent with Wise Dan has created memories that he will forever cherish.

“I always try not to get too attached just because it’s a business and you never know if they’ll get hurt,” Rock said. “I found out at a young age not to get too attached. But I’m so in love with that horse.”