British jockey Grace McEntee moves her tack to U.S.

British jockey Grace McEntee is moving to the U.S. and will begin riding this weekend. And she already has plenty of support lined up.

McEntee told Horse Racing Nation that she's due to arrive Friday. She has one mount on Saturday at Turfway Park and another on Sunday.

Why make the switch?

"I'm only 22, so I'm at a stage in my life where I am young enough to explore an opportunity like this to race ride out in America and hopefully learn plenty," McEntee told HRN in an email. "I am in a fortunate position to have some family over in America who can help and support me, so that's a big head start compared to most jockeys doing a similar thing to me."

That family includes Paul McEntee, trainer of her Saturday mount, Baytown Lovely, and brother Jake McEntee, an assistant trainer with Kenny McPeek. Grace's father, Phil, is a trainer in Great Britain.

Adding to the support, her boyfriend, British jockey Tyler Heard, is coming to the U.S. as well.

"It should be a great experience for both of us, and we will make the most of it," McEntee said.

She also sees more opportunity in the U.S.

"In England there are so many jockeys, which makes it very competitive to get rides let alone ones with chances," she said. "The prize money is also very poor compared to majority of other countries, which makes it hard to earn a decent living."

She lined up agent Jose Santos Jr. through a mutual friend of her brother.

"I expect her to get support from the people who I've done business with for a while on some live horses and then hopefully she can show her talents through that and it opens up all kinds of doors," Santos said.

McEntee has an advantage, he said, in that "she's definitely been riding over the Polytrack over there, back home, so she knows how to handle that track. So Turfway should be a good fit."

In five years of racing, McEntee has 71 wins from 851 starts, with 23 wins from 220 starts this year.