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Horse jockey and Tracy native Kyle Frey heads back to the barn after riding in his first race of the day at the Alameda County Fairgrounds on June 5. (Photo by Mike Sedlak.) -
Thoroughbred horse racing jockey Kyle Frey is a native of Tracy, as well as the highest ranked jockey at the Alameda County Fairgrounds this year. (Photo by Mike Sedlak.) -
Before riding in the first race of the day, Frey shared tales and reflected on his decade-long career in Thoroughbred racing. (Photo by Mike Sedlak.) -
Frey and other jockeys weighed in for the first of several races on June 5 at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, where he won third place. (Photo by Mike Sedlak.) -
Frey and his mount are escorted to the starting gate shortly before running to a third place finish on June 5. (Photo by Mike Sedlak.) -
Since starting his jockey career more than 10 years ago, Frey has won 960 out of 5,613 races so far, according to Equibase. (Photo by Mike Sedlak.)
Thoroughbred horse racing jockey Kyle Frey has crossed the finish line more than 5,600 times at racetracks from California to the East Coast — including a massive complex in Pennsylvania with a casino and performance venue — but eventually he always finds himself back in Pleasanton, enjoying the hometown atmosphere at the Alameda County Fairgrounds once again.
“I’m pretty regular here; I’ve come and gone a lot, been all over, mostly between here and Philadelphia,” Frey told the Weekly during an exclusive interview last Saturday, just an hour before riding in his first race of the day.
Though he has roots in his hometown of Tracy, Frey said he’s “been back and forth, just depending on my mood” between racetracks during his decade-plus career. In addition to logging some serious travel miles, Frey has also racked up 960 first place wins and nearly $20 million in earnings, making him the leading rider at the county fairgrounds for the past two years.
Frey has ridden countless horses in that time and refuses to declare an all-time favorite — “That would be politically dangerous for me to say,” he said with a laugh — but did offer up one familiar name.
“For the moment, my current (favorite) would probably be Rombauer,” Frey said. “I won a stake race with him here at Golden Gate Fields, which got him the ticket into the Preakness, which he ended up winning” in May.
But it was “family, mostly,” not money or trophies, that got Frey into racing. “My grandfather was a jockey, rode all over the West Coast, my father is a trainer,” he said. By his own characterization, Frey was practically raised at the track and started learning to ride at a young age.
“I started doing hunter-jumpers; I didn’t really show much, but just to get a seat and a feel for how to ride horses,” Frey said. “From there, I started what’s called being a hot walker, catching the horses” and cooling them off after runs. Eventually Frey met a trainer and started learning the jockey trade, setting him on his current career path.
There have been some bumps along the way and intense tumbles as well.
“It’s the only sport that they follow you around in an ambulance,” Frey said. “It’d be easier if I tell you what I haven’t broken than what I have.”
Most recently, Frey blew out his ACL and tore both the MCL and meniscus in his left knee, but he’s also suffered a broken femur and fractures in his neck, cheekbone, nose and feet, especially. “Those have taken a beating; just walking horses, they’ll step on you,” Frey added.
There’s always the chance of serious injury or even death as soon as Frey shoots out of the starting gate, and he confirmed there have been “a lot” of close calls in the past but just nonchalantly shrugs it off while recounting one such incident.
“Actually, I laugh about it now because nobody was severely hurt, the horses were fine,” Frey said. “It’s ironic, the horse’s name was Pure Comedy, and I went to go hit him lefthanded. When I hit him left handed, he ducked from the whip, just jumped to the outside and I rolled off of him.
One of my close friends…went right over the top of me, and in the replay it looked like a pitching machine, I was wound up and just shot out of the back.”
Adding some ironic insult to those injuries, he adds, “It’s funny because as soon as I bought in on the accident insurance, I stopped getting hurt, and that was only last year.”
However, “it’s not even the physical part that plays as much of a toll, it’s more of the mental,” according to Frey. “Because you can let those physical things just destroy you mentally from that point. It’s tough, it’s something you have to want to do. It’s not something you can just make a job of, you’ve got to enjoy what we do.”
On a race day, Frey typically exercises horses before going back home to see his family and eat between morning and afternoon shifts. If he has enough time, Frey will also nap before going back to track and do it all over again.
“Some of these guys are waking up at 3:30 to get here,” Frey said. “Today I had to wake up at 4:00 to come over here to exercise three (horses) and then go back to Golden Gate Fields to exercise another four, and now I’m back over here. Regular day.”
Between juggling the responsibilities of new fatherhood to a nine-month-old daughter and looking after his equine colleagues, Frey has stayed plenty busy during the pandemic.
“You still have to exercise the horses plus I still have to stay fit, keep the weight off,” Frey said, adding jokingly that he’s “gotta work on my girlish figure here.”
The longevity of a racehorse’s career really “depends on soundness,” which is another reason Frey is so meticulous about looking after his four-legged racing partners, and has seen some run for a decade or more with good care and paying close attention to the horse’s overall wellness.
“If they start to come up with issues, people will back off of them,” Frey said. “We have horses here that are 10 and 11, just trying little pros. The ones that make it that long, they know when they’re feeling good.”
However, he added, “You try to give a horse a break, they earn it. They do all the work, we just hold on, at the end of the day.”
The sport’s image has been impacted by multiple horse deaths at Santa Ana Park and Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit’s recently failed drug test, but Frey insists that “horses are better taken care of on the racetrack than ever would be in the wild.”
“There’s a lot of smear about how horses break down,” Frey said. “In Northern California, we’ve done amazing. We’ve gone the extra mile to make sure the horses are safe. I’m really proud of where I am, as far as quality of care provided to the horses.”
He added, “I’ve cried several times just thinking about it. Nobody wants to see a horse get hurt. If I can prevent it, I’ll always pull a horse up and take care of them. These horses are the bread and butter and way of life.”
Should his lifestyle ever lose its thrill, Frey said he’s always wanted to do steeple chasing, “just because that looks so exhilarating and insane in the best kind of way.” However, Frey might have a second career in another type of horse racing instead.
“One time I went to a training track for harness horses and a trainer named Lou Pena, who was the leading harness trainer in the nation for years and years, let me work one, exercise one, and that was fun,” Frey said. “When you feel that rattle of the cart, it’s insane.”
“Typically they only keep the buggy whip in their right hand and I actually switched the stick to the left because we do it so commonly here,” he said. “(Pena’s) like, ‘That’s insane, I’ve got to get you on these harness horses, these guys don’t know how to do that…you’d kill as a harness driver.'”
When reflecting on what keeps him coming back despite the chaotic schedule, nomadic lifestyle and injuries, Frey said it was the same thing that got him started.
“I think just making my family proud,” especially his wife and daughter, Frey said. “I don’t think about that kind of stuff too often…that’s probably my main reason.”
