Breeders' Cup Connections: Katie Tolbert and Highland Falls

thoroughbreddailynews

Watch Breeders' Cup Connections: Katie Tolbert and Highland Falls - thoroughbreddailynews on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Growing up, I loved all animals and I, you know, wanted all the dogs and ponies and horses

00:17and got a degree in animal science and equine business, equine science.

00:22Made friends that had horses and rode when I could and cleaned stalls and anything I

00:26could get my hands on.

00:28So I started for Brad probably four, a little over four years ago.

00:32I kind of just started out riding and then helping with whatever I could help with.

00:37And that was the spring that we had essential quality and mandolin in the Derby, which was

00:41really exciting for me.

00:42I've been really lucky.

00:43I've worked for really great people and been around a lot of nice horses, but nothing like

00:48the ones that we've had the past few years here.

00:51He was such a cool horse.

00:52He was so smart.

00:53He was easy to deal with.

00:54So that was, I mean, it was unbelievable for me.

00:57I rode him all summer and he won the Jim Dandy and won the Travers and came back and ended

01:02up running really great in Breeders' Cup.

01:04Now I'm an assistant, but also an exercise rider.

01:07I kind of, I kind of fill in with whatever we need doing, kind of try to keep everything

01:11organized.

01:12So I spend most of the morning riding and doing a lot of other like organizing things,

01:17traveling, running horses here or there.

01:20I've been riding Highland Falls for the better part of two years as he's gotten older, really,

01:26really developed.

01:27And, you know, last year we were like, oh, you know, he'll win some graded races, you

01:30know, we'll throw him in a grade one.

01:32Maybe he'll win.

01:33Now, like just over the past year, like he's just gotten so much stronger and, and more

01:38mature.

01:39And, you know, sometimes you just have to wait on him a little bit and ran awesome in

01:42Saratoga.

01:43Highland Falls.

01:44What an accomplishment for Flavian Pratt as he wins another one.

01:49He's not super flashy and he doesn't really ever do anything wrong.

01:52And he's so classy.

01:53He goes out and just stands and trains and does his job.

01:57And so I don't think he gets a whole lot of attention, but he's a super, super cool horse.

02:03This is probably the best I've seen him like training consistently and breezing.

02:08And so it gives you a lot of confidence going into Breeders' Cup.

02:12I love racing and I love everything about what we do, but I just really love horses.

02:17And so it's really fun, especially being in an operation like this, where we do have

02:21some older horses and we have horses that we get as babies and we, you know, can kind

02:25of see their careers develop.

02:27It's fun just to be in the barn and just to see them grow and learn and be successful.

02:32It's the only reason I do it.

02:34I mean, there are plenty of jobs where you can make more money or have a better schedule

02:37or, or whatever, but it's the only thing I want to do.

Category

Transcript

Recommended