Riding racehorses is an exciting and dangerous game, with few female players.
Jockey Deirdre Panas walks her Millstone farm with That’s A No No, a horse she raced to win at New York’s Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course and later adopted. One local woman with the fortitude is Deirdre Panas, 41, who has been a jockey since the age of 23. Originally from Massachusetts, Panas grew up riding and showing horses and belonged to 4-H.
At the age of 19, she moved to Ireland, where she learned how to gallop racehorses. After returning to the United States a few years later, she began her career as a jockey and first rode at Monmouth Park in Oceanport.
Panas noted that female jockeys often have backgrounds similar to hers in that they care for or ride horses before going into thoroughbred racing. Many male jockeys have little horse experience until they start racing, with some men becoming jockeys simply because of their short stature, she said.
Horseracing is more dangerous than other types of riding, she said. When asked about jockeys she admires, Panas named Steve Cauthen, who won the Triple Crown with Affirmed in 1978 and inspired her to become a jockey, and Diane Nelson, who she considers a feminine but strong woman.
Panas rides at Monmouth Park from April to December. During the winter, she takes a break from racing to focus on her web design business.
During racing season, a typical day for Panas entails driving from Millstone to the Oceanport racetrack to start exercising horses from 5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. She races in the afternoon.
Currently, there are only four female jockeys riding at Monmouth Park, according to Panas.
Panas rides primarily for twin brothers David and Douglas Nunn. She also rides for trainers Manuel Berrios, Michael Farro and John Forbes.
Panas said she has difficulty finding horses to race, as she does not have an agent.
“It’s a very tough racing circuit,” she said. “Agents want top jockeys or young apprentice riders. Girls are a hard sell unless they are established in the business.”
She said jockeys need to win races in order to get agents and trainers to back them.
“It depends on perseverance and luck,” she said.
Panas generally races four or five times per week, and competes against men who race 15 to 20 times a week and are half her age and physically stronger.
To keep up her strength, she works out at the gym and lifts weights. Staying trim has never been a problem for her, but she does have difficulty keeping weight on. Today, she weighs 107 pounds, and unlike some jockeys who starve themselves to stay thin, she eats normally and healthily, she said.
Until last year, Panas never had a serious riding injury. She broke her ankle and was out of commission for six months. This year, she broke her shoulder leaving the starting gate in a race, but she still considers herself lucky.
“I’ve been in nasty race spills and walked away from them,” she said.
While recuperating, Panas works out daily on her Equi-ciser, a mechanical horse invented by a jockey that simulates the act of riding racehorses.
Although she had a horse in her youth, Panas went for many years without an equine of her own. In 1997, she started riding a horse named That’s A No No.
“We had such a connection,” she said, recalling riding the New York-bred at Belmont Park in New York.
She had never ridden there before, and had $50 left in her checking account after paying $50 to get the license to ride That’s A No No in the race. The horse was a 46-1 shot, so Panas figured she had no chance winning her Belmont debut.
To her surprise and delight, they won the race, beating top jockey Jerry Bailey and his mount. They later had another win at Belmont and came in second at Saratoga Race Course in New York.
Panas eventually moved to Texas to race, but kept tabs on That’s A No No. He retired to stud. When she called his owner one day she was told he was getting out of the breeding business and she could have him. Since then, he has been gelded. He now serves as her riding horse and inspiration for her business, nonowebsdesign.
Panas specializes in designing websites for equine businesses, such as Patty Hogan’s Hogan Equine Clinic in Cream Ridge and Hill Haven Farm in Upper Freehold, but she designs for other businesses as well. She is currently working on the site for the Ruffian Equine Medical Center at Belmont Park.
Her spare time is devoted to horses, and she volunteers with Rerun, an organization that finds new careers for ex-racehorses. Her dream is to have a thoroughbred rescue of her own someday so she can give back to the industry.
“My passion is the plight of the unwanted thoroughbred,” she said, adding that she would like to see more owner responsibility and education.
Panas is also a certified equine investigator for animal control issues.
For more information about Panas, visit www.nonowebdesign. com.