Located in Auburn, Washington on the outskirts of Seattle, sits Emerald Downs - a shiny new race track built in 1996 to replace Longacres Park, a venerated and majestic old one founded in 1933. Out with the old and in with the new - and now Emerald Downs has a home grown favorite daughter as one of its best and most popular jockeys. Kate Repp grew up just north of the track and began riding show horses as a young girl. The self described “track brat” started Emerald Downs inaugural season as a groom, and was soon working for veteran trainer Charlie Essex, who hired her to “pony” racehorses and break yearlings. After a few years, she was taught to gallop and ride in morning workouts. She simply loved horses and had a special touch. “I like the way she settles a horse early,” Essex was quoted as saying. “She gets them to finish well.” Eventually Ms. Repp applied for a jockey’s license and was off to earn her stripes. Away from the “Emerald”, she learned just how difficult it was to break into a very tough business, especially for a woman as few owners are willing to hire an apprentice female rider with absolutely no experience. But after some politicking by her agent, she got her first shot in a competitive professional race on the Fresno, California Fairgrounds. “It was for a guy named Rene Amuskwa”, she reminisced, “It was so exciting. All I remember was when the gates were getting ready to open saying to myself, ‘wow, I’m actually doing this'. Rene gave me a shot on a live horse and I almost got there for him.” She finished second. From that point she was “off and running”; traversing a rigorous, exacting and challenging quest to earn her way out of the “bugboy” role. A “bugboy” is an apprentice jockey, designated as such on racing forms with an asterisk. They must ride the rough circuits, mount the clumsiest horses and suffer the worse abuse in a very competitive racket, and for a woman it is doubly tough as they are considered a risky proposition by trainers and owners. On her vagabond itinerary picking up mounts, experience and a few wins on tracks across the country from Santa Anita to Philadelphia Park, Ms. Repp encountered her share of supporters and detractors along the way. One of those was legendary veteran jockey Russell Baze who both criticized her yet schooled her at the same time. He also gave her a chance to fill in for him when he was injured when thrown from a horse and as he says, “planted me like a tulip.” "You've got these guys like Russell Baze," Repp says, "and that man, you know, he'd be on a horse that's dead and can pick it up and literally carry that sonofabitch across the finish line. And some women are just not physically capable of riding horses with that kind of strength. But I don't really think that strength is the biggest key to riding a horse well. Sometimes finessing them gets the job done. There are horses that really need a strong rider and there are horses that don't.” Evidently the 5 ’1”, 108 lbs. Ms. Repp finesses’ a thoroughbred well enough to keep winning because she lost her “bug” designation in a stakes race in 2006 on her return to Emerald Downs. She’s been there ever since, now a veteran jockey, and perhaps the most popular one on her home track.
Located in Auburn, Washington on the outskirts of Seattle, sits Emerald Downs - a shiny new race track built in 1996 to replace Longacres Park, a venerated and majestic old one founded in 1933. Out with the old and in with the new - and now Emerald Downs has a home grown favorite daughter as one of its best and most popular jockeys. Kate Repp grew up just north of the track and began riding show horses as a young girl. The self described “track brat” started Emerald Downs inaugural season as a groom, and was soon working for veteran trainer Charlie Essex, who hired her to “pony” racehorses and break yearlings. After a few years, she was taught to gallop and ride in morning workouts. She simply loved horses and had a special touch. “I like the way she settles a horse early,” Essex was quoted as saying. “She gets them to finish well.” Eventually Ms. Repp applied for a jockey’s license and was off to earn her stripes. Away from the “Emerald”, she learned just how difficult it was to break into a very tough business, especially for a woman as few owners are willing to hire an apprentice female rider with absolutely no experience. But after some politicking by her agent, she got her first shot in a competitive professional race on the Fresno, California Fairgrounds. “It was for a guy named Rene Amuskwa”, she reminisced, “It was so exciting. All I remember was when the gates were getting ready to open saying to myself, ‘wow, I’m actually doing this'. Rene gave me a shot on a live horse and I almost got there for him.” She finished second. From that point she was “off and running”; traversing a rigorous, exacting and challenging quest to earn her way out of the “bugboy” role. A “bugboy” is an apprentice jockey, designated as such on racing forms with an asterisk. They must ride the rough circuits, mount the clumsiest horses and suffer the worse abuse in a very competitive racket, and for a woman it is doubly tough as they are considered a risky proposition by trainers and owners. On her vagabond itinerary picking up mounts, experience and a few wins on tracks across the country from Santa Anita to Philadelphia Park, Ms. Repp encountered her share of supporters and detractors along the way. One of those was legendary veteran jockey Russell Baze who both criticized her yet schooled her at the same time. He also gave her a chance to fill in for him when he was injured when thrown from a horse and as he says, “planted me like a tulip.” "You've got these guys like Russell Baze," Repp says, "and that man, you know, he'd be on a horse that's dead and can pick it up and literally carry that sonofabitch across the finish line. And some women are just not physically capable of riding horses with that kind of strength. But I don't really think that strength is the biggest key to riding a horse well. Sometimes finessing them gets the job done. There are horses that really need a strong rider and there are horses that don't.” Evidently the 5 ’1”, 108 lbs. Ms. Repp finesses’ a thoroughbred well enough to keep winning because she lost her “bug” designation in a stakes race in 2006 on her return to Emerald Downs. She’s been there ever since, now a veteran jockey, and perhaps the most popular one on her home track.