Katie Hindt is going places. Fast. At approximately 40 miles per hour to be more specific. That's about how fast a thoroughbred horse runs during a race. Hindt, an Elkton resident who is a junior at Rising Sun High School, aspires to be a professional jockey. She's on the right track. Hindt recently earned her exercise license in New York. The allows her to ride horses on the track in the morning and provides access to the stables.
Hindt began working at Belmont in November for trainer Mary Lu Dolce, a family friend. After a trip back home, Hindt headed back to New York Saturday, two days before celebrating her 17th birthday. Hindt has her own apartment there surrounded by her horse racing family. While in New York, Hindt takes classes online, the first student participating in a new program. "She's a guinea pig," mom Stacy says. "It works out well." Students are permitted to take classes online for one marking period, but the Hindts are hoping Katie will be allowed to remain in the program for longer. Stacy Hindt says the school system has been supportive from the start. Although she lives in Elkton, Katie elected to attend Rising Sun High to study Chinese. Hindt has always been permitted to use the "senior option" so she can ride in the morning before her school day started at 9:15. Her hectic schedule does not allow Hindt to participate in many extracurricular activities but Hindt was a member of the Tigers' successful cross country squad and will run track in the spring if she's back in the area. "I do it to build up stamina so I can ride multiple horses [in succession]," she said. Hindt is able to ride eight horses, stopping only long enough to dismount and hop on the next one. Hindt goes to the gym to build strength but says there's no substitute for riding a lot. Thoroughbreds weigh an average of 1,200 pounds so brute strength is not enough to convince a horse to do what you want. "You need a lot of muscle, but you also need to know what you're doing, and know the horse's cues," she said. "You're not going to win a tug of war." Hindt got her first pony when she was three. At five, she saw her mom's friend's daughter race and decided she wanted to be a jockey. "I like the competitiveness and the speed and I love horses," she says. "All three of those things combined make me want to race." By the time she was nine, Hindt began thinking more about becoming a professional jockey. Her friend Sydney Keys would proudly tell people, "Oh, yeah, she's going to be a jockey!" In 2011, Hindt won the Delaware Valley Point-to-Point Association's small pony championship. Two years later, she was involved in the first-ever dead heat at Winterthur. She has won two straight Willowdale junior flat races. Hindt is grateful for the support she has received. Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard is a family friend and the late trainer Tom Voss was a big influence. "Uncle Bob" Jackson allows Katie to use his training track. Hindt has worked with Jazz Napravnik at a summer camp several years ago. Jazz is the sister of groundbreaking jockey Rosie Napravnik. Rosie Napravnik, who began her racing career at Pimlico, is the only woman to ride in all three Triple Crown races. Aboard Mylute in 2013, she set records for top finishes by a female jockey in both the Kentucky Derby (fifth) and Preakness (third). Hindt might return home in the spring and already has jobs lined up at Fair Hill if she does. The next step is becoming an apprentice jockey, known as a "bug" because of the asterisk that appears by their names in the racing program. To become an apprentice, Hindt must receive starting gate training and be evaluated by outriders. Apprentice jockeys race with a weight allowance for at least a year unless they win an inordinate number of races before that. Hindt is the daughter of Rob and Stacy Hindt and granddaughter of Glenn Hindt of New Castle, Del. and David Shattuck of Wolcott, N.Y. She has a younger brother, Brandon. Hindt is dreaming big. "I want to win the Kentucky Derby," she says, "be the first female jockey to do it." Comments are closed.
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