Frank Garza Jockey School

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Newbury Park, California, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) September 27, 2010 -- The school is owned by Garza, 59, of Newbury Park, who grew up riding horses and learned to race from his brother and uncle. In 1968, he weighed only 105 pounds when his horse, Spaceman II, won a $100,000 purse at Hollywood Park. Since then, he said, purses have gone up about 10 times, allowing winning jockeys who get a cut to make a good living.

Garza continued to race through the 1970s but decided to retire in 1980 to spend more time with his family. Around 1990, he started his jockey school in Newbury Park and eventually moved to the current site he leases at a ranch on Donlan Road.

One of his most famous students was J.C. Gonzalez, who won 181 races with purses totaling $4.1 million before he was killed when his horse, Wolfhunt, collapsed in a race at Fairplex Park in Pomona in 1999.

Garza said it can take three months to two years before one of his students is ready to race, but most take about six or seven months of training. The first 30 days of the program they are on probation until Garza determines whether they have what it takes.

Eventually he tries to help them get jobs exercising horses at Hollywood Park or Santa Anita Santa Anita, which can lead to jockey positions. The people who exercise the horses can wind up making more than the least successful jockeys -- but the most successful jockeys can make millions. The jockey and exercise rider training programs offered at the Frank Garza Jockey School include everything from grooming and tacking to techniques of working with young horses, galloping. The fees for learning to be a jockey or exercise rider are about $1,200 a month, with higher fees for housing arrangements for students from other areas. Details about rates and exact curricula are available at www.thejockeyschool.com.

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