Name: A Jockey | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #346
Uploaded: 2021-06-23T19:07:53.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'A Jockey | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #346' from Theo Von on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-06-23. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'A Jockey | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #346' from Theo Von on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-06-23. Transcript available.

A Jockey | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #346

Today's guest is a two-time Kentucky Derby winner and he's also won the
Preakness if you're familiar with horse racing and outdoor horsing. And this
man
is a special man. He's from Veracruz, Mexico. And really excited to learn all
about jockeying. I've always wanted to know about it. You know what I'm saying?
Who's in that cockpit of that horse? Today's guest is Mr. Mario Gutierrez.
Mario Gutierrez, man. So what happened? What happened yesterday? You said
something happened.
I was running a couple of things. My car broke down yesterday, so I took it to
the dealership.
On the interstate or on a side road?
No, I was in the highway.
That's always a real rodeo, bro, when you break down out there.
It was running a car too, so I don't know what happened. I had to take it to
the dealership
and then get a loaner car. And this morning, I had to go to the track to do the
training,
the usual training that I had to do before racing. I was doing that. I was
getting ready to leave,
grab a couple of things to show you guys. And then as I was getting out of the
race track,
freaking car power went off. The same thing happened. The loaner car broke down
too.
No, the loaner broke down.
So I called my agent on the way and then he loaned me his car and he's like, "Get
out of here."
Yeah.
And so when you go, and let's put it, what brand of car is it, man? Let's get
this brand out there.
They need to know.
Oh, I don't even want to say it.
You don't?
It's a fancy car, actually.
It is?
It is.
BMW, maybe?
No, Up.
Up?
Yeah.
Oh, Range Rover.
In that area, it's like a Maserati.
It was a Maserati.
Yeah, it's a Maserati.
Yeah.
You drive a Maserati?
Well, no, that was the loaner car. I drive an Alfa Romeo.
Alfa Romeo?
Oh, that's what Nick drives.
And then the engine light went on in that car. That's what happened. I was
driving it and the
power went off. Probably a bicycle could have gone faster than that.
And when the power goes out in your car, do you kind of get that same feeling?
Actually, I do. I was doing it like, come on, come on. Just one more pull. You
have to do it.
Oh, I did that. Actually, I did do that.
I can see that. It's almost like a habit, huh?
Yeah. Yeah.
I was like, even when I watch my replays, like after the race finish and I come
back to Yorkshire,
if I win or finish a close second, I'm watching the replay and all of a sudden,
as I'm getting to the wire on the replay, I'm like leaning towards,
like thinking that something different is going to happen. It's just a habit.
Oh, it's just a habit. That's interesting, man.
Yeah.
And so you're, whenever you said like today, you went to, or yesterday or today,
you went to do the training. Like, what is that like? So you go there,
is there a time you have to be there on a race day? So today's a race day.
Yeah. Today's a race day. Well, typically, even in a race day, we, Monday
through, what,
seven days, Monday through Sunday, we train horses. Okay.
You know, and those horses that we train in, we usually get to run them like,
you know,
a week from now, like, or 15 days from now. So we're constantly working these
horses.
And then like, they're not necessarily going to run on the weekend, you know,
but they might run like
the week, the weekend after, you know, so.
I see. So horses that are going to be like, say, if I'm going to go to the racetrack,
yeah, like maybe in a week or two, the horses I'm seeing, going to see, then
you guys are kind
of training them, getting used to the track.
No, getting ready. No, just like a, like a normal athlete, you know, getting
the physical training
into it, you know, the long capacity. So they're able to push harder in the
stretch and things like
that. It's like, you know, it's, you guys get them out there like athletes. And
what time do you
guys do that kind of each day?
That's early in the morning. The racetrack open around, like I think 4:30, you
know, and then it
closes at like 10 o'clock. I usually get that at 6:30, you know, that's when I
start. And usually by
9:45, I'm done. Wow. So dude, you're on the horse and it's going fast, huh?
Yeah. Is it scary or no? No, it's not scary for me anymore. You know,
it was a little bit scary when I started when I was young, but now I just like,
you know, like any
other racing athlete, I guess, you know, like you just get used to your love
for that. I love what I
do. So I'm like, I live for that. You know, it's like the adrenaline is the
excitement is like all of
that. Who's the athlete? Are you the athlete or the horse is the athlete or you're
both the athletes?
We're both, you know, like it's almost like it's, well, no, it's not almost
like it's a team,
you know, like he isn't the athlete, you know, he usually, he actually does
most of the work,
you know, the hard work, you know, we are at least too, because we need to
constantly be
fit enough to ride these horses, like have our weight, you know, checked, you
know,
check, you know, there's certain way that we can pass, you know, so that's what
like physically,
we have to be super fit because these are like 1000 pound animals that we need
to control. And
we need to, you know, like, be able to manage. Oh, yeah, high speed.
So when you are, when you, so like on a race day, what will your day be like on
that day?
It's usually, so like later today, when you go in for the race, like, what is
it like when you get
there? Like, how do you go through? Like, what is kind of the, the typical
typical? Yeah. Well, for me,
it's like, you know, like, I, um, I wake up, like I said, I go to morning
training. And then that usually
finish. And like, like I said, 10 o'clock, you're done, you know? Okay. And
when you're training these
horses, like, what are you doing? You're like, just almost like, like, acting
at a race almost.
Yeah. Yeah. It's exactly that. It's just like, we simulate a, a, a little race
by themselves. You
know, it's just like, you know, each horse, you know, it's not like we're
working a tango force
at the same time, not like a race, but like, for example, uh, uh, I'll work my
horse five furloughs,
you know, that means that I had to make five furloughs in a certain amount of
time, like 101. The
trainer will tell you how much, how fast you want him, you, he wants him, he
wants you to train the
horse. Okay. You know? So he, if he tells you, Hey, I want you to work five furloughs
in 101. So you,
um, you do your best to pass those five furloughs in one minute and one second.
So, um, so you're out
there just kind of setting goals, almost like a, uh, like, like somebody on a
track team would be doing
it. That's exactly that, you know, and that, that gives like the horse fitness
and the long capacity
for like, do they like it? Do the horses like being racers? You think? Torres
do. Torres do.
Yeah. Torres do. It's like, uh, any normal, uh, well, any living creature, you
know, there's some
horses that don't, you know, there's some horses that like, you know, that no
matter how much you
ask them, they will choose no born to do that, you know, but they're like, oh
yeah, like Antonio Brown.
And there's some horses that they do really love, you know, they're like, uh,
it's maybe like, uh, I can't explain that because it's a feeling, you know,
sometimes I'm on top of
them and I do the very minimum and I would just encourage them to go a little
faster and they
are waiting for that. Oh, they want it. Yeah. They want it. Yeah. So it's
interesting. So some of them,
can you tell sometimes how, how excited they are about it and how much they
like it? Yeah. Oh,
you can. Yeah. Well, I, yeah, I'm, I'm, I feel lucky because I feel that I can
tell that,
you know, because I grew up with horses since early, my early age.
And, uh, so yeah. So what was that like? So I'm trying to think of what else I
would think about
like being out there and then, okay. So then you get there for the race day.
Now on the race day
on the, on the race, you guys show up and what happens? Like, do you have to be
drug tested? Does
the horse have to be drug tested? Yeah. Horses get drug tests. We don't, we, um,
we do get drug test, drug tests too, but that's like a, it's like a, like a
lottery, you know,
the officials go there and like, they will just pick randomly, you know,
whoever you're going to get
this or whatever they want. Do you want to get this? And then you had to go and
get this. Do some
people use, are, is there any like performance enhancing drugs for the riders?
Is anybody out
there like some, some guys can be high and do it or do whatever? No, no, no, no.
We are like three,
like as any other athlete. And it's like, there is not, not the, um, if we are
in a Percocet or
something that we need to have a prescription. If, if you don't, if all of a
sudden you get tests and
then you pop for a pill, like, you know, like an oracle or something like that,
then you get,
you get suspended or fired. Damn, really? Oh yeah. So everybody got to really
keep it together,
the horse and the people, huh? Yeah. So it sounds like a lot of jockeys have
prescriptions.
Yeah, exactly, right? Let me show you mine. When you, uh, so what is the
fitness of it like for you?
Fitness, I, for us, because we have to be more lean and stronger. Well, as
strong as I like,
one 20 pounder can get, you know, so. Right. Yeah. Cause I'm from Louisiana
originally.
And they have a lot of guys from Louisiana that are jockeys. Yeah. Yeah. There's
a lot of like,
uh, we have like Alvarado, like there's a couple of names you would hear. Melanson.
Yeah.
Like a lot of names you would hear a lot of times. Candice Ormond. I think he's
a
whole famer on horse racing industry. He's from there, I think. Is he? What's
his name? Candice Ormond.
Uh, what's the last name, the letter that starts with? D. Dormon. D-O-R-M-O-N-D.
No. D-E.
D-E. Delong. Delong? No.
Ken with K. My English is horrible. So it's my second language. So like, don't.
Mine's bad.
It's my first language. Yeah. That one, the first one. Oh. That's a hard name
for English people.
Yeah. Ken, Ken DeSormo. Where's he out of Louisiana? A lot of guys, they got a
little,
little swamp babies, man. A lot of French little swamp babies. They pull them
up from Maurice,
Louisiana. Yeah. That's a, that is a real swamp town right there. And so it's
popular in that
area. Is it, are there a lot of, are you Mexican or what? Mexican. Both your
parents are Mexican?
Yeah. Both of my parents are Mexican. So are, is there a lot of Mexican jockeys
as well? Oh yeah.
Yeah. Really? A lot of jockeys. A lot of Latin, Latino jockeys. A lot of Panamanians,
Puerto Ricans.
Huh. Yeah. So yeah, it's cause it's interesting that a lot of those guys are
from Louisiana and then
a lot of them are from Mexico. Why? Cause it's smaller stature?
I think so. But there's really jockeys all over the place. We have like Italian
jockeys here right now.
We have a, a French jockeys, you know, I think it's like whoever is small
enough to be a jockey.
Oh, so it's more about a size thing. Not really. It doesn't matter kind of
where people are from.
Yeah. What, um, what was your journey in a jockey and like, how did it kind of
start out for you?
Cause it's such a unique, I mean, I was talking to a friend of mine the other
day, uh, this guy,
Walker, Walker Bueller, he plays for the Dodgers actually. And he was on here a
while back and
he and I went to dinner the other night and he's telling me about, he had a
brother-in-law who was a,
um, jockey and Robbie Alvarado is the guy's name. And so he went, uh, so we, I
was like,
maybe we should get a jockey to come on the podcast and talk. And then you and
Nick spoke.
And, um, and so, yeah, man, it's just fascinating to think, uh, to think of
what that life is like
and what it, and, and who even does it. Like, so take me again a little bit
more like your fitness
and your size and your weight. What do you have to stay at?
I probably, if you, I had to stay like under like 117, 118, 117, you know, that
in case that I have to
reduce, I don't have to reduce to