“As soon as I hear that alarm, I jump up. I’ve had jobs where I don’t want to get up. Sometimes it’s seven o’clock at night and I think, ‘oh, hurry up’ – I just want to get to sleep so I can get back to work in the morning because it’s such a good feeling riding horses and seeing your horses improve.”
Cameron Sharples is standing in the rain, boots and pants caked in mud, but all smiles as we chat about his job riding horses for Kevin Attard at Woodbine Racetrack. The Canadian-born exercise rider has worked in the industry for over a decade and spent the last three years with the Attard outfit. His daily schedule starts at 5:30 a.m. and consists of riding up to seven ‘sets’ of horses a day, six days a week.
Each exercise rider is tasked with different things every day, whether to jog, gallop, or breeze a horse. While each trainer may operate differently, generally speaking they design a ‘set list’ which outlines who will ride who, on what surface (either at the main or dirt track), at what distance, etc.