Apprentice Micah Meeks begins riding career at Pleasanton

Micah Meeks learned she would have her first mount at the Alameda county fair in Pleasanton, Calif., on Friday when she saw the overnight earlier this week.

“I was kind of surprised,” she said on Tuesday. “I wasn’t expecting it.”

Meeks, 18, graduated from high school in Orinda, Calif., in December, deliberately completing her studies to spend mornings working horses at nearby Golden Gate Fields.

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“I graduated a semester early, so I could be at the racetrack more,” she said.

“I knew I wanted to be a jockey. It’s been a dream of mine for a long time.”

Meeks’s interest in racing soared in the fall of 2016 when she attended the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita. She witnessed a thrilling running of the Classic when Arrogate beat California Chrome by a half-length. That was not the order of finish a certain pre-teen from Northern California wanted.

“I cried when Arrogate beat California Chrome,” she said.

Meeks has worked for a variety of trainers in preparation for her riding career. She began exercising horses in the winter of 2022-2023.

On Friday, she has the mount on the 5-year-old gelding Nuestro Engreido in a $5,000 claimer at 5 1/2 furlongs.

“I am ready,” she said.

Meeks begins her career at a time when racing in Northern California in a state of transition. Golden Gate Fields, near Oakland, permanently closed last weekend. Pleasanton is the first of five fair meetings through mid-October. Later in October, Pleasanton will run a nine-week meeting at a time when racing was previously held at Golden Gate Fields.

Meeks starts her career as the only active apprentice rider in Northern California. She admits she has chosen an odd career path, considering her parents’ careers.

“My parents are lawyers,” she said. “This is not where I was supposed to end up. That’s all right.”

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