Jockey Risenhoover's star is rising

Jockey Sasha Risenhoover seemed headed down a different career path after two years of classes in psychology and sociology. But she ended up veering sharply toward racing and is now making her mark on the Texas circuit.

Risenhoover won the Retama Park title in a tie with veteran Ted Gondron last fall in San Antonio and has carried her momentum over to Lone Star Park near Dallas, where she ranked third in the standings through Thursday.

“The racetrack, it was kind of like a calling,” said Risenhoover, 26. “I was little. I don’t have to fight my weight, and I love the horses. I just love horses.”

Risenhoover is a native of Fort Smith, Ark., who grew up on a farm in Oklahoma. She rode horses on the farm and even did some barrel racing. But no one in her family was involved in horse racing.

“When I was going to college, I was renting this house,” Risenhoover said. “Up on the hill, there was a little farm with a track, and it looked so interesting to me. It just kind of drew me in, and I just went up there and introduced myself.”

John Garvin, a trainer, asked Risenhoover if she had ever been around horses, and if so, if she would like to try to gallop racehorses.

“I ended up going up there the next morning, getting on two horses for him,” Risenhoover said. “I worked for him about a year galloping, worked at the racetrack, then I got my jockey license.”

Risenhoover won her first race at Will Rogers Downs near Tulsa on May 2, 2011. She had a career year last year, winning 121 races from 506 starts for mount earnings of $1.5 million. Risenhoover finished third in the Prairie Meadows standings in 2016 and carried that momentum into Retama, where she tied for the title with 39 wins.

Risenhoover has continued to make an impact in 2017, with 69 wins from 370 starts through Thursday for mount earnings of more than $800,000. She was fourth in the Sam Houston standings before coming to Lone Star and winning 39 races from 195 starts through Thursday for mount earnings of $502,582.

Risenhoover said a key to her success has been the support of trainer Karl Broberg. She met him a few years back at Lone Star but began riding for the barn on a regular basis at Prairie Meadows. The trainer-jockey team has continued on through the current meet at Lone Star.

“Mr. Karl Broberg, I’ve got to thank him for pretty much giving me the chance,” Risenhoover said. “He’s the reason I’ve been able to do good and win races and kind of prosper off of that. He gave me an opportunity.”

Risenhoover said one of her favorite horses at this Lone Star meet has been the Broberg-trained Dance Champion. So far in her career, the rider has won seven stakes with such horses as Witt Six, who captured the Star of Texas this year at Sam Houston, and It’s the Swede, with whom she won two stakes at Prairie Meadows.

These days, her career path seems set in stone.

“I’ve always loved horses, always been a country girl,” Risenhoover said. “The fact that you could make a living riding horses ... that’s right down my alley. I love the rush.”