LIZ BRONSTEIN
Jockeys- Variety
By BRIAN LOWRY
​
Animal Planet bills the new series “Jockeys” as a docu-soap, and it’s too bad the mix doesn’t include a bit more “docu” and somewhat less soap. For anybody mildly interested in horseracing, details surrounding the sport -- the high risk to jockeys, their diminutive size, how they get paid -- are fascinating enough, but the program also focuses on personalities and characters, from the cocky young guy to the couple balancing their shared vocation with a relationship. All told, the show still looks pretty good out of the starting gate, but one suspects it may fade down the stretch.
​
Weighing less than 115 pounds, jockeys have virtually no protection as they hurtle down the track atop 1,200-pound thoroughbreds. Less understood, perhaps, is that their livelihood relies directly on finishing in the money, with one rider noting that he clears roughly $18 on a losing mount.
​
With $350 million wagered during an event like Oak Tree at Santa Anita, the stakes are high -- yielding, as the second episode captures quite literally, the thrill of victory and agony of defeat. The track setting also produces plenty of colorful characters, among them a gambler named “Jimmy the Hat.”
​
Yet “Jockeys” plunges beyond its documentary elements to highlight soap opera-ish matters and the customary reality-TV tics, determined to turn parts of the storytelling into “Desperate Horsewives.” These flourishes include tensions involving certain riders and the plight of Chantal Sutherland, a Canadian who has relocated to try making a go of things with boyfriend/fellow jockey Mike Smith. To further emphasize the point, each jockey is given a handy label (“the icon,” “the hotshot,” etc.) to shorthand them in recognizable boxes.
​
For all that, “Jockeys” is a clever concept for Animal Planet -- finding a way to connect human quirks with the channel’s four-footed niche, as it has with such recent series as “Living With the Wolfman” and “Whale Wars.” And presented in a half-hour package, it at least has the advantage of moving fast -- a pretty good idea, come to think of it, not just for those within the show but for those producing it.