No Title 2236
Supplement to “The Horse Course State”
Kentucky has long been world-renowned for producing high-quality Thoroughbred racehorses. Thanks to the North American Racing Academy (NARA), the state is also beginning to stand out for producing professional jockeys to ride them.
Established in 2006 by National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron, and located at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, the NARA prepares young people either to become professional race riders or to fill other professional positions within the horse racing industry.
Students may choose between two study pathways, according to NARA Director of Program Facilitation Aimmi Knarr.
Those in the Jockey Pathway train to become professional race riders. Those in the Horseman’s Pathway acquire skills to become horse trainers and assistants, exercise riders, farm foremen, grooms, and racetrack officials. All students perform internships at training and racing barns in the U.S. and even abroad.
All also study math, science, and English–core requirements with which they can earn an associate of science degree granted by Bluegrass Community and Technical College.
In fact, NARA is the only school of its kind in the U.S. to offer the college degree component to professional race rider training. The Kentucky Community and Technical College funds the program.
McCarron built the college degree component into NARA’s curriculum so that all graduates would not only have an edge when it comes to landing jobs in the racing industry. He also wanted to prepare jockeys for second careers when the racing days were over.
“The whole idea is that with this training and with the associate’s degree, students will be able to open the door to a job within the equine industry,” Knarr says. “But people retire from race riding either because of injury or some other reason. It can come at any age. Chris wanted them to have something to fall back on.”
To learn more about the North American Racing Academy, go to www.kctcs.edu/nara.
To read the Kentucky Living February 2010 feature that goes along with this supplement, go to The Horse Course State.
