Season 2 of "Jockeys" debuts tomorrow night on Animal Planet
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The reality of being a reality-TV subject hit home with Kayla Stra last winter when the Animal Planet series “Jockeys” premiered.
“I watched the opening episode with my grandparents, and I didn't realize that I had said that one line,” Stra said Sunday at Del Mar.
And the line was?
“Riding a winner is better than sex.”
Her grandparents were, naturally, taken aback at such a statement coming from their 24-year-old granddaughter. But a moment later, her grandmother put a positive spin on it.
“You know Kayla, maybe hearing that, young girls will want to ride horses instead of going partying and finding boyfriends,” she said.
After what was considered a successful first run, “Jockeys” returns for a second season starting Friday night. The first episode airs at 10 p.m., following the season finale of the channel's most popular series, “Whale Wars.” Subsequent episodes will air at an earlier time.
With the exception of Chantal Sutherland, who is riding at Woodbine in Canada, all the jockeys of “Jockeys” can be seen live almost any racing day here. The rest of the roster consists of Mike Smith, Joe Talamo, Alex Solis, Stra, Aaron Gryder, Garrett Gomez and Corey Nakatani. Gomez and Nakatani are newcomers to the documentary show, which has cameras following riders around and recording their on- and off-track lives.
Season One was a series of half-hour programs filmed during the lead-up to and running of the Breeders' Cup last fall at Santa Anita. This time the episodes are one hour in length and, aside from the individual story lines, the focus will be on the 2009 Kentucky Derby.
SPOILER ALERT: Talamo's mount, likely favorite I Want Revenge, is scratched on Derby morning; Smith finishes fifth on Chocolate Candy, and Sutherland watches from Canada as the gelding she rode through a championship season as a 2-year-old, Mine That Bird, is an upset winner of the Run For The Roses under Calvin Borel.
Sutherland watched the Derby with her friend and fellow rider Emma Jayne Wilson.
“I was so shocked and thought, ‘Oh, my God,’ ” Sutherland said on a national teleconference yesterday. “Emma and I just stared at each other. I could have been the first girl to win the Kentucky Derby.”
The romance between Smith and Sutherland, who ventured away from Canada and moved in with Hall-of-Fame rider Smith for the fall and winter, was a story line weaved in and out of the series last year.
Expect to see more of the Sutherland/Smith stuff — they're sort of the Jon and Kate sans eight of the series — and there's the possibility of an additional romantic angle with Stra.
“I started dating a guy in January, and they did some filming with him, but I don't know if it will make the program,” Stra said.
The jockeys for “Jockeys” were recruited last year at the Fairplex Park meeting in Pomona.
“They were interested in my story, I suppose, because I'd come from Australia to ride in a different country and because I am a girl,” Stra said. “So, I already had two strikes against me.
“I think they were looking to show the contrast between somebody who is just starting out in racing as opposed to someone who is established. A Mike Smith, for example.”
The riders all signed contracts to do three seasons of the show and grant Animal Planet the right to film them.
The money, Stra said, was “nowhere near” what most reality-TV subjects are paid.
“But it helped out, especially for me,” Stra said. “Trying to get started here, I had just about run out of the funds I brought from Australia, and that kept me going.”
Walking through the archway at Del Mar after finishing 10th in a 12-horse field on a 65-1 shot in Sunday's sixth race, Stra heard a voice from the crowd shouting “I love you Kayla.”
“That's happened to me quite a lot, actually, since the show has come out,” Stra said. “I really don't understand, because I'm not the main character; my story is one of the subplots.
“But people have been supportive, and it has helped me a lot during this stage of my career. I might be a little bit down, but someone shouts ‘I love you’ or ‘Good ride,’ I think that's sweet.
“But they obviously didn't bet on my horse.”
The reality of being a reality-TV subject hit home with Kayla Stra last winter when the Animal Planet series “Jockeys” premiered.
“I watched the opening episode with my grandparents, and I didn't realize that I had said that one line,” Stra said Sunday at Del Mar.
And the line was?
“Riding a winner is better than sex.”
Her grandparents were, naturally, taken aback at such a statement coming from their 24-year-old granddaughter. But a moment later, her grandmother put a positive spin on it.
“You know Kayla, maybe hearing that, young girls will want to ride horses instead of going partying and finding boyfriends,” she said.
After what was considered a successful first run, “Jockeys” returns for a second season starting Friday night. The first episode airs at 10 p.m., following the season finale of the channel's most popular series, “Whale Wars.” Subsequent episodes will air at an earlier time.
With the exception of Chantal Sutherland, who is riding at Woodbine in Canada, all the jockeys of “Jockeys” can be seen live almost any racing day here. The rest of the roster consists of Mike Smith, Joe Talamo, Alex Solis, Stra, Aaron Gryder, Garrett Gomez and Corey Nakatani. Gomez and Nakatani are newcomers to the documentary show, which has cameras following riders around and recording their on- and off-track lives.
Season One was a series of half-hour programs filmed during the lead-up to and running of the Breeders' Cup last fall at Santa Anita. This time the episodes are one hour in length and, aside from the individual story lines, the focus will be on the 2009 Kentucky Derby.
SPOILER ALERT: Talamo's mount, likely favorite I Want Revenge, is scratched on Derby morning; Smith finishes fifth on Chocolate Candy, and Sutherland watches from Canada as the gelding she rode through a championship season as a 2-year-old, Mine That Bird, is an upset winner of the Run For The Roses under Calvin Borel.
Sutherland watched the Derby with her friend and fellow rider Emma Jayne Wilson.
“I was so shocked and thought, ‘Oh, my God,’ ” Sutherland said on a national teleconference yesterday. “Emma and I just stared at each other. I could have been the first girl to win the Kentucky Derby.”
The romance between Smith and Sutherland, who ventured away from Canada and moved in with Hall-of-Fame rider Smith for the fall and winter, was a story line weaved in and out of the series last year.
Expect to see more of the Sutherland/Smith stuff — they're sort of the Jon and Kate sans eight of the series — and there's the possibility of an additional romantic angle with Stra.
“I started dating a guy in January, and they did some filming with him, but I don't know if it will make the program,” Stra said.
The jockeys for “Jockeys” were recruited last year at the Fairplex Park meeting in Pomona.
“They were interested in my story, I suppose, because I'd come from Australia to ride in a different country and because I am a girl,” Stra said. “So, I already had two strikes against me.
“I think they were looking to show the contrast between somebody who is just starting out in racing as opposed to someone who is established. A Mike Smith, for example.”
The riders all signed contracts to do three seasons of the show and grant Animal Planet the right to film them.
The money, Stra said, was “nowhere near” what most reality-TV subjects are paid.
“But it helped out, especially for me,” Stra said. “Trying to get started here, I had just about run out of the funds I brought from Australia, and that kept me going.”
Walking through the archway at Del Mar after finishing 10th in a 12-horse field on a 65-1 shot in Sunday's sixth race, Stra heard a voice from the crowd shouting “I love you Kayla.”
“That's happened to me quite a lot, actually, since the show has come out,” Stra said. “I really don't understand, because I'm not the main character; my story is one of the subplots.
“But people have been supportive, and it has helped me a lot during this stage of my career. I might be a little bit down, but someone shouts ‘I love you’ or ‘Good ride,’ I think that's sweet.
“But they obviously didn't bet on my horse.”