Each race day, jockeys suit up with gear that echoes their predecessors. Those early riders wore a silk cap and jacket with the owner’s colors, but those caps offered no protection from injury and those jackets were no shield against flying hooves. With dirt, mud, and debris flying into their faces, these jocks faced any number of dangers on the racetrack: falling off their mounts and potentially being trampled; tearing muscle and breaking limbs hitting the rail; hurtling over a horse’s head or falling with their mounts only to be trapped underneath the thousand-pound animal.

Little was done to protect these professionals until the early 20^th century when innovations like helmets, vests, and railing started the movement toward safer conditions for jockeys.

Helmets

When Australian jockeys started wearing skull caps in the early 20^th century, the rate of head injuries went down, a development that piqued the interest of owners like Col. E. R. Bradley. The owner of Idle Hour Farm and four Kentucky Derby winners mandated them for his stable after an exercise rider suffered a head injury when his mount stumbled and fell.

Jockey Jose Ortiz is interviewed by retired rider Richard Migliore. (Eclipse Sportswire)

The owner bought enough helmets for riders at several racetracks at his own expense, but it took a while for riders to adopt them, objecting to the fit or the extra weight. Yet their benefits were hard to deny. The Kentucky Racing Commission requested that jockeys start using them in 1925 and then mandated them in the 1950s. Other racing jurisdictions followed suit over the ensuing decades.

These early helmets were made of leather or cork, the plastic Caliente helmets replacing them in the late 1950s. Invented by John S. Alessio, former owner of Agua Caliente, these helmets were modeled on those worn by baseball players; they fit the head more snugly and soon became mandatory for jockeys in most states.

“Basically, the old Calientes were like this hard shell, and it had some padding inside, but it really didn't protect your head the way the new helmets do,” retired jockey Richard Migliore shared. “Obviously, with technological advances, [newer helmets] spread out the blunt force trauma while the old helmets were basically just an eggshell over your head with some padding on the inside.”

In the last decade, not only have helmets become even more protective, but the Jockey Guild also added procedures for assessing riders for head injuries. Racetracks have added “doctors and paramedics that know concussions, the protocols, and SCAT5s,” Terry Meyocks, Jockeys’ Guild chief executive officer, said. “If a jock is injured, if he’s in concussion protocols, he shouldn't be able to go out and ride.”

Additionally, the Guild “always maintained that if he's got a head injury, then the helmet should be checked and be thrown away.”

Goggles

Essential eye protection. (Eclipse Sportswire)

James McCoy’s eye was a problem. Hit by a clod of dirt during a race in the early 1920s, the time it took for his eye to heal and his full sight to return was a problem for a man who made his living riding racehorses. To avoid that kind of injury again, he added goggles to his tack, an idea he got from Winnie O’Connor, a turn-of-the-century Hall of Fame jockey who also wore goggles for a time.

Using ones made for steel workers, McCoy’s ingenuity earned him ribbing from his peers and the nickname “Goggles,” but within five years, the eyewear became standard equipment for jockeys. McCoy soon sought out Adolph Kroop, a Maryland shoemaker who specialized in riding boots and other equipment for jockeys, and asked him to develop goggles made specifically for the racetrack. Kroop’s design uses clear plastic for lightweight eyewear with maximum peripheral vision. From there, Kroop built a company around his plastic goggles and is still in business more than 75 years later.

The number of goggles that a jock might wear in a particular race depends on conditions as well as personal preference. “I would never wear less than three, regardless of the condition of the track or if I had speed or not,” Migliore recalled. “Once I did have a horse in front of me throw a shoe, and it hit me square in the goggles, and it broke the first two pairs, but it didn't get through the third pair. So that made an impression on me that I need at least three to protect my eyes.”

 

Safety Vests

Safety vests are now standard. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Safety vests are a more recent addition to this list. This type of body armor started appearing on racetracks in the 1980s, starting with steeplechase races, with their use picking up in the early 1990s. These are worn underneath a jockey’s silks and add protective padding around the torso. By the mid-1990s, these were mandatory additions to a jockey’s uniform, but not all jockeys embraced them right away.

“When they first made them mandatory, I was against it. I did not want to wear one,” Migliore recalls. “The first full meeting [with them] was at Saratoga. I was in front of the stretch, and my horse hung left through the ledge and left me on the racecourse side. I got run over and a horse kicked me square in the back. The flak jacket really saved me from bad injury. I was bruised up, but I remember thinking after that, ‘I'm not so against this anymore.’ ”

In the 30 years since their introduction, these vests have become much more streamlined while also maintaining the necessary durability for protection.

Safety Rails

The flat inner rail at Keeneland. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Horse racing has made historical progress from wooden rails to metal rails with padding to the Fontana safety rail and the flexible rails for turf courses manufactured by companies like Mawsafe and Fornells. Made out of PVC plastic, these rails have top rails that are designed to stay stable when a horse collides with it and knocks out the supports. This allows horse and rider to get close to the rail without injuries they would have suffered with previous types of railing.

For the outer and inner rails on a dirt course, Fontana and other companies produce rails with smooth flat cover that allow a jockey to slide off rather than strike the rail and potentially fall into the path of other horses. These replaced metal railings that even padded could still cause serious injury if a horse or a rider crashed into it. When Sanibel Storm threw Julien Leparoux into the rail, the flat-topped rail allowed him to slide safely into the infield, avoiding injury.

Other Tools of the Trade

Protecting jockeys in mornings and afternoon. (Eclipse Sportswire)

In addition to these advances come others that help mitigate some of the dangers jockeys face every time they step into the starting gate. “I see now where these guys are using these stirrups that have a little bit more of a platform, because as a rider, as a jockey, you don't want more than your toe in the startup because you don't want to get hung up,” Migliore said. “That platform certainly seems like it gives them more surface space, so I do think it gives them a little bit more stability.”

Keeping riders safe also extends to the tack their mounts wear. Overgirths can help keep a saddle in place if the girth slips or breaks. Safety reins clip to a horse’s bit and function as a back-up should the main leather reins break. Lastly, the Guild has recommended additional padding on all starting gates, from the front and back doors of each stall as well as the metal framing around them in an effort to protect both horse and rider in that confined space.

Even the signs around the racetrack are potential issues that need scrutiny. “The other thing we're working on, too, are the billboards underneath the signage underneath the rails and elsewhere break away, whether it be a foam material or something [else] that breaks away, that instead of a wooden board, in case the jock gets thrown and goes underneath it and goes in,” Meyocks shared. “Everything we're trying to do for the riders protects the exercise riders in the morning as well.”

What’s Next

In the century since jockeys added helmets and goggles to their tack, innovations like safety vests and rails continue racing’s quest to protect these athletes. As Migliore observed, “anything you can do to make it safer is tremendously important, but at the end of the day, there's always going to be an element of danger that you can’t eliminate.” New tools and policies add another layer of protection for riders as the Jockeys’ Guild and HISA work to make the racetrack itself safer and to mitigate the risks as much as possible.

HISA’s Racetrack Safety Program went into effect on July 1, 2022, and includes safety rules and national racetrack accreditation standards to enhance equine welfare and minimize the risk of equine and jockey injury. Enhanced jockey health and safety protocols include baseline concussion and physical exams, a standardized concussion protocol, additional oversight of jockey safety equipment, increased emergency action planning, and oversight by a national medical director.