Hooked on Racing: Jessica Paquette and Caroline Wilson

[Wandering Eyes]

How did we get hooked on this sport? We all have stories about how our love affair developed and blossomed. The TDN will be reaching out to numerous notable people in the industry to get their stories to find out how they got hooked and stayed hooked on the sport.

Jessica Paquette, Parx announcer
I grew up a horse-crazy kid and we didn't have much money so horses were a world away. I consumed every bit of horse related media I could and these were the early days of the internet–I found kids with a shared interest on AOL message boards. Fast forward to the 1999 Breeders' Cup at Gulfstream Park. I was there because of the generosity and vision of Kids to the Cup. As luck would have it, my favorite horse, Blazing Sword, was running on the undercard. I stood in the Gulfstream grandstand in awe of everything around me and knew then, at 14, I never wanted to do anything else. Kids to the Cup changed the course of my life and those of so many other young racing fans forever.

Caroline Wilson | Jon Siegel photo

Caroline Wilson, SF Bloodstock
I grew up in a suburb of Dublin called Clontarf and didn't have any connection to racing, but my cousin Sarah was an eventer and a show jumper. She was a little older than I was so I kind of looked up to her. As a young kid, I got into riding lessons and then got into the eventing and show jumping world. I never had a horse of my own but I would do barn tours to ride other people's horses. I used to spend my summers in a place in Tipperary called Crossogue Stud which was owned by Mark Molloy. He had national hunt race horses there. I used to bug him to let me ride out on them in the mornings. I would do that on school holidays. My first trip to Kentucky was in 2010 to work for Coolmore at Ashford Stud. That was the very first time I touched a foal. It kind of kicked off from there.

When I left Ashford, I was on track to get into research. That was my area of passion at the time. I was involved with the beginnings and development of the Equilume light mask. I did a research Master's around that. It's a light mask that mares or any horse can wear outside in their natural herd environment. I did a beta trial at Castleton Lyons. I was planning on getting my Ph.D. After one year at Castleton, I knew this was for me. I was living in Kentucky and enjoyed being a part of everything. So I applied for the Godolphin Flying Start program. I consider that to be my turning point.

Clontarf is on the north side of the city. I could walk into city center from my house and it is right on the sea, so there weren't many horses there.
Now, I absolutely love what I do. With the team I get to work with I am challenged every day and I get to be involved in the breeding side and the stallions through SF Bloodstock and I also get to be involved in our racing stable. We've had great success this year with Citizen Bull and Moira. I get to work the sales with Donato Lanni and Bob Baffert. I feel like I am in a very fortunate position.

I'm one of two children. My brother is four years younger than me and he's a classical guitarist. My dad often says to me that it's amazing that both of us have gone on to have careers in our areas of passion.

To share your own story of how you got hooked on racing, email suefinley@thetdn.com

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