Jon Lees catches up with Julie Krone’s protege, who is now licensed as both professional jockey and practising veterinarian in Kentucky
USA: Ferrin Peterson believes she has finally found the best of both worlds in trying to fulfil her twin passions.
Such a promising jockey that her talents persuaded Hall of Fame rider Julie Krone to move to the east coast to act as her agent for a spell, the 29-year-old has been searching for a base where she can not only meet her riding goals, but treat horses as well in her second vocation as a practising vet.
That place is Kentucky. Having newly gained her licence to work with equines in the state, by day she is Dr Ferrin Peterson, DVM, CVA, and by night ‘the vet jockey’ or ‘the doc jock’.
In Lexington, at the very heart of the US bloodstock industry, there is plenty of work for a vet, but Peterson still ranks developing her jockey career as her number one priority.
‘There's nothing like Lexington, Kentucky’
“When I decided I wanted to continue pursuing being a full-time jockey after I graduated, I had to find a way to incorporate both,” she explains. “It’s taken a while to figure out how and where to do that, but I thought there was nothing like Lexington, Kentucky.
“Every morning from 6am to 10am I am at the racetrack breezing horses and Thursday through Saturday there is night racing at Turfway Park. Now that I have my licence approved, I am picking up veterinary work the rest of the time.
“I am planning to base myself on this circuit and develop my Kentucky business. There are so many breeding farms in one small area and every couple of months you have a sale. So having both of those in the areas I want to focus on, it really is perfect.”
There is, though, no argument that life as a jockey takes precedence. “The vets understand that riding is my top priority,” says Peterson.
“They even said they won’t call me about cases during that time. I need to be in full competition mode and leave enough time in the day to concentrate on my exercise, which I am very strict about, my diet and having the right balance.”
Peterson, who grew up in Sacramento, northern California, was a champion pole vaulter at school who always had higher ambitions. After getting an animal science degree she earned her DVM and CVA [Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist] at the prestigious UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, securing internships in Japan, Hong Kong and Dubai, as well as across the US.
At the same time she started riding as an apprentice in California, gaining notice because of her unusual background, if not initially for riding any slew of winners. But that all changed when she caught the attention of Julie Krone, the most successful female rider in the history of US racing.
‘You're the vet jockey, right?’
“I was only riding longshots and my stats weren’t improving but Julie was watching me and could see I did have ability,” she recalls. “I just wasn’t getting the right mounts and that’s when we met. I said to her, ‘You’re Julie Krone, right?’ and she goes ‘Well, you’re the vet jockey, right?’ I was quite in shock that she took any notice of me.”
Krone became Peterson’s agent for the summer, even travelling with her in 2020 to the east coast to try to establish her client at Monmouth Park, the New Jersey venue that had provided the springboard for Krone’s own highly decorated career.
“Moving to Monmouth was when I finally got my chance and started getting on more live horses,” says Peterson. “The moment it picked up I had to catch that wave and it got going from there.
“Julie moved to the east coast for me. She brought her daughter for the summer and we all lived in a big house together and it was a great time.
‘Julie has remained a mentor’
“Monmouth was her stepping stone to get to New York and I am hoping Monmouth will be my stepping stone to Kentucky. She has still remained a mentor; she is a really gifted teacher.”
Peterson duly rode 50 winners in 2020 and finished second in the jockey rankings at that year’s Monmouth meet.
Last year she rode at Aqueduct in New York in the winter and Monmouth in the spring and summer, while also treating cats and dogs at a Staten Island veterinary practice to keep up her skills in that arena.
By that stage, New Jersey had controversially banned the use of the riding crop for encouragement. Peterson says she treated that development as a challenge, explaining: “I was up for it and I think I have come out a better rider because of it.
“There are so many aids we can use with horses,” she adds. “We think we are limited because we are just balancing on our ankles and hovering above a horse, but really there is so much to be done with your weight, your voice.
“As equestrians we should always be thinking outside the box with every horse,” she goes on. “It makes you a really strong finisher because you are just hand riding. Jockeys will tell you hand riding makes you more tired than whipping.”
A century of career winners is now within sight and Peterson hopes to get on better-quality horses in Kentucky – and not just in the mornings when she has breezed for Graham Motion, Jack Sisterson and Rusty Arnold.
“The Kentucky circuit is highly respected,” she says. “A lot of top horses and riders are out here. I think riding with the best makes you the best.
“I knew it was going to be hard getting going, but I actually thought right off the bat, trainers have been giving me a shot. Even if it’s not riding their top horses in races, I’ve been getting to breeze them for important prep races. My first race I rode here was a winner, so even though I don’t have a ton of mounts, I feel like my percentage is going really well.”
‘People kept telling me I was going to burn myself out’
As such, she is well pleased with her twin roles since moving to the bluegrass state. “This is how I want it to continue,” she says. “I think the two roles complement each other. Working with horses on the ground always helps me on their back and being on their back helps me as a vet as well.
“There is so much we can learn from horses so it’s nice to approach it in different ways. I became an apprentice jockey while I was going through vet school and people kept telling me I was going to burn myself out but it was helping me to thrive during vet school. It doesn’t feel like work. I’ve never felt burned out.”
She does, though, draw a line between both jobs and takes no veterinary work that would involve treating horses in training.
“I am not doing any racetrack work because I don’t want any conflict of interest,” she says, “but it’s a longtime dream of mine that I could one day treat a racehorse that is significant to my career as jockey when it’s in retirement as a broodmare or stallion. This would be the place where that could come together.”
Amelia Green – meet the ex-Henry Cecil apprentice who is a key figure in Life Is Good's rise to fame
Charles Hayward: If we don’t clean up our act, we won’t have a sport
Dubai World Cup: Life Is Good heads 153 entries for 26th edition
Ten European-trained horses who won the hearts of American racefans
View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires