‘You get to know them and their habits'
We have a new leading rider at Assiniboia Downs, and this could be his year.
Damario Bynoe won a slugfest with two-time leading rider Prayven Badrie this week, booting home four winners on Wednesday and another the day before, to count 15 victories on the season — one more than Badrie.
The 33-year-old from Barbados had to be good, as arch-rival Badrie scored a four-bagger on Tuesday to open up in the standings. But Badrie's lead didn't last long, and Bynoe wasn't winning with all favourites either.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Jockey Damario Bynoe was the leading rider this week at Assiniboia Downs, winning five races. He's set to ride JJ's American Diva (left) in a Monday race.
He won the second race on Tuesday aboard Casually Classy ($11.30) for trainer Lise Pruitt and rolled hot into Wednesday, scoring a hat trick for trainer Mike Nault: aboard Load Abroad ($2.30) in the second race, Red Road Runner ($7.30) in the fourth and Twoleftoload ($5.00) in the fifth. He then followed up with a win aboard Diamond Concerto ($24.90) for trainer Wendy Anderson in the sixth race and capped off the card with a second-place finish in the last race aboard Designated Hitter at 13-1 for trainer Carl Anderson.
While most riders seem to have a preferred style, it doesn't seem to make any difference to Bynoe. Some of his wins came on the lead, others from well off the pace — which is surprising from a style view, but not from a preparation standpoint. Bynoe also has some pedigree. His uncle, Hall of Fame jockey Patrick Husbands has been Canada's Sovereign Award-winning jockey eight times, and his 'little' brother Desean Bynoe is also riding at Woodbine.
Bynoe first came to Canada in 2014, riding at Northlands Park in Edmonton, where he was the champion apprentice. 'I had a good run over there,' said Bynoe of his early Alberta success. But when Northlands closed, racing moved to Century Mile before COVID-19 halted racing, changing the landscape.
'There are a lot of jockeys there, and only three agents,' said Bynoe. 'The competition for mounts was fierce.'
Bynoe won over 140 races in Alberta before moving his tack to Assiniboia Downs in 2023, where he finished second in the standings behind Antonio Whitehall with 41 wins. In 2024, he again finished second in the ASD standings, this time behind Badrie, with 43 wins.
The move to Manitoba has suited Bynoe well. 'I'm more comfortable and relaxed here, and I ride for everyone,' he said, crediting his agent, former three-time leading rider Tim Gardiner, as 'one of the best here.'
Bynoe's success isn't accidental either. He comes out every morning to work horses.
'You have to,' he said. 'There aren't a lot of exercise riders, so we (the jockeys) have to gallop most of the horses ourselves.'
On a typical morning, he'll get on seven to ten horses. And he enjoys it. The morning work serves a dual purpose, keeping him fit and building relationships with the horses he'll ride in the actual races.
'It's different, it's better if you're on them in the morning,' said Bynoe. 'You get to know them and their habits.'
There isn't a lot of time for anything besides work, 'I have to go home and sleep all day before the races, to regenerate,' said Bynoe, whose hobbies back home include fishing and road tennis, the latter of which he was a champion in.
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When fishing in Barbadian waters, he catches 'all different types of fish,' including flying fish, snapper and barracuda from boats off the island's coast. Fishing helps with the mental aspect of race riding, while road tennis is the perfect fitness builder for a jockey, as Bynoe illustrated with a video on his phone.
The court in road tennis is about as big as your living room, the tennis ball used has no hair on it, and the net looks like it's less than a foot high. How hard could it be? Don't kid yourself.
Road tennis is like high-speed 'Twister' on Red Bull with 30 squats per minute required for good measure. And you don't just play for one minute. Oh, and you have to hit the ball over the net, too. Sounds like fun, right? But great for building the powerful thigh muscles and knee strength you need for riding horses at 40 m.p.h.
'You have to be fit to play,' laughed Bynoe. 'You're not just going to get out of bed one day and decide you're going to play road tennis.'
Unless you want to win. Like Bynoe.
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