Outrider John Poole - Presque Isle’s Racetrack Guardian
By Jennifer Starr
He keeps a sharp eye on the track and rides a fast thoroughbred with quick reflexes. Outrider John Poole watches over the horses and jockeys at Presque Isle Downs with precision and wariness, and is ready to jump into action to catch a fleeing horse in a split second. Years of experience as a horsemen and rider combine to make him one of the best Outriders in horse racing.
“I think I rode a horse before I rode a bike!” he laughed. “I was born and raised around horses, on a farm in Ohio. My family races, I’ve got four brothers that train horses, and my dad trained horses all of his life. My grandmother had Shetland ponies, and I was so little when I first rode a horse, my sisters had to pick me up and put me on them!”
Photo Credit to Ashley Phillips
“My mother’s side of the family, too, were all horsemen. Her brothers trained horses, and she has brothers that were jockeys. My mom and dad ran away to get married, and my dad got into the business through my mom’s side.” From the farm, to the tracks in Ohio like River Downs and Turfway Park, the family worked together and raced together.
John galloped horses on the racetrack since he was 16 years old. An accident in 2014, however, altered his future. “I had a horse flip over with me at Mountaineer Park on the concrete, and shattered my leg,” he said. “I never went back to riding after that, or galloping horses. That’s when I went to outriding.”
He has been at Presque Isle for a number of years, but took the last two years off to spend time with his children. “My kids were growing up, and my ex-wife told me ‘Man, you’re missing everything!’. They have sports and events in the summer, and I was missing them. So I took the last two years off, stayed home and coached my kids in softball, and soccer. This year, my kids have grown up more, and now that they’re older, it’s like they don’t want anything to do with me!” he laughed.
John made his return to Presque Isle, and commutes back and forth to his home on non-race days.
He raves about the track surface at Presque Isle. “It’s got like a cushion on it, and while some horses don’t like it, some horses LOVE it. It’s a very easy track on the horses. I’ve had my ponies here forever here, too, and none of them ever get sore on it, and they handle it very well. They (track maintenance) take very good care of it.”
He’s equally passionate about the racing at this track and in Pennsylvania. “I tell my buddies, you come up here, and it’s like you’re in a different world. It’s like you’re a family here, everyone gets along.”
An Outrider not only has to have constant focus on everything that’s happening on the track, but it can get extremely nerve-wracking at times and dangerous. John has had many catches over his storied career. “I’ve caught so many of them. I’ve caught three already this year here!” he said. “My ponies, they just know. When they hear that siren, because they turn that siren on for a loose horse, and if my pony is just standing there relaxing, I don’t care where that horse is, my horse is finding him! He will spot that horse running, and he knows it doesn’t have a rider, and I don’t know how, but he knows. And he’s ready to go.”
He works with thoroughbreds as his ponies, patiently training them to the precision necessary for his job. “Every horse I’ve ever used as an outrider was an old thoroughbred. Some people get Quarter Horses, and they can be the best broke horse in the world, but when you bring them to this racetrack and they see all these horses running around the track, they see them breaking out of the gate, they don’t turn out to be so good here. But the old thoroughbreds? They’re so used to seeing them on the racetrack, and the gate, and the tractors.”
At Presque Isle, John works with two outrider partners, Cassie and Lacy, and he’s taking time to help Lacy learn the ropes. “She had never done this before, and I’m trying to teach her. She’s doing a really good job. I’m all about ‘teamwork’. She can get frustrated at times, but I always tell her ‘it’s okay, you can only do what you can do’. She caught one the other day, and she was so proud of herself.”
With no plans to slow down his busy career, John looks forward to each day at the track, and what the race day may bring. “This is my job. This is what I love. This is what I’ve done all my life, and I come to Presque Isle every year. I love it here!”
