Whether a horse is racing at Royal Ascot in the United Kingdom, Kenilworth Racecourse in Cape Town, South Africa, or Churchill Downs in the United States of America, mud will be flying at them at certain times during the year. The jockey and the horse will be covered in it, and while horses, fortunately, have a “third eyelid” that is translucent and shields their eyes, jockeys will wear multiple pairs of goggles to shield their eyes from the sods of mud that will be splattering their clothes during the race
How do Jockeys Change Goggles ? When jockeys race in the mud, they wear up to ten pairs of goggles, which will be drawn down as they travel around the racecourse. They need to do this to ensure that they are maintaining a safety standard not only for themselves but also for the horse. The horse has a third eyelid (to protect the eyeball from scratches or in response to inflammation) which will shield it from the mud being thrown up during the race.
Jockeys Goggles – History
Modern jockey goggles are a Maryland invention. In 1947, a motorcyclist urged Israel Kroop, the son of a bootmaker from Laurel, to design a better alternative to the famous motorcycle goggle-style eyewear. Kroop created a smaller, better-ventilated pair of goggles by stitching trim around a moulded sheet of plastic, adding two brass vents, and attaching an elastic strip.
They were an instant phenomenon at the Laurel racecourse, and their fame spread throughout the country. In the 70 years afterwards, nothing has changed regarding their usefulness. They serve as a grit guard, a sludge barrier, and a condensation cover for jockeys across the globe.
Sometimes, a jockey anticipates requiring fewer sets of goggles sand because of circumstances beyond their control; they would have miscalculated. There are many stories of jockeys riding a horse, a know frontrunner thinking they will only require two or three sets of goggles. At the start of the race, the horse breaks slowly. They need to race at the back of the field in the early stages of the race, and suddenly all the jockey’s goggles are dirty, and they struggle to ride the horse optimally.
If a jockey has fewer goggles than they anticipated to use, they might put themselves or the horse in a dangerous scenario. A jockey taking the less used racing line, because they have miscalculated the googles they will require for the race, will often not be able to drive their horse to the finish line in a favourable position as that racing line will not be where the winners of the previous races would have been racing.
Jockey’s Goggles – The New Age Version
Despite Jockeys’ goggles remaining much the same over the last 70 years, a Japanese Trainer, Noriyuki Hori, believed they could be used differently to assist his training methods. “Google Glasses” may have had some difficulties during human trials, but Japanese trainers experimented with this technology in 2017, with more trainers utilising it for their Stables, specifically the Hori Stable.
Hori’s work riders wore what looked to be a very sleek and athletic pair of goggles when they took their respective equine athletes out for light work on training tracks, but this is more than simply gratifying the Japanese penchant for pop fashion.
The girth strap on the horse contained a heart rate monitor, which transmitted data to a small display on the right bottom corner of the goggles the rider was wearing. They could watch real-time heartbeats per minute, and, using GPS technology, the trainer would receive real-time sectionals while working the horse, giving him greater control over accomplishing what the trainer has requested him to do.
The utilisation of mobile phone technology allowed the data to be observed by the rider and collected and immediately transferred to a database that was accessible from anywhere. The trainer would then be able to access the data and analyse it. The data would be saved and analysed, and as trends developed, it enabled the trainer to design training programs for each horse individually.
Consequently, viewing the horses’ real-time heart rates while working in the morning gave trainers greater insight into the different horses in their stable. Technology was exposing more about the physical supremacy of horses. At the time, approximately 50% of the Hori stable was utilising the technology.
It has seemingly fallen out of favour across the globe, but interestingly Japanese Horses dominated Dubai World Cup night this year, winning four supporting races and sharing the $5M Group 1 Dubai Turf. The below tweet was sent out by the Dubai Racing Club on Dubai World Cup Night this year.
Dubai Racing Club @RacingDubai A dream night for Japan continues at Meydan
🏆 Godolphin Mile – Bathrat Leon
🏆 Dubai Gold Cup – Stay Foolish
🏆 UAE Derby – Crown Pride
🏆 Dubai Turf – Panthalassa
🏆 Dubai Sheema Classic – Shahryar
Having five winners from Japan on Dubai World Cup night was a massive boon for the country and the various stables. Bathrat Leon, Stay Foolish, and Dubai Turf winner Panthalassa were all from the powerful stable of Yoshita Yahagi.
UAE Derby winner Crown Pride hailed from the stable of Koichi Shintani, and Dubai Sheema Classic winner Shahryar is trained by Hideaki Fujiwara.
Jockeys Goggles – Seventy Years – Still Protecting and Evolving
From humble beginnings, Jockeys Goggles are still the preferred equipment of choice to protect the jockey’s eyes when they race in muddy conditions. Jockeys could wear up to ten pairs of goggles in one race on days when the going at the racecourse is heavy, especially during a Jump Meeting.
The jockeys then draw the goggles down as they move around the racetrack and their vision becomes impaired by the goggles becoming dirty. Pulling down the dirty goggles ensures that they steer and control their horses around the track, ensuring that they remain safe and their horse and fellow competitors.