And with her came an introduction to Sharp, who was then a precocious assistant to trainer Mike Maker. He met the trainer in part because his daughter was an avid Napravnik fan. Grady, who first bought horses in 2008, has long believed Sharp is headed for big things. And then you got Joe who had a riding career that helps him immensely when he trains." "Rosie's riding career speaks for itself. "They complement each other so well," said Girvin's owner Brad Grady, a Texas oil and gas entrepreneur who gave Sharp some of the first horses that allowed him to start his own barn. Those who know Sharp and Napravnik love watching them work together. "He's just been in the paddock, observing."
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"Nobody taught him how to do it," she said. Napravnik noted that he already tucks the whip under his armpit like a seasoned jockey.
Sharp thinks nothing of holding the boy with one arm while he boosts a jockey onto a horse with the other.Īt home, Carson loves to throw an exercise saddle on the arm of the couch, pick up one of his mother's old custom whips and race around the house shouting, "Go Girvin! Go Girvin!" He treats his toddler playpen as a starting gate, saying, "They're in the gate and they're off" every time he exits. Nor can her elder son, Carson, who's spent nearly every day of his life steeped in racing. "I just can't get enough of it," she said. Last year, the couple bought a farm in nearby Simpsonville, and she mucks out stalls in the predawn hours before work at the track even begins. On Thursday, for example, she happily slipped away to hose off her gear while Sharp handled a barrage of television interviews. She relishes the mundane details and unglamorous tasks inherent to her second career. Since then, she has thrown herself into motherhood and helping Sharp get his barn off to a successful start. Napravnik was the most successful female jockey in the country 21/2 years ago when she stunned racing fans by announcing her retirement and first pregnancy immediately after riding the great filly Untapable to victory at the Breeders' Cup. So I think it's definitely an advantage for him." We work really well together and we're always pretty much on the same level. She said: "I feel like he's going to have more confidence in my opinion than most people, just because of our relationship and he knows I'm going to be 100-percent honest. … We're definitely very fortunate to have each other to work with." I can only see so much, but she can come back and give me feedback. "She's been on him every day and obviously has a good feel for a horse. "It's really nice on days like today when we have an issue like the new shoe," he continued. "And the price is right, too," he joked Thursday after Napravnik took Girvin, in regular shoes, to the track. Not only was she a world-class jockey, he trusts her assessments without needing to waste a second thought. Sharp said it's invaluable to have his wife as the exercise rider in such tense moments.
Former jockey Rosie Napravnik exercises Kentucky Derby entrant Girvin for her husband, trainer Joe Sharp, at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Thursday, May 4, 2017.
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