A good jockey has to be physically well balanced. They have to possess a strong upper body and a strong lower body. You've gotta have quick reflexes, and you've got to be incredibly coordinated. But it's you're instincts that have to be perfect. You can't be an exceptional rider without instincts.

I'm just so lucky - my office is a racetrack. That is something I'm very thankful for. It's exciting, and it's challenging, and there are a lot of emotions and nerves that come with it, but right there before the gates open, before that minute and a half or two minutes of the race, it just hits you.

Right about when I turned 13, I realized that women could be jockeys, from my travels to the racetrack with my dad.

I always wanted to be a professional athlete, it just took me a while to realise it would be in racing. I played field hockey competitively for Ontario since I was 13, 14. Then I tried for the national side and made it. But it was so competitive. The girls were just so big and strong. I was getting crushed.

There are other things that I could do, but there's really nothing that I love as much as horse racing.