(PHOTO- SHAKE PRETTY BABY, a tough Ontario-bred mare, was the first winner for jockey Cassandra Jeschke. Laurie Overton photo)
The horse that changed my life
Jeschke’s horsemanship skills were not in question but the small Ajax jockey colony is not easy to break into as new rider.
But at the age of 22, Jeschke rode Shake Pretty Baby to a one-length victory in an allowance race on September 10, 2013 for owner Dean Link and trainer Chantelle Bourgeois. The pair were 7 to 1 outsiders in the five-horse field, the longest shot on the board, but once the gates flew open, there was no stopping them.
Shake Pretty Baby is an Ontario-bred chestnut mare bred by Heste Sport and by the stallion Pretty Boy Perry.
“Her and I just get along,” said Jeschke, who is from Cobourg, ON. “She has always been one of my favourites.”
Jeschke made local news in 2008 with another one of her favourite horses, Delilah. It was that mare who took Jeschke to a first-place prize in Junior Training at the Ontario Horse Trials Association Provincial Championships in 2008.
“Riding, in general, changed my life,” said Jeschke. “But there have been a very special horses along the way.”