A conversation with Channing Hill
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- By Claire Novak | August 5, 2010 6:24:29 PM PDT
If horse racing had heartthrobs, we'd bet our money on 23-year-old Channing Hill. The native of Grand Island, Neb., spends his time booting home runners at Saratoga Race Course and beating "Mike the Masseuse" at PS3 boxing. We caught up with him in the courtyard behind the jockeys' room at the upstate New York oval to find out how his competitive streak applies to Facebook friends, why he's scared of fifth-graders, and who he likes in the first on Sunday (he might be a little biased, we're just warning you).
Claire Novak: So here we are at Saratoga. You've ridden at racetracks all over the country, what makes this one special?
Channing Hill: It's like a Major League All-Star game every day, that's how tough it is. To be a part of this meet is huge. There's no better feeling than going out there knowing you've got a chance against the best horses, the best riders, and the best trainers in the whole country. And that's what keeps bringing you back. That competitiveness of being here is somewhat addicting. You almost need to be here.
Novak: Speaking of addictions, you have 3,033 Facebook friends following your every move. That's a lot for a horse racing personality. Bob Baffert is in the Hall of Fame and he only has about 1,800.
CH: I think he joined last week or something. I've been on there for a few years. I had my own profile and then I had two different profiles and then I hired somebody to run my page when I was in California and then I took it back over and that's the one I have now.
Novak: So you hired someone to pretend to be you. Isn't that a little risky? What if she posted "Channing Hill is extremely tired and hungover this morning" as your status update?
CH: If that ever happened, it would probably mean I wasn't paying her enough.
Novak: So you manage your own account now. No ringers. This is the real Channing Hill.
CH: Oh yeah. It's so good to interact with fans from all over the place. I'm just some little kid from Nebraska. I'm still trying to catch Joe Bravo, he has like 4,700 friends. Kent Desormeaux is up to almost 5,000 friends, he's like 100 away from 5,000. I'm chasing those guys in the saddle and on Facebook too. Go figure.
Novak: You need to start posting those advertisements on the side of the website: "Wanted: friends for Channing Hill."
CH: (laughs) I'll put that on my list. I need to do a bunch of stuff.
Novak: Speaking of doing stuff, Saratoga is the racing mecca of the East, but you do more than ride racehorses when you're here. Tell us about your other activities.
CH: I just have a lot of hobbies up here; there's so much to do. Me and Mike, the massage therapist from the jocks' room, have this weird competition with everything. I beat him in boxing on the PS3 and we go play ping-pong; we're actually pretty competitive with each other. Our skill levels are both pretty low so we get along really well.
Novak: So you're not as accomplished at other sports as you are at horse racing.
CH: Definitely not.
Novak: What about basketball? I know there's a charity game in Saratoga every year, how did that go?
CH: I played the basketball thing, it was jockeys against the trainers, last week. They got a little violent out there. Todd Pletcher was the worst. I know we were all pretty beat up the next day, and I can't imagine how the trainers felt since they're definitely less fit than we are. But it was all in good fun.
Novak: Now in the past this tournament was against the Texas Titans, an AAU team. But since they're 8th graders this year, they were too tough for the jocks to handle. Were you relieved you weren't playing against the kids again this season?
CH: Very. Those kids were good when we first played them and they were in like fifth grade back then. They're eighth graders now? We wouldn't even stand a chance. They were all taller than we were, every single one of them, when they were in fifth grade. They were good, too. I'm glad they didn't come back. They were scary kids.
Novak: Last year at the basketball tournament you wore a sweatband that made you look like Napoleon Dynamite. We want to know if you still have it.
CH: Ah, that was because I had long hair then. I got it all cut off before this meet. I'm working to improve my heartthrob image. It was a tough decision, though. I cried the whole time. I was like one of those little kids that gets her ears pierced and they give her a teddy bear to hold. That's like what I had to have when I got my hair cut off.
Novak: Speaking of heartthrobs, we think you look like Zac Efron. Have you been told this before?
CH: Once or twice. You know his role in that movie "The Derby Stallion"? They offered me that part. I still have the script locked up in storage somewhere. Maybe it would have made me famous.
Novak: And instead here we are, asking who you like in the fifth on Sunday.
CH: I ride the first. And I like my horse then.
For more comprehensive information on horse racing, visit Helloracefans.com and Horseracingnation.com. You can follow Claire Novak on Facebook and Twitter at @ClaireNovak.
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