By Alix Cohen
People become jockeys not because it’s easy, but because they can’t imagine life without horses, competition, and the thrill of the ride. Robert Montano was the short kid peers made fun of. A cartoon might’ve shown him stuffed in a locker. When his feisty 5’ Puerto Rican mom dragged him to church, he prayed for height.
One day, Mrs. Montano took him to Belmont Park to bet on Roberto (Robert) Pineda, a Mexican-born thoroughbred jockey whom she’d met selling jewelry at Fortunoff. Bobby promised not to tell his dad.
“Into the far turn they go. Rigby Charm opens up a four length advantage, as Whackattack Liz moves into second, Abominable drops back to third, and Mindy’s Patrol… Mindy’s Patrol begins to make her move…”
The boy was dazzled. At 5’4” Pineda had the proud bearing of a torero. Race horses were 1200 pounds of beautiful muscle. Bobby resolved then and there to become a jockey.
His mother (wonderful body language) warily set her son up with Pineda. She knew the sport was dangerous. Bobby seemed to instinctively know to approach thoroughbreds with admiration/deference and calm.“Where did you learn to do that?” his new mentor asked.
Weighing in at 110 and at 5’4” still growing, the 14 year-old was given stable chores. It was 1975. Most flat-racing (not jumping) jockeys are about 4’10” to 5’6″ with averages around 5’1″–5’2″. They weigh 108-112 pounds with equipment. Heredity and relationship to horses are only two of the requirements. Strict diet control, intense exercise, and careful weight management is required.
Bobby is hazed by veterans, sent for non-existent equipment and into the arms of a young woman who exercises the runners (horses.) Pineda calls him “kiddeo.” “The less you move on a horse, the better for the run. If you bounce you can cut its rhythm…Horses are like people, they can sense a lack of confidence…”
During his first ride- “I could feel every twitch under his skin… his power” – Bobby’s legs give out, a foot slips from the stirrup. There are bloody consequences. He needs boots.The “monster” (scale) weigh- in shows 111. Pinera tells the boy he needs a proper diet and makes him promise not to do Black Beauties (the poor man’s cocaine) or to flip (purge) to achieve the proper weight.
It’s impossible not to like playwright/actor Montano, whose story this is. Passion for the sport is infectious in itself and sympathetic as a solution. Though wrongheaded in method, determination is admirable. He’s a beating heart on two nimble legs.
Pinera moves to Atlantic City, leaving Bobby with good advice and a hand-made whip. The teenager starts exercising horses. We meet various track denizens. Promised a race if he can get his weight down, Bobby’s desperation drives him to the unhealthy and illegal measures he promised to eschew. At 5’7” I was ready to put a coffee table on my head, bind my feet, whatever I had to do to stay small…”
Watching the boy physically exert himself to run 17 miles on mere lettuce leaves is exhausting. (Montano must lose weight at every show.) Self induced vomiting wracks his body. Diuretics normally given to the animals themselves have awful side effects.
A succession that takes him from steam room, to wrapping his body in saran (no kidding), a plastic rain suit, a sweater, and a goose down jacket- in which he runs and sleeps, is shocking.He’s just graduating high school.
“Riders to the paddock!” Despite a horrible accident, Bobby presses on wounded, but at optimum weight. Repercussions are brutal. His father is brought to tears. He loses his hero. Through it all, joy in riding sustains until…he realizes he can’t go on.
An alternative direction for Robert Montano’s life serendipitously, exuberantly presents itself. We’re left with, “There was a dream out there for me.”
The show is beautifully written- illuminating, riveting, moving. To say Montano is convincing minimizes the experience. Still, there’s an issue with direction. (Jessi D. Hill)
Though movement is immensely evocative and the stage is imaginatively used, the actor bolts from a starting gate and keeps up larger than life/exaggerated performance throughout.The key word is “performance.” Without variation as informed by feeling and event, we’re too aware of watching a man acting.The piece is worthy of more.’A helluva ride.
Christopher & Justin Swader’s marvelous Set is an angled stable area with slats, allowing Lighting Designer Jamie Roderick to contribute appealing aesthetics, mood, and location specifics.
Sound Design (Brian Ronan) is superb. Precise effects that amplify gestures as well as track crowds and horses make us feel as if we’re there.
Note: It’s better to forgo a British accent rather than not do it adequately
Photos by Valerie Terranova
Ted Snowdon presents
Small
Written and Performed by Robert Montano
Directed by Jessi D. Hill
The Pershing Square Signature Center 480 West 42nd Street
https://smalltheplay.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23780463119&gclid=CjwKCAjwxITRBhBYEiwA6mZm7dEqY6ftdBsDWVWt0NpC5wUUqUEUtztqMBU_OhOseAxcdJXoWbKMmBoCOIsQAvD_BwE
