Forest Boyce — Out of the Irons, On the Air

September 16, 2022

Jockey takes a turn as On-Air Analyst Friday with Tim Tullock 

BALTIMORE, Md.— With her lone mount of the day an early scratch, jockey Forest Boyce joined host Tim Tullock as an on-air analyst for Friday’s broadcast of the nine-race program from historic Pimlico Race Course.

Boyce, a four-time meet champion in Maryland who turns 38 next month, first got a taste for on-air analysis over the summer at Colonial Downs.

“On the days when I only rode one or two late in the day, [host] Jessica Paquette was kind enough to let me come and handicap a couple with her to make the time go by. I’m not very good at sitting around,” Boyce said. “It’s been fun.”

Tullock reached out to Boyce Friday morning to see if the Baltimore native and Maryland Institute College of Art graduate would be interested in joining him for the early races, but she got some bonus time after her one mount on Refi in the eighth race was scratched.

“Tim called me in the morning as I was getting on horses and said, ‘Do you want to come on before the eighth?’ I said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it,’” Boyce said. “Then when my horse scratched he asked me if I wanted to do the whole day and I was like, ‘Why not?’” It’s been great. Tim is awesome to work with.

“It’s pretty natural, the whole handicapping thing, but I don’t think I’ve ever made an actual bet on a race,” she added. “I guess I look at it more from how I’d want to ride it or how I would ride it than necessarily what a gambler is looking at.”

Boyce has won 944 races and more than $32 million in purse earnings over her career, finishing second in Eclipse Award voting for champion apprentice of 2010, the year she won her four riding titles, two each at Pimlico and Laurel Park, and was Maryland’s overall leading rider. With no plans to quit her day job she has won 38 of 244 mounts in Maryland this year, good for eighth overall, with $1,630,760 in purses earned.

“You never know. I’m pretty happy doing what I’m doing at the moment,” she said. “It’s just something fun to do on a day when I don’t ride many. I don’t do well sitting around.”

Boyce made international headlines last week when she rode West Newton to victory in a Sept. 10 claiming race at Pimlico. The 6-year-old gelding was bred in England by Her Majesty, The Queen and the win came just two days after Queen Elizabeth II passed away at age 96 following a 70-year reign.

“That was really cool. I thought the funniest thing about it was when you look at the breeder, all it says is The Queen. I love that. I wasn’t like Queen Elizabeth or anything, just The Queen,” Boyce said. “It’s like if Madonna bred a horse. Or Beyonce.”

David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club 

Photo by Jim McCue/MJC 

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