Ohioan likely first woman to work Kentucky Derby starting gate

Cassie Dempsey was a couple of days faraway from her first Kentucky Derby and he or she nonetheless wasn’t certain which was louder.

The roar of the group of 147,000 when the horses broke from the beginning gate or the din when the sphere of 20 rounded the flip for house.

Each have been “overwhelming.”

“The sensation is one thing I didn’t assume I might ever really feel,” Dempsey mentioned. “It was wonderful and I can’t wait to return subsequent 12 months.”

Dempsey, 31, wasn’t talking as a fan, although horses have been a part of her household’s bloodline for generations.

A local of Rogers, Ohio, who now has a farm in Lordstown, Dempsey is believed to have made historical past on Might 7, when she probably grew to become the primary girl assistant starter within the Derby. There aren’t any official information, however Churchill Downs head starter Scott Jordan has held that place since 1995 and had by no means employed a feminine earlier than Dempsey.

Since 2014, Dempsey has labored the gate at Mahoning Valley Race Course in Youngstown within the winter and at JACK Thistledown Racino in the summertime. However she is aware of she wouldn’t have gotten the Derby job with out the advice of her boss at Thistledown, starter Nick Corbisello.

Corbisello, 63, obtained his first gate job 49 years in the past and has assisted at about 25 Derbies, his first with Spend a Buck in 1985. He’s recognized Jordan for 30 years, however mentioned he has most likely despatched solely “a half a dozen guys” to Louisville for the primary Saturday in Might.

Dempsey is completely different, Corbisello mentioned.

“She’s not afraid, and he or she’s no girly lady. She’s pretty much as good and as powerful as any man I’ve obtained,” Corbisello informed the Beacon Journal in a telephone interview Wednesday. “She’s very able to dealing with any horse. She will be able to deal with any scenario. I feel the world of her, as you possibly can inform.

“She is aware of the horses, she is aware of the folks and he or she cares. That’s an enormous phrase I take advantage of after I’m complimenting folks. They care, it doesn’t matter what they’re doing.”

Dempsey had by no means been to the Derby as a spectator and mentioned working the gate had “been a dream since Day One.” However it by no means would have occurred with out Corbisello’s name to Jordan. She ended up closing the again tailgates for the race received by 80-1 shot Wealthy Strike. Afterward, she mentioned Jordan promised her a spot within the gate for 2023.

“They have been all impressed along with her there. I obtained complimentary telephone calls,” Corbisello mentioned. “They referred to as her, ‘My lady.’ I inform ‘em, ‘She’s just like the daughter I by no means had.’”

Dempsey and her husband, Steve McLaughlin, made it a mini-vacation, driving to Louisville on Thursday, attending the Kentucky Oaks on Friday and returning house Sunday.

When race day arrived, Dempsey mentioned she wasn’t nervous.

“I feel I used to be extra excited than nervous,” she informed the Beacon Journal by telephone Tuesday. “It’s my job. Sure, it’s a greater taking part in area, however I might deal with a $5,000 claimer identical to I do a stakes horse, identical to I do at Thistledown. I used to be very proud to be there and needed to do a great job.”

Dempsey’s duties on that particular Saturday have been the end result of a lifetime round horses.

She mentioned her mom, Kelly Dempsey, rode till her final month of being pregnant with Cassie and obtained proper again within the saddle after the newborn was born.

“She would inform me tales about she would sit me backwards going through her [riding] down the path and I might go to sleep on her chest,” Dempsey mentioned. “I used to be mainly born on a horse. They’re wonderful animals and I couldn’t think about not having horses in my life.”

Dempsey competes in barrel racing, whereas her husband path rides and drives miniature horses and Shetlands. She was an train rider for some time however had to surrender galloping thoroughbreds and the racetrack life she cherished for a couple of years because of private points.

However she couldn’t keep away. So in 2014, she utilized for a beginning gate job at Mahoning Valley. Starter Rick Walker employed her at Thistledown in the summertime of 2015. She additionally labored a couple of meets below Corbisello at Presque Isle in Erie, Pennsylvania, earlier than coming again to Thistledown.

“After I was train using, I used to be at all times excited to take a horse to the gate,” she mentioned. “I completely can’t think about doing the rest. I really like this job.”

Now throughout Thistledown’s summer season season, Dempsey commutes 54 miles every method 5 days every week, a type of a darkish day when she runs the morning gate coaching for Corbisello.

Throughout her time, there have been extra doubters than Jordan.

“You do should be bodily sturdy. After I first began, I had a little bit little bit of backlash that I couldn’t do it,” she mentioned. “I can bear in mind a pair folks saying a lady doesn’t belong within the beginning gate, this and that. I ignored them and I simply needed to show myself.

“As soon as I’ve received them over, they’re fully completely different.”

Dempsey mentioned there are different ladies working the gate, with one at Penn Nationwide in Grantville, Pennsylvania. Corbisello mentioned there’s a feminine assistant starter at Presque Isle, one other in Tampa, and one working Maryland tracks.

On Derby Day, Dempsey wasn’t the one Ohio connection. Profitable jockey Sonny Leon is a daily rider at Mahoning Valley, Belterra Park (the previous River Downs) in Cincinnati and Thistledown.

“I’ve recognized Sonny for years. Sonny is a tremendous rider,” Dempsey mentioned. “I by no means doubted him. It was insane. It was unbelievable for Ohio and it was unbelievable for all of the tracks in Ohio — Thistledown, Mahoning — as a result of Sonny rides in any respect of ‘em.

“Sonny is likely one of the nicest, friendliest guys. I don’t assume he has a imply bone in him. He’s simply nice to be round, at all times smiling. I’m very pleased for him and I might be ecstatic for him if he obtained greater alternatives.”

Dempsey desires of larger alternatives as effectively. With a Derby job below her belt, subsequent on her bucket record is to change into a head starter, probably succeeding Corbisello.

Corbisello mentioned that received’t be simple.

“She’s obtained an uphill climb there,” mentioned Corbisello, who grew up in Salineville, Ohio and lives in Tampa. “I’m doing all the things in my energy for her to be the inheritor to the throne right here. I’ve solely obtained one other 12 months or two and I’m retiring. Despite the fact that the starter’s job is straightforward bodily, it’s simply an excessive amount of that goes together with it.

“She’s carried out all the things I’ve requested and he or she’ll inform you I’ve come by means of with all the things I informed her I might. Her greatest impediment is to get eight, 10, 12 guys to work for a girl. At a whole lot of my guys’ age, if I used to be their age, in the event that they informed me I used to be going to work for a girl, I’d have laughed at ‘em. ‘Yeah, proper, I’ll goodbye.’

“I actually assume she has the assist of the administration. However her greatest drawback is my drawback. I solely have eight, 9 folks and I usually have 12. I do know lots of people in all places, however no person needs to do that job anymore.”

Whereas that problem unfolds, Dempsey has one other purpose in thoughts. That includes the ultimate two legs of the Triple Crown — Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico and the June 11 Belmont Stakes.

“I’m critically hoping the starter from the Preakness and the Belmont will name me, however that’s simply massive desires there,” she mentioned. “I’m not going to be mad in the event that they don’t. But when they do, I’m positively going.”

Marla Ridenour might be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Observe her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.