Focus on the Future: Aislinn Finn

Aislinn Finn

BY EMILY SHIELDS

IIt’s a little crazy to think that exercise rider and aspiring jockey Aislinn Finn was once burned-out on horses. But that’s what happened in 2017.

She was teaching lessons and working as an assistant trainer at an eventing show barn. Te daily grind was losing its appeal until Finn decided to go in a completely diferent direction.

“I started breaking babies for Faith Taylor at her ranch,” Finn said. “And I really wanted to get on them at the track.”

Finn followed the youngsters to the races, hot-walking to learn the routine.

“When I started getting on them, I knew this was the best job in the world,” she said.

Te frst time Finn breezed a horse, she felt adrenaline, passion, and excitement all at once.

“Even when I was eventing, my favorite parts were the gallop stretches,” she said. “Te frst time I worked a horse at Golden

Gate Fields, I came back to the barn and said, ‘I didn’t know horses could go that fast!’ At that point I was hooked. It doesn’t matter how bad a day you are having; it is still the best feeling in the world.

It never gets old.”

Finn jokes that up-and-coming trainer Quinn Howey “poached” her from Taylor’s operation in 2019, but the move has been a blessing for Finn. Te 25-year-old spent the summer caring for Howey’s string at Del Mar, getting on each horse and managing the grooms.

Tis has given her the chance to grow close to Howey’s stakes-winning California-bred Indian Peak. Te 3-year-old son of

Comic Strip—Ms. Booty, by Roar, fnished third in the $102,700

El Camino Real Derby in February, and then won the $151,000

Snow Chief Stakes at Santa Anita in June.

“I’ve known him since he very frst came in as a 2-year-old,” Finn said. “He was always this big, gangly, goofy horse that took a very long time to mentally and physically grow into himself. But he became more talented and more confdent, and he has that classy attitude. He stands quietly on a loose rein like a pony, but when he goes to gallop, his stride is enormous. You just have to fall in love with him.”

Mixing business with pleasure, Aislinn Finn puts Indian Peak through his morning paces before spending some quality time together

COURTESY OF AISLINN FINN

Howey has also helped Finn achieve her goal of becoming a jockey. Finn has ridden fve races at Grants Pass Downs, fnishing fourth in her debut on North Fork on June 23.

“I was so nervous, my hands were shaking in the room,” Finn recalled. “But then I went out there and did it, and when I was coming back, I already could not wait to do it again.”

Finn says her long-term goal is to be a jockey and “go as far as I can with it.” She is starting slowly, eyeing the upcoming Fresno fair meeting, where the competition isn’t as intense, and she already knows the trainers. One day she would love to ride at Del Mar, but knows that dream is still far of. She has already battled through fear; in October 2019, a horse she was on fipped in the gate and Finn broke her ankle in two places.

“I was out for three months,” Finn said. “It took a while for me to be okay in the gates again, but it was worth working through.”

Howey has been pleased with Finn’s tremendous progress over the last year and a half.

“She was a good hand, just green when she started,” the trainer said. “But she accepts any challenge and does the best she can, which is what I really appreciate about her. She’s awesome.”