Rhodd Retires After 30 Years

Night after night, Noel Rhodd looked on and smiled from the paddock as he watched the Standardbred trotters and pacers trek up the ramp and onto the racetrack. Rhodd felt content watching the drivers hop onto their race bikes, knowing the seat was clean and the stirrups were in just the right spot. He felt at ease knowing the quick hitch was secured and the safety straps–which would keep the bike attached to the harness should the quick hitch fail–were fastened. And he felt pride as the spotless sulkies sparkled under the beams of the track lights.

Rhodd knew the seat was clean because he cleaned it. He knew the stirrups were in the right spot and wouldn’t slip because he put them there and tightened them. He knew the safety straps were in place because he checked them. And he knew the bikes shined because he meticulously shined them.

Rhodd has been working in the Yonkers Raceway paddock for 30 years and he’s been smiling at this scene, race after race, night after night for the duration. He doesn’t clean the seat for his own comfort. He doesn’t check the stirrups and hitches for his own safety. And he doesn’t shine the bikes for recognition. Much like the businessman who spends hours on Sunday night conditioning and polishing his oxfords for the week ahead, Rhodd knows most who have the opportunity to appreciate his work won’t.

But that’s okay for Rhodd. Like the businessman with his oxfords, Rhodd shines the bikes for the sense of accomplishment and the satisfaction of a job well done, not to be noticed. And he checks and double-checks the rigging of the bikes for the safety of his friends, the drivers, and of the horses.

“The most important thing is getting the job done right. Safety is on the agenda,” Rhodd said before the races Thursday, Jan. 28. “Anything to make the races more successful and more safe. That’s the top of the line for me, to make sure everything is safe and I’m doing my best to make sure everything runs smooth. The whole thing is to be safe every night and respect each other.”

For Rhodd, part of earning that respect is knowing the individual drivers: their preferences, quirks, and personalities.

“All of them are different. They are professional people. They make you become a professional,” he said. “That’s good for me because it puts me to a higher standard, I don’t take anything for granted, I’m going for professionalism. Every driver is different and personalities are important. You don’t do a half-assed job, you do a quality job because that’s what they expect from you, quality work.”

In return, Rhodd respects the dedication and painstaking work of the horsepeople. He endeavors to make their jobs easier when they are at the track.

“You are dealing with a lot of people who work very hard,” Rhodd said. “They get out of bed at four o’clock, they come here to race, they have to put away the horses when they get home, they have their family, they have rent; the horse business is not a joke. In this business, you can’t take off, you have to be here constantly taking care of these horses like babies. They need a whole lot of care for them to perform well. The grooms have to work hard. It’s a lot of things that go into it.”

Rhodd’s typical day goes something like this:

He arrives at the track well before first post time and begins by placing the Trakus tags–which transmit each horse’s position in the race to the track’s graphics in real time–in the saddlepads and ensuring the batteries are charged and the transmitters are functioning. Then, he gets the race bikes ready. Finally, Rhodd distributes the saddlepads to the horsepeople and makes sure the numbers are fastened.

“Sometimes, they forget to clip the number and it can fall off during a race. That’s an important thing to me that I like to look at, I make sure they clip the number correctly because they are so busy doing a whole lot of things," Rhodd said. Sometimes, one groom is taking care of three horses and he forgets to clip on one side. Sometimes, they forget to attach the bike and put the safety strap on. A lot of basic and small things you have to look at. It’s a fast environment and people are doing things quickly. That’s why I like to be safe in everything I do.”

At the end of the night, Rhodd collects all the saddlepads and cleans them with a disinfectant before putting them away for the next racing program. Then, it’s back to the race bikes.

“I clean the bikes up. They use whips now that leave marks on the side of the bikes, so I make sure there are no whip marks on the bikes,” Rhodd said. “It looks good. Whenever they go up the ramp, I’m looking at the bikes. I enjoy how clean they look because of the work I put into them to make them look good.”

A testament to his diligence, Rhodd puts just as much effort into a sulky that will leave the paddock that night as one which will stay for the next night’s races.

“Sometimes these guys go away with their bikes. I say, ‘you can’t take a dirty bike away.
Let me clean it for you,’” Rhodd said. “We don’t do that here. We don’t take dirty bikes away and bring dirty bikes back. We want to make sure these bikes are clean even if they’re not staying here. That’s the way we work. We don’t go for that laziness. We want to do a good job.”

Rhodd developed his appreciation for doing a quality job and for working hard while growing up on the island of Jamaica in the late 1950s and 1960s. He recalls learning what he refers to as the basics: cleaning the house, washing the dishes, cooking, ironing, and cleaning shoes.

“In Jamaica growing up, we had a lot of morals and a lot of discipline. We had elders to respect and our name to honour. It’s a different time now with so much technology. We didn’t have that,” Rhodd said. “That basic stuff kept us in line. We got worked hard. That’s why I lasted so long here (at Yonkers). If I didn’t get that grooming early, I couldn’t last this long.”

Rhodd also got his first exposure to horse racing in his native country. He fondly recalls events such as English jockey Lester Piggott’s visit to Caymanas Park, a Thoroughbred venue just to the west of the Jamaican capital of Kingston.

“We have flats in Jamaica, I loved the flats. I guess that’s where it stemmed from, really,” Rhodd said. “I used to listen to the races on the radio. Sometimes, we would go to the betting shops and we would bet and listen to the races. I went to Caymanas Park many times and enjoyed the racing, but I wasn’t as involved with it as I am here.”

A 19-year-old Rhodd, along with his mother and siblings, immigrated to the United States in 1975 after his father passed away. The move, Rhodd says, was, “for betterment of ourselves, to live a strong and healthy life.”

Rhodd initially worked in a clothing store before beginning a career at the Department of Parks and Recreation. There, he happened to work with an owner of Standardbred racehorses and eventually visited Yonkers Raceway.

“My foreman had a horse who raced at Yonkers,” Rhodd said. “I would go with him at lunchtime to visit his horse and one day they said they had a job in the paddock to be the saddlepad distributor. I thought, it’s a part-time job, why not give it a try?”

Rhodd stayed three decades. For most of that time, he continued to work full-time at the Department of Parks and Recreation before heading to Yonkers in the evenings.

“It was a beautiful experience for me because I’ve learned so much, especially when the horses come from overseas for the International Trot. All the excitement and different people, getting it together,” Rhodd said. “I enjoy being there because they all love me and I love them. I love everybody.”

That is a statement backed up by his colleagues.

“Always smiling and always singing,” Linda Toscano said of Rhodd.

“A great, sincere guy! A true promoter of happiness,” Paul Kelley said.

Barbara Bongiorno described Rhodd as, “one the most positive men we know, always smiling and happy.”

“Noel was a great help to anyone that needed it in the paddock at Yonkers,” Cat Manzi said. “He was always a pleasure to work with and helped me on many occasions.”

In his time at Yonkers, Rhodd has witnessed in close proximity many of the sport’s great horses, trainers, and drivers. It’s hard for him to name favorites, but he does count Jordan Stratton among his closest friends.

“Jordan Stratton has been a very great help to me. Whenever I need anything, I know I can talk to him, I can go to him. He’s there for me all the time,” Rhodd said. “As a young man, he could be my son. Anything that’s on my mind, personal, emotional, I could go to him and express myself right there and he’s always there for me to give me some support. He’s a great listener and advisor.”

“I have learned a lot from Noel, and we have become close friends,” Stratton said. “His outlook on life is very positive and uplifting. Sometimes I get swept up in the stress of racing and can count on him to remind me what really matters in life: friends and family. He treated everyone like he knew them their whole lives and sincerely cared how their day was going.”

It’s not surprising then, that Bit Of A Legend is one of Rhodd’s favorite horses. Stratton drove the New Zealand-bred, Pete Tritton-trained horse to victory in the $609,000 George Morton Levy Series Final in 2016, among many other overnight and stakes wins locally and out of town.

It wasn’t just Bit Of A Legend’s exploits on the track that garnered Rhodd’s attention; he was also fascinated by the horse’s quiet demeanor in the paddock and the way he worked in perfect sync with his driver. Rhodd also recalls the emotion surrounding Bit Of A Legend’s final race, a runner-up finish in a $27,000 Yonkers overnight Nov. 30, 2019.

“That’s a very beautiful horse and I learned a lot from that horse, the way he comes in the paddock, the way he behaves, the way he gets along so good with Jordan,” Rhodd said. “The day when he left for stud, it was hard for Pete and Jordan. Super horse.”

Rhodd is 64 years old and his tenure at Yonkers has also come to a close. Friday, Jan. 29 marked his last day at the track. On Thursday, Jan. 28, the horsepeople gathered for a group photo with Rhodd, an uncustomary event in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, to celebrate his career and acknowledge his hard work and the mindset Rhodd brought to the job.

Rhodd contracted COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic when the virus tore through the Standardbred community. The battle helped shift Rhodd’s perspective.

“I want to be around family, the grandchildren, have a wonderful time, enjoy life, and just be thankful for what we have. Look what happened with the virus, so many people are gone. There’s more now to be happy and joyful for because we could have gone, too,” Rhodd said.

“I could have gone because I got the virus and it hit me hard. It hit me so hard, it was unbelievable. We lost John Brennan, we lost the Fuscos. This was no joke; we almost lost me, too. I always take care of myself, but this caused me to take more interest in myself, because of what happened.”

“It was hard to listen to him on the phone while he had COVID,” Jordan Stratton said of his friend. “He really was up against the ropes. I’m glad that he pulled through and is able to surround himself with family.”

Retirement will be a big change for Rhodd, who has been working since age 12 and has always enjoyed it. However, a permanent move to Florida and grandchildren to chase after will ease the transition.

“Working has been engrained in me from my childhood. I had a wonderful time working,” Rhodd said. “I don’t let my job become a stressful situation. It’s a real joyful thing. I still feel good.

“I have little grandkids, they are young. I have a lot to teach them,” Rhodd continued. “That’s what I’m going to enjoy. I want to spend my life with them and enjoy them while they’re young. It’s not going to be easy, kids today are not easy, but at least I’ll be doing something with my family.”

But at 6:15 p.m. on Jan. 28, one night before his retirement and one hour before first post time, Rhodd still showed his characteristic work ethic. There were saddlepads to distribute, race bikes to look after, and a farewell ceremony in his honor to attend. Any more thoughts about retirement would have to wait, at least for another day.

“What time do you have now?” Rhodd asked. “I have to go before I’m running late.”

(SOA of NY)