"Winning Hands" at work at Del Mar © Brigitte Becko
Gail Matthews is “Winning Hands,” the secret weapon and clever name for her equine massage therapist business on California racetracks.
Starting in 1999 with her own two horses, a mustang named Becky and a Quarter horse colt called Braidy, her business has grown through the backside of racetracks north and south on the west coast for the past 26 years.
“It just fell into my lap, and I fell in love,” she says. She describes how the opportunity arose while flipping through a horse magazine, where she found a course in equine massage therapy. Matthews got a loan from her father and flew to Virginia for an equine massage therapy course.
“And I was in my 40’s!,” she exclaims. “My father had been waiting my whole life for me to find the right job. And I knew, I mean, nothing about horses. I loved being around them, but no experience.”
Before that, she had a career in film production in New York, lived in Europe screenwriting, then eventually ending up back stateside where “the idea for ‘Winning Hands’ came.”
The course she chose was Equissage, one of very few programs in the country at the time. Run by Mary Schreiber, the seven-day-long course required working on racehorses 12 hours a day.
“It was academic,” she recalls. “Learning muscles, attachments, a lot of anatomy; but then a lot, of course, of working on the horse.”
Business cards were made and she contacted Richard Lewis, the director of operations at Bay Meadows in the San Francisco Bay area in 1999. She asked how she could get started working on racehorses and Lewis’ response was to show up at 7 o’clock the next morning. Recalling the memory, she says she felt immediately at home. Her first client, Jeff Bonde, who currently trains at the Del Mar summer meet, is still a client of hers to this day.
With massage therapy not being well known, Bonde had people questioning him. But when news spread of his horses winning race after race, “Winning Hands” took off.
“The great luck that happened, was that all the horses that I would work on for him would win,” she recalled. “The first five horses, I mean, just one after another.”
Eventually, after two years of hard work on the Northern racing circuit, she was convinced by outrider Spud Proctor that she needed to go south to Santa Anita. And so she did in 2001.
”The racing gods were smiling on me,” she adds. Two weeks before the Santa Anita Derby she met Howard Zucker, a veteran Southern California trainer.
He had a horse running in the “Derby” named Crafty C. T., who had won the San Rafael Stakes in March of 2001.
“And I don’t know what gave him the courage to hire somebody he had never met, to massage his horse that was running in the ‘Derby’,” she said, “but he had me work on the horse.” The Kentucky-bred ended up placing in the Derby.
“I was heartbroken, but the horse that he lost to was Point Given, who was like a monster (He was named 3-year-old champion and Horse of the Year that year). And that's what got me started” she says. From there she worked with Hall of Fame trainer Ron McNally. “It happened very quickly,” she adds.
Her equine massage therapist license is a lifetime thing, but her CHRB license she renews every three years.
“Everything has to be super squeaky clean” she offers.
“I turn in confidentials with the CHRB everyday, so they know what horses I worked on,” she states. “The key (rule) I have to watch for is that I am not in the stall with the horse within 24 hours of post time. And I respect that totally.”
Gail Matthews © Benoit Photo
Her hands are her only tools, no machines or oils. This is a huge advantage for her business. Other alternative therapists are limited to 48 hours before a race. She perseveres every day of every week during the Del Mar meet. She says staying on top of things like paperwork and billing are the hardest part.
“When I first started in 1999, I would offer trainers a free demo session, so they can see what I do and how the horse responds,” she notes. “And that got me all my initial clients.”
Bob Baffert was one of her first demos landing at Santa Anita. She recalls Baffert even joking with her when he introduced her to stakes winner General Challenge, saying: ‘That horse has won two million dollars, be careful with him’.
But her strongest advocates are the exercise riders. She states: “When they get on the horse they feel a difference. The horse just goes better.”
When asked about the obvious horse to human language barrier she says patience is key. “I spend a good 5 to 10 minutes outside the stall, letting them smell me.” The respect needs to be mutual, she continues.
“Then I ask their permission, ‘Can I come in your stall?’ and they know already, like this person is not trying to barge into my space,” she adds. If she is vulnerable with them, they will respond.
The communication barrier is nothing but reading body language, she says. “They’ll move away from me, or a quick move of the leg. It’s all very subtle,” she notes. Being totally tuned into the horse, she doesn’t take in any distractions.
Her love for horses doesn’t stop there. She has lobbied for CHRB rulings to protect the integrity of horses racing and is genuine about keeping the horses relaxed, strong and happy.
Matthews says generally trainers will contact her on a horse that needs a massage. She says occasionally owners will ask. Just like with any competitive professional athlete, muscles can get tight. Horses aren’t the only athletes who can appreciate good hands getting to those unreachable knots and aches.
Her work week is intense to say the least. It usually starts at 7:30 A.M. and sometimes goes until 9 P.M.
On race days she starts just as early and attends racing after her last session. Her day goes from massage to analysis once she hits the frontside of the track.
“In the paddock, I’m looking to see if the horse is relaxed,” Matthews asserts, saying she pays particular attention to the reaction of the horse. She says once the race goes off that is the most nerve racking. She says that has gotten easier for her in recent years as racing has become generally safer.
“I like to go out on the track (after a race) and just see how the horse is breathing,” she notes. “How difficult the race was for them, their stamina. Then to see how well they walk off the track.”
By doing this she has the full picture of the horse and how they’ll be in their next session together. A win is a special moment for all, though.
“I have to say it’s wonderful getting into the winner’s circle,” she says with a smile. “I do wait to get invited, I don’t just show up. But I mean, it’s better than falling in love. When you win a race, it is the biggest thrill that can possibly happen.”
The percentage of horses she touches who step hoof first into the winner’s circle, she believes, is 15%-20%.
One of her winners happened on Pacific Classic Day, August 30, when Om N Joy won the Torrey Pines Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
“I can’t believe I’m sitting here at Del Mar even,” she recalls thinking back to that race. “It felt like waking up on another planet.”
After this summer season at Del Mar she says she’ll be taking a short break. But just like many other horse folks, she will be headed to Los Alamitos, then on to Santa Anita, to continue her hands on work.