Dr. Ferrin Peterson, left, helping Dr. Nathan Chaney at the Keeneland January sale
Ferrin Peterson, the 2018 recipient of a California Thoroughbred Foundation scholarship when she was a third-year veterinary student at the University of California, Davis, has continued her unique dual careers as a veterinarian and jockey. She has moved to Kentucky and hired former star rider Julio Espinoza as her jockey agent. Dark days in the racing calendar provide time for her to engage in veterinary work.
As reported on this page two years ago, Peterson was the second-leading rider at Monmouth Park in 2020, when Hall of Fame former jockey Julie Krone served as her agent and mentor. Their subsequent foray into New York racing was impeded because pandemic restrictions prevented them from going into the stable area and making crucial trainer contacts. Next, Peterson went to Maryland, where bad weather and an equine herpes outbreak curtailed racing, severely limiting her opportunities.
While in Maryland, Peterson worked with trainer Graham Motion at his Fair Hill training center, and she finished second on one of his horses in her first ride ever at Keeneland.
In a recent interview she said that while she was on the East Coast she did some work with small animals, expanding the scope of her veterinary experience and keeping up her medical skills. But she knew she wanted to concentrate on horses and that Kentucky is an ideal place for that, as she served several internships in the state. Even while riding, Ferrin had time to work with Dr. Nathan Chaney at the Keeneland sales and has assisted with surgeries at a Simpsonville clinic.
“I’m looking forward to the breeding season,” she said, “because I’ve done a lot of breeding work in the past.”