Artz Documentary Focuses on Lady Jocks

Kelly Artz (above, in front of camera) is a UCLA graduate student who is doing her thesis as a documentary film about Southern California’s female jockeys. The film, titled “Lady Jocks”, features Chantal Sutherland, Kayla Stra and Cheryl Charlton.
Below is a Q&A with Artz about the documentary.
“Lady Jocks” is currently running a kickstarter campaign to fundraise online. Artz and her team are very close to finishing the film and appreciate any support.
What was your inspiration behind the making of this movie?
I've always been curious about female jockeys and racing in general. I am a three- day eventer, and many horses I ride are off the track living their second careers, so I've been interested in learning about their early life experiences, thinking maybe if I can understand their beginnings I can ride them better.
I've also always been fascinated that there can be setbacks for women in racing and that female riders are the minority. This has always baffled me because in most other horse sports, women are the majority. I mean no one would even dream of saying, “Gee, women aren't strong enough to gallop a horse through cross country or jump six feet.” I mean, I was from the generation of youth riders that dream of being like Karen O'Connor or Reed Kessler.
LADY JOCKS KICKSTARTER VIDEO

How did two women in the UCLA film studies program become interested in horse racing? Do either you or Sandy Stenzel, a producer, have ties to the horse racing industry?
Just a correction, we are in the film production program - the studies program is different. I was horse-geeking out with a professor of mine, and he introduced me to Angie [Stevens] so I could learn more about racing and make the film. Sandy had worked for a horse racing handicapper in Vegas before film school, so when I told her about Angie and my idea for the film she was totally on board and came on as the cinematographer and a producer.
Which female jockeys are profiled in the movie, and who else did you talk to about the lifestyle of female jockeys?
Our main girls are Chantal Sutherland-Kruse, Kayla Stra, and Cheryl Charlton; we followed them for the year documenting their experiences. The film also features: Millie Ball, Zoe Cadman, Mike Smith, Joe Talamo, David Israel, Bruce Headley and more, like the girl’s jockey agents and managers, and the entire female jockey roster at the International Female Riders World Championships from Monterrico, in Lima, Peru.
What do the women that you profile in the movie have in common? What sets them apart from one another?
They all want to win and they all want to prove to people that with good mounts they can go places just like the guys. They are all extremely driven and have totally devoted their lives to being jockeys. I think all the girls, like all jockeys, also work to manage their other roles in life — like being a mom, or wife, student, etc. — with how time consuming being a jockey is; they definitely show how determined you have to be if you want to have any life after racing. It’s interesting how I got to see how critical this is to their happiness, which seems to effect their success as riders.
They all are just different as well, like they would all totally have different cliques in high school.
Chantal is girly and definitely the “pretty girl” — everyone would want to be her or be her friend and go for mani-pedis.
Kayla is like the nature girl. She's totally into yoga and is definitely that girl that would have a million extra curricular [activities] and still be the valedictorian. She gets up every day and just has to be doing something productive.

Cheryl is the girl that prioritized having a good time. She's the girl running around kicking the boys butts at whatever, and she's definitely the girl that definitely always has the best comebacks. She’s the girl you'd call when you want to hear it straight and just go have a good time.
What was the most surprising you learned about the Southern California horse racing circuit while filming?
How tough it is here and how much of a family the jockeys and trainers, well everyone on the backside, is.
I also think it's been interesting learning about all the changes to horse racing in the recent years and to witness something like Hollywood Park closing. I think SoCal has some great opportunities to use the weather, entertainers in the area, and more. I think with all the changes, I see a lot of opportunities for SoCal to really surge forward with racing in new ways, and I'm excited to see how it moves forward.
After spending so much time behind the scenes at racetracks, what is one surprising thing about the sport that you would tell new fans?
That the horses love it. I think people think extreme horse sports have animals forced into competition— but much like eventing, where a horse has to want to jump big, a racehorse has to want to run and be the leader of the herd. I mean every time you watch a horse race, I don't feel like you're watching a bunch of horses pushed to be faster than each other — you're seeing instinct, you're seeing a herd's natural alpha mare or stallion proving it’s a leader. The horses seem to either have it or they don't. That quality is nurtured for sure by excellent jockeys and trainers, but at the end of the day, in races, you get to see animal cream rise to the top, in a matter of seconds right before your very eyes.
How long did it take you to film the documentary?
We've been filming since April, and started pre-pro in November of 2012. So almost a full year by the time we’ll be done.

You’ve finished filming; what else needs to happen before the documentary can be released?
We’re almost finished filming, we still have a few remaining interviews and races to shoot, but we've already begun to enter post-production. For this, we have to organize oodles of footage in order to edit the film, then we’ll get feedback and make new cuts over a period of a few months. We’ll have to do extensive sound design as when you shoot at 300 frames per second (for the slo mo) sound can't be recorded at the same rate — so it all has to be designed from scratch. Then we have to have a composer create music and a mixer make everything fit together, and then the film has to go to color correction. So there’s still quite a bit to do before the film is ready to be seen.
How can fans of film and horse racing get involved to help?
Fans of the film and horse racing can get involved by donating and sharing the links to our kickstarter fundraising campaign. We have just under a week to reach our goal or we receive nothing and we really need these funds to complete the film. They can also like our Facebook page and follow the film's Twitter handle.
STRA AND ARTZ