birth_place race birth_date article_title name occupation
adelaide , australia city of marion stakes -lrb- 2005 -rrb- 3 december 1984 kayla stra
 kayla stra jockey
kayla stra

kayla stra -lrb- born 3 december 1984 -rrb- is a jockey and television personality in thoroughbred horse racing who raced in australia until coming to compete in the united states at racetracks in california .
she currently rides in the northern california circuit after a 2 year stint in the southern california area .
she is also known for her appearances on the reality television show `` jockeys '' on animal planet .
kayla stra was born in adelaide , south australia , australia , where she launched her career in horseracing prior to moving to california in late 2007 .
from a very young age , stra was interested in horses , having talked her parents into buying her a pony when she was eight years old .
during her late childhood and adolescence , stra worked at racing stables and eventually bought her first horse -- a thoroughbred named gurtie , which she trained on her own for picnic races -lrb- unregistered race horses -rrb- before getting her certificate in racing .
stra acknowledges her first trainer , ray moore , as someone who has had a strong influence in her life .
moore taught stra how to be a horseman -- how to communicate with horses by reading their body language and having a keen feel for what they 're thinking .
stra credits john letts as one of her mentors for his outstanding jockey career , having won two melbourne cups and hundreds upon hundreds of stake races .
as an apprentice , stra was always in the top five riders and won all her premierships .
during this time , she began traveling to different tracks to learn more from those experiences .
stra eventually racked up approximately 500 victories in her native country and became the `` poster girl '' for australian horseracing .
now , she hopes to continue that success in the much larger us market .
racing in california , on 9 november 2007 kayla stra won her first american race aboard flying bearcat at hollywood park racetrack .
one notable victory was at santa anita on 49 -- 1 longshot paddin ' mud .
in addition , kayla scored an opening day victory at del mar with king ledley , and then scored another victory aboard the same horse within three weeks .
king ledley is owned by racing capital group , llc , which is a race horse syndication company who primarily uses kayla as their jockey .
racing capital group 's web site is racingcapitalgroup.com. , where she is their featured jockey .
stra 's career goal to date is to hang in the game and not let the industry down .
but here , she will face the toughest competitors in the world -- serious professional athletes who are not likely to cut any slack for the new girl .
stra became a leading adelaide apprentice jockey who posted 220 winners in australia .
her biggest australian win was in the 2005 city of marion stakes with gelding navy shaker .
stra was one of the jockeys featured in animal planet 's 2009 reality television show , `` jockeys '' .
it lasted for two seasons .
stra returned to professional horse racing in january 2013 , after the birth of her son , brys headley , in november 2012 .
soon after her return to racing , a steward banned her from the betfair hollywood park jockeys ' room for breastfeeding her son .
one of the stewards had allegedly told stra 's agent that she needed to decide whether she was going to focus on caring for her child or her profession .
california horse racing board chairman david israel overruled the steward , stating `` kayla stra 's baby can be in the jocks ' room .
her nanny can be with the baby .
and both the mother and the nanny can do all the things they need to do . ''
