A Natural Gift for Horses – From New York, Florida, and Kentucky to the rodeo arena, Saratoga Springs native Jesse Costa has built a career and hobby around understanding horses.

Jesse Costa has made a career out of his natural ability with horses, a gift that continues to shape his work at the racetrack and his hobby.

As an assistant starter for the New York Racing Association, Costa spends his mornings and afternoons helping horses into the starting gate. Outside the track, he participates in rodeo competitions and works with horses for riding.

“I got a good gift with horses,” the 29-year-old Saratoga Springs native said. “They talk back, but they don’t speak to you. They show you. You can read a horse. You will know exactly what they’re going to do.”

Although he never received any formal training, Costa learned about Thoroughbreds as a child at Belmont Park where family’s horses were trained by Dominic Schettino.

“Every weekend, I was at Belmont Park. That was my backyard. That was my playground,” Costa said. “I learned a lot underneath him about the racetrack life from the bottom up. Also, I sat around for long hours watching older guys. I picked up little things. It was just natural.”

At 18, Costa became a NYRA outrider. After about 18 months at Saratoga Race Course, Belmont Park, and Aqueduct, he was head outrider at Gulfstream Park for four years before returning to New York in January 2024.

About eight years ago, Costa faced a life-changing experience: trigeminal neuralgia, a chronic pain disorder. After three brain surgeries, he had an epiphany and decided it was time for a change.

“It felt like jumper cables were on my face,” he said. “There would be times when I got a flare up. Now, I’m pretty good, knock on wood. It took me a while to realize it … life is too short. I took a step back and realized the worked that I done at Gulfstream for four years. I missed a lot. Family and everybody was up here. I’m grateful for being down there. It was a great steppingstone.”

That steppingstone lead into his next career: an assistant starter.

During the Keeneland spring meet in 2020, Scott Jordan, NYRA’s current head starter, recruited Costa to serve as an assistant starter for the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby when his team was short-handed. Despite having no starting gate experience, Costa was successful; he was invited back to Churchill Downs for the following year.

This spring, Jordan offered Costa a position as an assistant starter. Costa believed this was part of his future.

“I like the gate. When I was a kid, I always hung around the gate,” he said. “Eventually, it was going to happen. I just didn’t know when. It was a pretty easy transition. These guys took me underneath their wings. It’s better on my body right now. It also gives me more time to do some other stuff.”

Outside the racetrack, Costa enjoyed team roping since he was 14 after learning the sport from rodeo legend Roger Stockton at his Ballston Spa ranch.

“When we were up here for the summers, he would always bring me up to his house where he had a roping arena and a bunch of horses,” Costa said. “I would help him, and he would teach me how to rope. That’s how I got a liking to it.”

Costa spends his time at Riding High in Warrensburg on Mondays, as well as the Painted Pony Championship Rodeo in Lake Luzerne on Wednesdays and the Lucky E Rodeo in Broadalbin on Thursdays – both part of the International Pro Rodeo Association and the Interstate Rodeo Association organization.

As a rookie in the IPRA and IRA circuit, he also participated in the team roping competition at the Saratoga County Fair on July 22. One of his riding partners is Robbie Erck of Fort Edward, the son of the former NYRA lead outrider Steve Erck. Like many aspiring rodeo riders, Costa dreams of advancing to that next level.

“I just like the adrenaline,” Costa said. “It’s the closest thing I kind of get right now to catch a loose horse. It’s you and your horse. It’s also you and your partner. If I can stick with it and keep on doing what I’m doing, I would like to eventually [compete at the next level].”

While a riding partner is important to team roping, Costa knows a dependable horse is just as essential. For the last five years, McCall has been that horse, a former Kentucky ranch horse he purchased while working as an outrider at Gulfstream Park and later transitioned into rodeo competition.

“During the meet, I didn’t want to put too much pressure on him,” Costa said. “I never took him to the rodeo … because I needed them here. Now that I’m not [outriding], it’s time for him to shine.”

Costa also has Smokey, a big white Quarter Horse that caught his attention after Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott purchased him at Payson Park more than two years ago. After keeping Smokey for a year, he offered the former show horse to Costa shortly after Sovereignty won last year’s Kentucky Derby.

“I got over to his barn, sat down in his office, and he said, ‘Son, you got $10?’ There’s a horse in the next barn, he belongs to you,” Costa said. “He was a little-too-much horse for Bill. He was most of a catch horse rather than a stable pony.”

Because no one rode Smokey in two years, Costa needed patience with him.

“When I got on him, he almost bucked me off,” Costa said. “That night, I roped about 4-5 cows when I was on him. He’s a finished horse. It’s very hard to find horses that can do it all. I am blessed to have two of them.”

Besides McCall and Smokey, Costa recently rescued Elton, a palomino yearling in Texas for $850. He is hoping to develop Elton after the Saratoga meet.

“When I bought him, he was a runt,” Costa said. “That’s my new hobby now. He might be a stable pony. He might be a rope horse. He might be a barrel horse. He might just be an ornament. Who knows? I’ll see what he wants to do.”

Costa also assists other trainers with difficult horses, including two sent to him by Finger Lakes trainer Paul Barrow this spring that showed remarkable improvement in their temperament after about two months of work.

“They were a little too much for them at the moment,” Costa said. “One of them was bucking people off. He wasn’t bad. He had a personality. Once he figured you out, the bond was good. I sent them back and they couldn’t believe how good they were.”

Over the past 11 years, Costa has evolved from outrider to an assistant starter, pursued rodeo riding, and overcome a rare medical condition. These changes have shaped him.

“It’s a big change, but it was a good change,” he said. “I like it so far. Everything’s going smooth.”