The only confusion surrounding Harry Rice’s job is what to call it.

“They say, ‘Oh, you’re a val-aye?’ No, val-aye’s park cars, val-etts saddle horses,” said Rice.

A valet with the New York Racing Association, Rice is one of 14 men responsible for helping jockeys prepare their equipment for each day’s races.

“You have to be organized, you have to know what the fella likes, how he likes things set up. If it’s a turf race you put out two goggles, today it’s a little muddy so you put out five goggles for a dirt race,” said Rice.

Beyond that, a valet’s primary goal is to make sure each jock carries the assigned weight.

“If it’s 126 pounds for the Travers, you’ll use his big saddle and add a couple of weights into the pockets of the saddle to make sure the weight comes out ot what it has to be,” said Rice.

After the scale, it’s off to the paddock for the sometimes risky job of helping trainers saddle the horses.

“We’ve had some injuries, the horses throw you against you against the wall, I had a horse kick me and I ended up in the burn unit for about three weeks,” said Rice.

It is a routine that repeats itself all day, every race day.

“Once the first race starts, we don’t finish running around until after the last,” said Rice.

On winning afternoons, there’s nothing better.

“You get shook up a little bit. It’s been two months and I still get shook up thinking about Mike Smith winning the Triple Crown because we’ve been together for 29 years,” said Rice.

Working with racing’s best human and equine athletes each day, it’s a job Rice has fallen in love with over the past three decades.

“It’s the only sport where the guys who compete against each other come back to the same locker room. You meet people from all different parts of the world. It’s great,” said Rice.