By Bill Finley
Trevor McCarthy is only 30 and a winner of 1,871 races, which suggests he had many good years left in the saddle. Instead, McCarthy, who last rode on Aug. 15 at Colonial Downs, has retired and has gone into the real estate business. It was his way of escaping a job that was not only making him unhappy but bringing about mental health issues that he knew he had to find a way to get under control.
“Mostly, this was about my mental health and my happiness,” said McCarthy, who is on a growing list of jockeys and other athletes speaking out about the mental toll their job takes on them. “To me, it made more sense to do something different than go back to what was making me miserable.”
“I had just been so unhappy for so long and was a miserable person to be around. That's why I took the steps to retire. I don't want to go back to being that person. Riding was bringing out the worst in me. It put a lot of tension on our family and I just kind of didn't want to go down that road again.”
The mental health of jockeys became a front-and-center issues after two, Alex Canchari and Avery Whisman, committed suicide in 2023. McCarthy was happy to open up about his problems, and admitted that the stress of his profession was getting to him.
Now, he has partnered with a friend and joined a real estate investment firm.
“I became a real estate investor and I hooked up with a friend of mine,” he said. “His name is Dan Balassone and he is part of a real estate group called Vylla Homes. I hooked up with those guys. They have experience with real estate investing, with rentals, with fix and flips and selling houses, too. I didn't want to be a real estate agent. I just kind of wanted to do my own thing. But I was lucky enough to partner up with Dan and for him to take me under his wing and show me the ropes of real estate investing.”
He doesn't miss the racetrack.
“The truth is, I really don't miss it,” he said. “I miss the horses. Being here on Long Island and with my wife, who is also riding, I don't really get to spend a whole lot of time with the horses. I don't venture over to the racetrack much. So I miss being with the horses. Otherwise, I don't miss it.”
Though he'll be a way from the racetrack, McCarthy wants to help other people, be they jockeys or from some other profession, deal with mental health issues,
“I still want to continue to work on mental health,” he said. “Besides my wife and my family being involved in racing, that's pretty much the only involvement I want to have with racing at the moment. Leaving the sport, for me, was the right things to do. I lost two friends to suicides. For their families sake, I want to keep going. A lot of people think this is easy. A lot of people struggle. I still continue to talk to a lot of people and not just jockeys, to trainers, backstretch employees that at are having a hard time, to anyone who is having a bad experience.”
He is working with HISA and the Jockey's Guild to try to make life better for jockeys and others in racing.
“Our ultimate goal with HISA and the Jockeys Guild, we've all been working together to find resources for backstretch employees as well,” he said. “Some tracks already have therapists on the ground, but I don't think a lot of people know that. It's something we wanted to get more of and get resources to help people with mental health. We have, with HISA, and a 24-7 hotline that you can work with a therapist or even speak with other athletes that have had some of the same problems. There's someone you can talk to that you can talk to and express your feelings and frustrations.”
McCarthy started riding in 2011, was an Eclipse Award finalist in 2014 for the top apprentice jockey and won 13 individual meet title in Maryland. He won 253 races in 2019 but his win total dropped to 42 in 2024.
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