Jessica Paquette reflects on making history at the Pennsylvania Derby

Since Jessica Paquette was a teenager, horse racing has been embedded in her life. From AOL message boards with other teenagers her age who were interested in horse racing to making history this past weekend, the Lowell, Mass., native has relished her journey.

She was introduced to the world of horse racing through an organization called Kids to the Cup, which was founded by Trudy McCaffery, a renowned horse owner. The program later facilitated a trip to one of the biggest horse racing events in the world with a number of people Paquette remains friends with, many of whom work in the industry.

“[Trudy] brought us to the Breeders Cup in 1999, and that was truly life-changing for me,” Paquette told The Inquirer by phone. “It showed me the world of thoroughbred racing at its biggest stage, and, from that moment on, there was nothing else I ever wanted to do.”

After spending nearly two decades as a horse racing handicapper, sideline reporter, and analyst at Suffolk Downs, Paquette has checked off another milestone: she became the first woman ever call a Grade 1 horse race, announcing an entire day of racing at the Parx Racing and Casino for the betPARX Pennsylvania Derby & Cotillion Day.

Preparing as she would for her Parx weekday races, a gig that she has held since October 2022 (she also made history then as the first female horse racing announcer in the U.S.), Paquette spent the moments before the first race meticulously coloring the jockey silks next to each horse’s name to give her visual cues as she calls the race through her binoculars. She later admitted her nerves were at an all-time high moments before she made history on Saturday.

“The first race [of the day] was a little intimidating because it was 2-year-olds; these were young horses that I had never seen before in many instances,” Paquette said. “I also do handicap races at parks, so I will do that part of the job as well a couple of days in advance, which gives me a bit of a familiarity of how the race may unfold. And so I go into each race now with a set idea of what’s going to happen because then you set yourself up for anticipation, but with kind of a vague overview of how I think things will shake out.”

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Growing up, Paquette realized that horse racing announcing was, and still largely is, a male-dominant field. Paquette originally dreamed of becoming a reporter and didn’t even know becoming a horse racing announcer was an attainable career path.

That is, until 2014 when the track announcer at Suffolk Downs got stuck in traffic caused by a tornado. Paquette got to call the first race that day, a quarter horse race, and described the opportunity as “the greatest thrill.” She never thought she’d never get another chance to call a race.

“It was like jumping out of an airplane as far as adrenaline, and I thought back in 2014, ‘That was really fun, what a bucket list item’ and never thought about it really [again],” Paquette said. “Then, several years ago, I got the opportunity to be a guest announcer at Sam Houston in Texas, calling quarter horse races for a weekend, and, at that point of my career, I was just coming from a place of ‘yes’ or ‘why not me’ ... by the third day I went, ‘Oh my goodness, I’d really like to really do this.’”

Her latest opportunity with Parx didn’t come without its challenges. Paquette’s experience as an announcer is calling quarter horse races, which typically are 250 yards; at Parx Racing and Casino, it’s thoroughbred horse racing, which is longer and can range from under a half-mile to a mile-and-a-half and has storytelling incorporated as one of the announcer’s duties.

While thoroughbred racing largely was an unfamiliar announcing environment for Paquette when she began this endeavor, her decades of experience covering the sport in several different roles, ability to think quickly on her feet, and passion for the sport has allowed her to be in rooms and roles beyond her imagination.

“This has been a bigger career and a bigger opportunity than I could have ever imagined,” she said. “Horse racing has taken me beyond what my wildest dreams could have even thought up as a little kid and I’m so grateful for the people in the horses that have brought me here.”

After breaking through the glass ceiling, Paquette has aspirations to call the biggest horse races in the world. While she appreciates making history, she wants to be known, regardless of gender, as one of the best horse racing announcers when she takes off her headphones for the last time.

“Grade 1 $1 million races are very high up the mountain, but I just want to keep getting better and better at it,” Paquette said. “At a certain point, I don’t want to be known as the female announcer; I just want to be known as a really good announcer.”