Tanis Johnson: An exercise in success

“She is straight class. She just goes out there to do her job. She knows what she wants to do, and she doesn’t want to be told what to do. She’s got her own plan, and she is ready to put it down.”

Tanis Johnson is talking about none other than Luster. Yes, the King’s Plate winning filly trained by Josie Carroll and owned by Gainesway Stable and Andrew Rosen. Johnson has been Luster’s regular exercise rider since last year.

Unlike some of her riding colleagues at Woodbine, the 22-year-old exercise rider is fairly new to the racing scene. In fact, she only began exercising racehorses a couple of years ago.

Hailing from a rural area called Cherry Point in Northern Alberta, Johnson was born and raised on a grain farm. Neither of her parents were part of the racetrack life, which is usually a common thread running through most rider’s backstories.

Watching Luster receive a bath after her Plate win, Johnson explained how she stumbled upon the Olds College professional racetrack exercise rider program a few years back.

“I’ve always ridden horses, but I was very unfamiliar with the racetrack industry. I’m going to be honest, when I first found it, I didn’t even know that existed in Alberta. And, even in Canada to be honest. It just blew my mind. I thought, I got try this and see if I get in. When I got in, I just was over the moon. I didn’t look back,” said Johnson.

The Olds College program has been around for over two decades. Some of their jockey graduates include Sheena Ryan, Omar Moreno, and Rachel Slevinsky – riders that called Woodbine home for either part or a majority of their riding careers.

In 2024, Johnson entered the program.

“I started in January 2024, and I graduated that August. It’s a short program. We spend the first two months at Olds College learning the skills and riding in the arena there and learning what we need to before we get to the track. When we get to the track, we stay with our teachers a little bit until we are ready to move to the barns. Then they put us with trainers, and we start working with trainers to fulfil our practicum. Our practicum had 60 rides – which we had to fulfil before we graduate.”

Johnson added: “Kirsty Luft was our horse instructor, and then we had Julie Brewster who was also taking care of the school stuff. Theresa Sealy – we had some guidance from her as well.”

The young rider honed her riding skills under the guidance of one trainer who runs horses at Century Mile, Century Downs, Assiniboia. This year, Anderson has already won two stakes, the Chariot Chaser Stakes and the Sonoma Stakes at Century Mile with a three-year-old filly by the name of Playful.

“I got put in a barn with Gonzalo Anderson and he taught me a lot of what I know,” said Johnson. Anderson has been training horses in Western Canada since 2019. He remembers Johnson well. “She was awesome. She was already good. She was grooming and galloping at the same time. Mainly galloping,” said Anderson.

Anderson started Johnson on horses at Century Mile in Edmonton, Alberta.

“She started with a couple – but she was a really quick learner, so she ended up galloping six to eight horses a day,” said Anderson who worked with Johnson over the summer and fall.

Anderson was pivotal in connecting Johnson with another trainer south of the border as well. “He got me down with Mike Cooke, who is in Ocala, Florida. That’s where Josie Carroll found me,” said Johnson.

Cooke is well known for breaking horses. He also owns fifth-place Plate finisher, Don Ique. The seasoned horsemen helped get the ball rolling between Johnson and Carroll.

“Mike Cooke who owns the other horse who was in the King’s Plate, she was riding for him, and she was doing a nice job for him. He said to me, “this a young rider you should think about taking up there (to Woodbine),” said Carroll.

Last winter, Johnson became Luster’s regular exercise rider. Asked what Luster was like in those early days, Johnson smiles wide but is candid in her response. “She didn’t make it easy on me. It wasn’t until we got back to Woodbine that we really started to click,” said Johnson.

Last year, prior to the winter break the grey filly made her racing debut at Woodbine, breaking her maiden first time out going seven furlongs on the inner turf.

While handicappers study a horse’s form on paper, Johnson studies it while she’s on horseback. And with Luster, she knew her form has always been improving.

“Every day she gets better. Every day she goes out there, and she just wants to train. She just wants to do her job. She could care less about the rest of the world and the improvement, like I said, is every day,” said Johnson.

This year, Luster started off her three-year old campaign at Keeneland. Again, on the turf, she won her second time out. This time she won going a mile and one sixteenths (8.5 furlongs).

Luster has defiantly proved herself on the tapeta course too. To date, the stakes champ has won three back-to-back stakes races on Woodbine’s all-weather track. Adding glitter to her resume, Luster’s 2026 stakes wins include the Gr. 3 Selene Stakes, the Woodbine Oaks, and the King’s Plate.

Being part of Luster’s team has been pretty special for Johnson who notes in passing that she is contemplating riding in the afternoons as well as the mornings.

“The goal is to race ride,” said Johnson. While there is no firm timeline for this goal, Johnson did indicate she might work towards becoming a jockey at some point next fall.

“I would like to go into the race riding and make a hot dollar if I could. And maybe move onto something else after that. For now, this is the dream,” said Johnson who currently exercise rides five to six horses a morning for Carroll.

Her mentor, Anderson had to this say about Johnson’s goal of becoming a jockey:

“She has pretty good hands and she can read the horses pretty good. She is athletic. I think she would be pretty good.”

At the present time, Johnson is simply soaking in the big moments like Plate day and enjoying her mornings spent with the horses. The young rider is also adapting to her new surroundings, noting it’s a big change from riding out west.

“It’s a totally different ball game. When I first got here my eyes opened wide. There are a lot more horses here, there is a lot more action and more pressure. You got to just adapt. Going from a small place to a place like this is an eye opener,” said Johnson.

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Hayley Morrison, for Woodbine