Legendary Canadian horse jockey and Oakville resident Eurico Rosa da Silva has released his memoir novel, called Riding for Freedom.
In 16 amazing years at Woodbine Racetrack, Eurico won several Sovereign Awards, which is given to the most outstanding jockey in Canada. He rode horses to victory in back to back Queen’s Plate races and won the World All-Star Jockeys Challenge against top horse jockeys from all across the world.
But where did the story start? How did he come to find jockeying, and what does he do now in Oakville?
Eurico was born on a dairy farm in an impoverished community in rural Brazil. He was determined to become a world champion horse jockey from a very young age. Eurico pursued his dream, first racing in his home of Brazil, then in Monaco and then here in Canada, which is where he earned the reputation of a supremely focused and good-humoured competitor.
But Eurico’s real challenge had little to nothing to do with horse racing. Since he was a child in Brazil, Eurico has been involved in a much more lethal contest, which is his deep-seated anger that on some occasions threatened his career and at some other points threatened his life.
The negative energy and self-doubt that Eurico felt consumed him and sent him down the wrong path and it led him to despair even in moments of victory and triumph. Eurico then began what would be the greatest race of this life. The race that would free him from his gambling and sex addiction.
In a virtual interview with Mr. Da Silva, I asked him why he felt that he had to tell his story. "It's very important to me to motivate people to open up and go for help," he starts. "If you trap something inside yourself, if you keep secrets about yourself that we keep in a dark place - that becomes my motivation. The only way to get rid of the bad thoughts that you have is to open up."
Eurico currently owns Dragon Taekwondo Academy here in Oakville at Speers and Dorval. I asked him what got him interested in Taekwondo and he said "I practiced Taekwondo for 15 years, I was a really angry guy and I needed a way to focus during that time."
"I needed something to do in order to get this anger out, so I went on Google and one of the things I found was martial arts," he continues. "I had already done martial arts because I practiced it when I was in Brazil, and then I started training in Taekwondo and I fell in love with it, this is my passion."
Eurico’s story is about more than just winning races but about triumphing over the demons that you may have inside of you. From his early life in Brazil to the highest moments of his career to the lowest of lows in his time with addiction this book has it all.