I have held “reality” shows in low esteem for a while now. Unfortunately, the first two episodes of Animal Planet’s “Jockeys” series (which I got a sneak peek at online) did nothing to change that.

The six-week series premieres this Friday, February 6, at 9 p.m. Eastern/Pacific. The confirmed stars of the show are Jon Court, Aaron Gryder, Mike Smith, Alex Solis, Kayla Stra, Chantal Sutherland and Joe Talamo.

The lead-in to “Jockeys” is an episode of “Untamed and Uncut” about racetrack mishaps. Great.

I wonder if PETA is foaming at the mouth for this show to air and show people the “reality of horse racing.” Already there are calls to ban the show and boycott Animal Planet. If you went only by the commercials and/or first episode, most races have falls. If that were the reality of racing, I would not be writing this blog and would greatly dislike the sport. The reality is that falls are rare and an exception to the norm.

For your viewing information, I spotted these faults in Episode One:

• In the Ralph M. Hinds at Fairplex, they cut to reaction shots of people…at Santa Anita.
• There are shots of multiple races mixed into what is supposed to be the Ralph M. Hinds, and the shots from the Hinds are all mixed up and not chronological.
• In the race voice-over, it is Freesgood pushing Booyah, not Sensational Score.
• The horse Matto Mondo’s name is misspelled Motto Mondo on the graphic.
• The loose horse they show being caught at Santa Anita opening day is not the horse who fell (it was a turf race). Easy on the Eye was caught on the turf course.
• In The Morvich At Santa Anita, they cut to a reaction shot…at Fairplex.
• There is a staged race mixed into the title shots and other places. It seems the camera angles are from a truck driving alongside the field of horses, and that would never happen in a real race. Also…Gryder and Talamo throwin’ down on the track near the end - totally staged.

The mixed up time/location shots and staged racing shots continue in episode two. Hystericalady’s name is repeatedly misspelled (Hysterical Lady).

It appears that episode three will be on another rosy topic - eating disorders.

In an NTRA teleconference, jockey Aaron Gryder says, “Well, the one thing I would say to anybody that feels that way is make sure you watch all 12 episodes and not just, you know the commercial that you’ve seen…it’s very well balanced as far as not being just about spills.”

We’ll see. And I hope so.

To see the first two full episodes, go to this special link and go to “Footage.”

The official website for “Jockeys” is http://animal.discovery.com/tv/jockeys/.

- Marcie Heacox

Spoilers and a lot more info on the new Jockeys series:

http://press.discovery.com/ekits/jockeys/

Commercials for Animal Planet’s “Jockeys” reality series have started appearing on the channel. I saw two during “Whale Wars.” They both have rock music and a unique angle of horses running at the camera. One has a quote indicating that a jockey would break every bone in their body to win a race. Both commercials list the month of February as the premiere date.

A December 4 New York Post story says that Animal Planet describes the show as “Million-dollar purses, model girlfriends and trips to the mall to shop in the boys’ department - Animal Planet brings viewers into a world . . . ruled by short men with silk shirts.”

“Jockeys” is produced by Go Go Luckey Productions, who also produced “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County.” The popular MTV show featured well-off high school kids fighting over boyfriends and shopping.

Okay, so I’m not a fan of Go Go Luckey’s claim to fame, but there is no doubting the film quality and their ability to produce popular shows that spawn several follow-ups and celebrities from average people.

The series began filming on the penultimate day of racing at Fairplex Park and continued through the end of the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meet. The crew of about 10 people, including a producer and cameramen, followed the jockeys around the track from early morning to afternoon. I saw one cameraman riding along in the ambulance that trails every field during the races.

Track patrons were notified by signs outside the Santa Anita admission gates that by entering the premises, they consented to any use of their image in the filming of the show.

When filming began at Fairplex, I was shown a card with the jockeys they were following - Jon Court, Garrett Gomez, Aaron Gryder, Mike Smith, Alex Solis, Chantal Sutherland, and Joe Talamo. Sutherland, the only female jockey featured, likely only left her home base of Woodbine so that she could be a part of the filming.

According to an Oct. 23 Los Angeles Times story, there are only six jockeys on the show. An Oct. 23 story from the Sports Business Journal says there are eight jockeys, including Brandon Meier, but leaving out Gomez.

Successful reality shows include extensive, creative cutting and editing to render an interesting story from something that in real life and real time would likely not be very interesting.

My first feeling about the “Jockeys” show is that it will be great publicity for the sport of horse racing. I am excited to see who and what they include, as many of the sights and sounds will be all too familiar to Southern California race-goers and industry insiders.

I also tense up at the thought that the edited image of the jockeys and horse racing may be an inaccurate portrayal, overdramatized and single-minded.

Ultimately, I am hopeful that professional athletes will provide for a better show than professional drama queens.

-Marcie Heacox