Gonzalo Hahn, the jockey who rides by passion when his heart calls

Aged 47, the La Plata native has remained a force for more than two decades, piling up 2,064 wins, 61 stakes and 12 G1 victories. The product of a career built quietly on consistency and talent, he revisits the moments and emotions that shaped him, from Second Reality to Indy Point

Gonzalo Hahn after winning the OSAF with Storm Dinámico / JUAN I. BOZZELLO

By Diego H. Mitagstein

There are jockeys who announce retirements, comebacks, half-farewell tours and epic returns. And then there is Gonzalo Hahn, who never said goodbye because, deep down, he knew he couldn’t.

“I never talked about retiring,” he says. “You never know where life will take you. And the only thing I’ve ever been halfway good at is riding horses.” As simple as that. As honest as that. And every time he comes back — because he always does — he makes it clear that his hands are still pure silk.

His most recent return followed a perfectly logical script: he showed up, he rode, and he won. No one was surprised.

“I’m living in the country, taking it easy… And in the summer the weight is easier for me. So everything becomes simpler,” he explains, with the natural tone of someone who’s done it a thousand times, but also with a sincerity that resonates. Hahn was never one to hide.

Nor did he ever have an easy road in racing. Without powerful stables behind him, without protective contracts, without dozens of two-year-olds to choose from every season, he built his prestige riding the great horses of La Plata. And he says it with quiet pride:

“I was very lucky. I’m not saying I did things right or wrong — that’s for people to judge. But I won a lot of races, and good ones, and all that without having big stables behind me. You know how difficult that is.”

When he starts revisiting his career, the names appear on their own. The first, inevitably, is Second Reality (Hidden Prize), perhaps the horse that best explains his story.

“I had just become a jockey and suddenly I was riding a horse like that. In the Polla we had a terrible trip, he lost by a bit, and they came down hard on me. Rodolfo Cariaga held firm. He told me: ‘You’ll keep riding him’. And he never lost again.”That kind of trust is worth more than any statistic.

Then comes Indy Point (Indygo Shiner), another rare gem.

“That horse could’ve been a Triple Crown winner. He lost the Polla because we had a nightmare in the gate, we stood there for two days. When we finally got out I gave him a tap to settle him and he got mad… he fired me out wide on the turn. A race he should have never lost.”

Even so, he won the Jockey Club, the Gran Premio Nacional, went to the U.S. and left a huge impression before getting injured.“A horse that never coughed, never had a thing wrong with him. Exceptional.”

Hahn knows those horses are the ones that define a jockey’s career.

“Confidence for a jockey comes from the horse, but also from the trainer and the owner. You know that even if one day you mess up, they’ll still put you back up the next time. So you ride relaxed.”

Today, his life looks very different. He lives in General Conesa, on a small, happy farm, surrounded by animals and silence.

“I’m calm, I’m good. With my wife, my two little girls, and my two older kids who live in La Plata. I’ve got cows, sheep, horses, pigs… I live a farm life.”

And he laughs:“I play at being a country guy. I rope, I throw the lasso… but I’m not at the level of the real cowboys. They wear belts, knives, silver spurs… I just go around with a regular belt,” he jokes.

He rides when he feels like it. When they call him. When the weight allows.

“The one who pushes me the most is my brother Nicolás. He always has six or seven horses. ‘Come on, these are ready to win,’ he tells me.”

That’s how he came back recently: he promised to ride a colt in La Pampa, he won, and then he won again with a filly in Palermo.“With family, the joy is double. Nicolás always pushes me.”

Retirement? It doesn’t even register as a serious thought.

“They always ask me when I’m going to retire. I don’t know. God will decide. When I can’t make the weight anymore, when I can’t go on, then I’ll see. But not now. Don’t worry, I’m not retiring.”

Gonzalo Hahn is just like that: authentic, generous, owner of a talent that has always delivered more than his public profile ever showed. A jockey without flash, but with giant memory. One who rides when he returns and returns when what defines him calls him again: the horses.

Because, as he himself puts it:“Racing is your whole life. It’s hard to separate yourself from it.”

And fortunately for everyone, he still doesn’t want to.