A Champion Jockey's First Rule for Chasing a Dream
Things worth taking away
- Learning to be uncomfortable comes first. Eurico left home at 13 to ride; chasing a dream starts with doing the small, uneasy thing now, not waiting for the fear to pass.
- Belief has to be bigger than fear. The fear never fully leaves — he says he has fears every day — so the vision you hold has to be larger than it.
- A niche is found in silence, not strategy. Four years after retiring, on a walk, a childhood memory of a white horse told him he wanted to coach with horses.
- Present and invisible: the skill he leans on most. With people and with retired racehorses, he holds the space, stays quiet, and lets the other do the work.
- Mindset comes before success, from the inside out — and none of it happens without commitment, from the coach and from the person being coached.
About this episode
Champion jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva left home at 13 to ride racehorses and lived alone in a barn. He retired in 2019 as one of Canada’s most successful jockeys — two Queen’s Plates, seven Sovereign Awards as the country’s outstanding jockey, more than 2,900 wins — and entered the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. In this conversation with Nathalie, he traces the thread that runs through all of it: your belief has to be bigger than your fear.
Eurico tells Nathalie what it takes to chase a dream from a place of fear — learning to be uncomfortable, growing belief when it doesn’t come naturally, and holding on to a vision through broken bones, criticism, and failure. He describes finding his niche four years after retiring, on a walk, when a childhood memory of a white horse pointed him toward coaching with horses. And he explains the skill he leans on most, with people and with retired racehorses alike: to be present and invisible, holding the space so the other does the work.
Underneath the racing stories is a case for coaching itself — why he believes anyone who wants to lead well needs coaching training, why mindset comes before success, and why none of it happens without commitment.
Eurico is the All-Star Keynote at the Coach Academy Summit in Toronto on February 1, 2027, where every attendee receives a signed copy of his memoir.
Mentioned in this episode: Riding for Freedom by Eurico Rosa da Silva, and the Equine Experiential Connection (eec.horse), a program he co-founded with the LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society. Connect with Eurico on LinkedIn and with Nathalie Blais on LinkedIn. Learn more at Canada Coach Academy.
Jump to a moment
- 00:00Why Eurico, and the Summit invitation
- 01:38"Riding for Freedom": freeing himself from addiction
- 04:58Therapy talks around it; coaching breaks through
- 05:39Present and invisible: the two skills that stuck
- 06:56What makes healing happen with the horses
- 09:00Stuck in a safe life: how do you step into a dream?
- 10:08Rule one: learn to be uncomfortable
- 11:00How do you grow belief in yourself?
- 12:53Retiring at the top, then four years of searching
- 15:00The walk, and the memory of a white horse
- 18:21Holding on to purpose when you're failing
- 19:53Racing from deep connection, not how it looks
- 21:43The numbers: a 1,200-lb horse at 70 km/h
- 22:38Why he took the risk: connection over money
- 24:07A Hall of Fame career, and what it cost
- 25:30The ranch and the retired racehorses he works with
- 27:39Belief in the horse, belief in himself: the call to Nathalie
- 30:09Commitment is everything, for coach and client
- 31:16What success means to him now: family first
- 32:48Closing: see him at the Summit
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