Ask any outrider what his or her priority is and you'll get the same answer every time.

"Safety is our main job," says Steve Erck, who has been a New York Racing Association outrider for 30 years. "More things can go wrong then can go right."

Aboard their "ponies," as their full-grown mounts are called, outriders have jobs that are not only difficult and dangerous, but exhausting. They work in the mornings during training hours at Belmont Park, Aqueduct and Saratoga and, of course, every afternoon during the races.

Belmont Stakes Day was their busiest day, with a capacity crowd and 13 races, including four Grade 1 races and a pair of Grade 2 events, giving Erck and his fellow outriders little time to rest.

"The Breeder's Cup and the Belmont Stakes -- that is when the most people are here and the press are everywhere asking their questions," he said with a smile.

Outriders are the people who retrieve and calm horses that get skittish or out of control. Thoroughbreds can be high strung and easily spooked, and the outriders and their mild-mannered ponies are the only ones in position to work with them.

“The people on the ground can't handle the horse," Erck said, "and most don't know how."

And sometimes it takes more than just a jockey to handle an anxious racehorse.

“Jockeys can't always handle the horses; it's a 100-pound jockey versus a 1,000-pound horse," he said. "Without outriders they'd just be going around in a circle all day."

Each outrider has four or five ponies who work every other day, one horse working the morning, and the other working the afternoon. Erck works with two retired racehorses and two quarter horses, all of whom are fast, gentle and tractable.

Like racehorses, the ponies have a barn in the Belmont Park stable area, but unlike racehorses, the ponies get a lot of human contact, so they're as good with people as their are with other horses.

In addition to working with thoroughbreds, the outriders also carry communication devices so that if a rider reports a foul, they can, in turn, relay it to the stewards.

Erck and his colleagues also have another important job.

"We make sure the race starts on time," he said. "Jockeys aren't keeping track of what time it is, so it's our job to make sure it all starts when it's supposed to."

Erck says his father was "something of a cowboy," and was the one who got him interested in horses. After trying to work in an office, and as a mechanic, Erck found his way to the track and has been here ever since.

"I love the whole job," he said. "I love horses, I love to be outside, and I love working at Belmont Park."