Jockey Edwin Gonzalez left behind the night life for the beach life 10 months ago, venturing to Gulfstream Park at the tail end of the 2020-2021 Championship Meet after dominating under the radar at Penn National.
The 29-year-old jockey has walked out of the shadows of night racing in Pennsylvania to further his career at the Hallandale Beach, FL racetrack where he will step into the spotlight to ride in all three Pegasus World Cup Invitational races on Saturday's spectacular 12-race program.
“I've come from the bottom,” Gonzalez said. “I got lucky with my agent and all the people who have helped me. I love to win races. I keep working hard. When I got here, I got a lot of opportunities.”
Gonzalez and agent Kevin Meyocks have made the most of their opportunities while based year-round at Gulfstream, so much so that Gonzalez has been named to ride Tracy Farmer's Sir Winston in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) presented by 1 S/T BET, Live Oak Plantation's March to the Arch in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) presented by Baccarat, and Pedigree Partners LLC's Shifty She in the $500,000 TAA Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational presented by PEPSI.
Sir Winston and March to the Arch are trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, while Shifty She is conditioned by Saffie Joseph Jr., who is currently atop the 2021-2022 Championship Meet trainer standings.
“I started winning races for everybody, Casse, Saffie, so many trainers gave me opportunities,” said Gonzalez, who is sitting sixth in the Championship Meet jockey standings with 19 winners. “I kept giving 100 percent to the horses to make everybody happy and keep working hard.”
Gonzalez got off to a fast start at Gulfstream, winning 59 races, including the 1500th of his career that started in his native Puerto Rico, during the Spring/Summer Meet before going to the sidelines for two months after sustaining a hairline fracture in his right leg July 3. He rode three winners on his first day back and has continued to entrench himself at Gulfstream.
Gonzalez will ride Sir Winston, the 2019 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner, for the first time in the Pegasus World Cup, in which he will face defending champion Knicks Go and Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner Life Is Good.
“I think he has a good chance because you have those two horses that will be in front. I'll be put my horse behind them and then make a run,” Gonzalez said. “My horse is working good. He worked the other day in 47 [seconds] and it was like he was galloping.”
After riding March to the Arch, a multiple graded-stakes winner with more than $980,000 in earnings in the Pegasus Turf, Gonzalez will seek his second graded-stakes victory aboard Shifty She in the Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf. Gonzalez guided the daughter of Gone Astray to victory in the Noble Damsel (G3) at Belmont Park Oct. 23. Gonzalez has gone 3-for-3 aboard Shifty She before finishing second last time out at Gulfstream in the Suwannee River (G3), in which she held gamely to finish a half-length behind Sweet Melania.
“She's a nice filly. I think she has a good chance to win. In her last race, I don't think she was 100 percent. This race, she'll be 100 percent,” Gonzalez said. “She's here. She doesn't have to ship, which is in her favor.”
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