It was an action-packed evening at Horseshoe Indianapolis Saturday with the 8th annual World Jockey Challenge taking place over the nine-race card. Action came down to the wire, but Team Puerto Rico emerged on top with 48 points over Team USA to claim their second straight victory in the event.
A total of eight teams competed for their countries and Puerto Rico got off to a fast start with a win from apprentice jockey Andrea Rodriguez. Team Panama, which consisted of Santo Sanjur and Marcelino Pedroza Jr., rallied to take the lead with a one-two finish in the second, but blazing back to take the lead was Puerto Rico with a pair of wins from Jockey Joe Ramos. Marcelino Pedroza Jr. retook the lead for Panama in the evening's fourth race.
Just when it looked like it would be a two-team finish to the end, Team USA began to pour it on, getting wins from apprentice jockey Gage Holmes and Jockey Tommy Pompell. Going into the final race, Puerto Rico held a slight edge over Team USA and completed their victory by two points for the title.
“This means a lot to me because I started from the very bottom in Puerto Rico,” said Ramos, who is currently in second place on the leaderboard this season. “We all tried very hard, and it was a team effort. We love to win this for our country.”
In addition to Rodriguez and Ramos, Jockeys Sammy Bermudez and Joshua Morales added points to the tally for Team Puerto Rico. All four were in the winner's circle following the event for the trophy presentation. Other jockeys from Puerto Rico who are part of Horseshoe Indianapolis' jockey colony but did not ride on the Saturday card were Edgar Morales, Bryan Rivera, Orlando Mojica and Rafael Mojica.
Other countries represented in the 8th annual World Jockey Challenge included England, who had a win by Jack Gilligan, Peru, represented by Fernando De La Cruz, and Mexico, represented by Jose Beltran, Edgar Diaz, Manny Esquivel, Juan Marquez (winner of the last race), Daniel Martinez, Eddie Perez, Giovani Vazquez-Gomez, Rolando Del Rio Pina, and German Rodriguez.
Other members of Team USA who put points on the board included E.T. Baird, Erik Esqueda, Lindsey Hebert, Dex Mitchell, DeShawn Parker, Rodney Prescott, and Shanley Jackson.
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