Eclipse Finalists Marquez, Hiraldo Continue Tradition Of Maryland Apprentice Riders

Teenage sensation Charlie Marquez, Maryland's second-leading rider by wins and purse earnings last year, is among three finalists for the Eclipse Award as champion apprentice jockey of 2021.

Joining Marquez as finalists are John Hiraldo, who spent more than half his apprenticeship in Maryland, and California-based Jessica Pyfer. Hiraldo led all apprentice riders with 81 wins while Pyfer was tops with more than $2.7 million in purses earned.

“It's unbelievable,” Marquez said. “I was kind of surprised to be honest with you. I only had my bug last year for five months, so me being able to put up the numbers to even be nominated is kind of crazy and awesome to me.”

Marquez ended 2021 with 102 wins and $3,500,448 in purse earnings at Laurel Park and historic Pimlico Race Course, second only to Jevian Toledo, and led Pimlico's Preakness Meet with 49 victories. He also won his first two Maryland Million races, including Buff Hello in the Nursery.

A native of Columbia, Md., near Laurel, Marquez ranked fourth with 50 wins and $1,454,210 in purses earned as an apprentice in 2021, his last day coming May 29. During that time he won his first stakes, the March 15 Private Terms at Laurel with 21-1 long shot Shackled Love.

The son and grandson of successful jockeys in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, Marquez was not among the Eclipse Award finalists for champion apprentice of 2020, won by Maryland-based counterpart Alexander Crispin. He led all Maryland bug riders with 58 wins and ranked seventh in the state overall despite having his apprenticeship interrupted for 2 ½ months from mid-March to late May when Maryland racing was paused amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Marquez has 211 wins and more than $6.5 million in purse earnings from 1,433 career mounts. He won his first race at the age of 16 on Jan. 9, 2020 with Sierra Leona at Laurel.

“Whether I win or lose, it's a pretty big deal that I was even nominated especially after only having my bug for a few months,” Marquez said. “You have to go into it happy. You never know what could happen.”

Maryland-based riders have captured 12 of the 50 Eclipse Awards as champion apprentice. Winners before Crispin were Chris McCarron (1974), Ronnie Franklin (1978), Alberto Delgado (1982), Allen Stacy (1986), Kent Desormeaux (1987), Mike Luzzi (1989), Mark Johnston (1990), Jeremy Rose (2001), Ryan Fogelsonger (2002), Victor Carrasco (2013) and Weston Hamilton (2018).

“It's huge. It's the dream of all apprentice riders. I can't even wrap my head around it,” Marquez said. “It's just huge. I can't really explain it.”

A 20-year-old native of Puerto Rico, Hiraldo ranked second among all apprentice riders with $2,178,769 in purse earnings from 638 mounts. With 89 seconds and 94 thirds, the son of ex-jockey Joel Hiraldo whose cousin, Angel Cruz, rides on the Maryland circuit finished in the money at 41 percent clip.

Hiraldo worked as an exercise rider for trainer Brittany Russell before making his professional debut Dec. 10, 2020 at Laurel Park. He won his first career race with 33-1 long shot Flat Rate on Laurel's 2020 New Year's Eve program.

In 2021, Hiraldo ranked 14th in Maryland with 35 wins from 365 mounts to go along with $1,171,150 in purse earnings. He has been riding at Oaklawn Park since the opening of its winter meet in early December.

Pyfer, 23, rode as an apprentice through Nov. 13 of last year, ranking second with 56 wins from 535 mounts. The stepdaughter of trainer Phil D'Amato graduated from Azusa Pacific University with a degree in political science and minor in constitutional law and put off law school to become a jockey, winning her first race Oct. 9, 2020 at Santa Anita.

All Eclipse Award winners will be announced Thursday, Feb. 10 at Santa Anita Park.

Notes: Live racing continues Monday with a special Martin Luther King Jr. holiday program. Post time for the first of 10 races in 12:10 p.m. The feature comes in Race 9, an optional claiming allowance for 3-year-old fillies sprinting six furlongs. Among the field of eight are Sweet Gracie, third in the Maryland Juvenile Fillies Dec. 18; Click to Confirm, third in the Smart Halo Nov. 13; Moody Woman, third in the Gin Talking Dec. 26; and Mama G's Wish, second in the Blue Hen and third in the Small Wonder last summer at Delaware Park.

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: ‘I Was Born For This’

John Hiraldo began learning how to ride horses just three short years ago, but today the 20-year-old is a leading candidate for the Eclipse Award as North America's outstanding apprentice jockey of 2021. 

The Puerto Rican-born Hiraldo had always wanted to be a jockey like his father, cousin, and uncle, but his mother took a firm stand on him finishing school and trying other sports before he committed to a life on the racetrack. 

“My mom tried to keep me in school and other sports; she tried her best for me to do something different,” Hiraldo said. “I'd always tell her, 'Mom, I was born for this.' 

“Now that I'm riding full-time, she's honestly my biggest fan! She records all the races, and she tells me, 'I watch 'em all, scared, I can't just sit back and not watch.' The only time she closes her eyes is when I'm at the top of the stretch and I hook up with another rider, because she doesn't want me to lose that battle to the wire!”

Hiraldo came to the U.S. mainland in 2018 to begin riding, spending time in Maryland learning how to exercise racehorses and in South Carolina, breaking babies at the Elloree Training Center. When Hiraldo returned to Maryland, he got a job working for trainer Brittany Russell. She and her husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, were instrumental in Hiraldo's continuing education.

“Thanks to her I started breezing horses, working horses out of the gate, and got my gate card,” Hiraldo relayed. “My agent asked Brittany if I was ready in November, and she said, 'Not quite yet.' When Sheldon said I was good, that's when she kind of fired me! The next day I just started walking around with my agent. I was booked to ride my first horse on Friday, and then I picked up a mount on that Thursday. 

“It was nerve-wracking, and I was definitely anxious, because honestly it was the day I was most waiting for in my life. That first race was different; I never thought I would experience something like that [being nervous]. But when I broke, it was like the most relaxing moment of my life. I was like, 'Okay, I'm here.' That was the moment I was waiting for. When I crossed the wire, I said, 'I wanna do this for the rest of my life.'”

From his first mount on Dec. 10, 2020, it took until New Year's Eve for Hiraldo to make his way to the winner's circle. As is so often the case on the racetrack, that day didn't pan out the way he'd planned it.

“All week I was looking forward to that day, because I was riding a 1-9 shot in the third race and everyone kept telling me she couldn't lose,” said Hiraldo. “Then she stumbled out of the gate, I lost my irons, and we ran third. I was so frustrated, beating myself up and wondering if I was even any good at this. I wanted to just go home, because my last horse was a 30-1 shot.”

Hiraldo bounced back and overcame the frustration to swing his leg over that longshot, and the young jockey is so glad he did.

“He comes out running, so I broke and I just sat off the lead,” he remembered. “I waited, waited, waited, then I asked him and he just took off. Without me knowing what the key to winning is, I just did it. It was patience.”

Flat Rate gives John Hiraldo his first career win at odds of 33-1

Flat Rate paid $69.80 to win, giving Hiraldo the first winner of his career.

“It's something very special, unbelievable really. I can't believe it,” Hiraldo told the Maryland Jockey Club media office from the winner's circle. “I'm very happy. I have to thank God for always watching over me and all the other riders. I'm just very happy. I've worked so hard for this moment and I've dreamed about it since I was a little kid. It's something very special for me.”

Over the ensuing year, Hiraldo worked hard to find as many mounts as possible, riding at up to three tracks in a single day. 

In one week, for example, he rode at Parx on Monday and Tuesday; at Colonial on Wednesday; at Delaware Park and Charles Town on Thursday; at Laurel, Delaware, and Charles Town on Friday; at Delaware and Penn National on Saturday; and at Laurel on Sunday.

He has gotten a lot of advice from his cousin, Angel Cruz (an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice in 2014), and his uncle, Luis Batista, as well as some of the other riders on the Midatlantic circuit, like Xavier Perez and Victor Carrasco.

“I got a lot of experience, and it helped me to mature more in the game,” said Hiraldo. “Riding different surfaces against good jocks helped me to learn to ride over a lot of different racetracks.”

He celebrated his first stakes win on Oct. 13, winning the Clay Creek Stakes at Delaware Park aboard Red Hot Mess. The filly is trained by Hiraldo's girlfriend, Chelsey Moysey, for whom the win was also a first in stakes company.

“That was pretty cool,” Hiraldo said. “First for both.”

Hiraldo won 81 races in 2021, riding across the Midatlantic region for most of the year and at Oaklawn Park during the month of December. His major competitor for an Eclipse Award appears to be California-based Jessica Pyfer with 56 victories; her earnings of $2.7 million bested Hiraldo's $2.1 million.

While it's only been three years since he first got into the irons, and the race for the Eclipse is over (voting closes on Jan. 10), Hiraldo is just getting started. He'll keep his “bug,” the weight allowance granted to apprentice riders, through April, and hopes that his alliance with Oaklawn-based agent Jay Fedor will lead to a productive meet. So far, he's ridden five winners from 39 starters at the Hot Springs, Ark., track.

“I just want to make a name for myself here,” Hiraldo said. “The dream is to be in New York or Kentucky, so I've got to keep riding a lot of races, learning, and trying to win!”

Chelsey Moysey and John Hiraldo after their stakes win at Delaware Park

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Laurel Park: Apprentice John Hiraldo Scores First Career Win With 33-1 Longshot

Top Notch Racing's Flat Rate emerged from a three-way photo finish a neck ahead of Proud Enough to spring a 33-1 upset of Laurel Park's sixth race and give 10-pound apprentice jockey John Hiraldo his first career victory.

Flat Rate ($69.80), a 4-year-old Violence gelding, ran 5 ½ furlongs in 1:05.90 over a fast main track in the beaten claimer for 3-year-olds and up to earn his fourth career victory and first since joining trainer Michael Jones Jr.

“It's something very special, unbelievable really. I can't believe it,” Hiraldo said. “I'm very happy. I have to thank God for always watching over me and all the other riders. I'm just very happy. I've worked so hard for this moment and I've dreamed about it since I was a little kid. It's something very special for me.”

Hiraldo, 19, is a native of Puerto Rico who galloped horses for trainer Brittany Russell before making his professional debut running fourth on Maximo Strong Dec. 10 at Laurel. Hiraldo had gone winless in his first 18 mounts including a third on Frontier Woman in Thursday's third race.

“My cousin, Angel Cruz, he has been a big part of my short career. Xavier [Perez], Sheldon [Russell]. Sheldon is one of the best ones in there. He's a great guy on and off the racetrack and he's been a good mentor for me,” Hiraldo said.

Angel Cruz is member of the Maryland track's riding colony who won with Dance and Dance ($16.60) Thursday and finished sixth in the fall meet standings with 20 wins. Hiraldo's father, Joel, won 200 races between 2001 and 2011, the last coming at Charles Town.

“When I was growing up, my dad was a jockey so he was the person I would always look up to. I would go to school and always think about riding. I didn't care about the grades, I just wanted to go to be a jockey when I grew up,” Hiraldo said. “When I grew up I went to the farm and started learning as much as I could. I came back and was here for a couple months working for Brittany Russell. I have to thank her for all her help. I just felt like it was the right time to do it.”

Flat Rate and Hiraldo posing for pictures

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