Week In Review: A 30-Year-Old Bugboy’s First Win: ‘The One You Least Expect’

At 84-1 odds, Boys and Bullets (Uptowncharlybrown) was lagging in 11th and last place nearing the quarter pole in last Wednesday's eighth race at Parx when 10-pound apprentice jockey Francisco Martinez patiently started picking off half the field.

By the time Martinez set down his gelding at the eighth pole, Boys and Bullets was gathering momentum, but still five lengths behind the frontrunner.

As the line loomed, the pack tightened. With a hustling hand ride Martinez gunned for an inside split, then deftly readjusted his aim for a better hole between rivals to the outside.

Boys and Bullets burst through to head-bob with the leader in the final strides, and Martinez kept driving hard through the finish. It was only a few jumps later that the rookie rider gave a jubilant fist pump because he knew he had earned his first official winner as a licensed professional.

Or had he? On the gallop-out, doubts crept in. Returning to unsaddle, Martinez became even less sure, because none of the other riders were saying anything one way or the other.

Then he saw his number glowing on the infield tote board. Boys and Bullets had won by a head. After coming close with six seconds and seven thirds from 29 mounts since his Mar. 5 debut, Martinez was a maiden no more.

“My heart screamed inside of me, I was so happy,” Martinez told TDN. “I was like, 'Wow, I can't believe I got it done on a long shot-the one that you least expect.'”

You've seen the congratulatory rite-of-passage “baptism” that accompanies an apprentice jockey's first win in North America: A gleeful mob of riders and valets douse the grinning newbie with water, shaving cream, boot polish, toothpaste, shampoo, eggs, and whatever other gooey substances can be found in the jocks' room or kitchen.

Martinez's celebratory bath was no different. But his backstory certainly is.

For starters, he's 30 years old and has only been riding horses for 3 1/2 years despite having spent a childhood in a family of racetrackers on the now-defunct New England circuit. In addition, as a teenager, Martinez drifted away from the sport-and for a brief while, his family. He reconnected with both after figuring out, in his words, “that horses really do bring people together.”

“In Boston, I grew up in the 'hood,” Martinez said. “I come from poverty, so it feels nice to, like, be someone now in life. And if feels good to know that my parents are really, really happy for me, and my family supports me in everything I do. I thought I was lost at 20 years old.”

'You're going to be a jockey…'

Martinez's father, also named Francisco, has worked for decades in the stable of trainer Mike Aro. When Aro was based primarily at Rockingham Park and Suffolk Downs, the younger Martinez recalls that he and his two younger brothers were always welcome under the shed row, where they got acquainted with racehorses from infancy.

In the early 2000s, the Martinez boys carried their equine enthusiasm home, where they were fond of watching the nightly televised Suffolk replay show while “riding” the arms of the couch with their dad's leather belts strapped to the furniture as reins.

Those pretend stretch battles did not exactly thrill their mother, Maria Rodriguez.

“My Mom would be like, 'What are you guys breaking down the couch for?'” Martinez reminisced. “And I would say, 'We're learning. We're riding.”

Martinez was allowed to do some hotwalking in the summers before he got out of grade school, and he gained a reputation for being able to handle difficult horses, even as a child.

“Especially the crazy ones. I used to get along with them really good,” Martinez said with pride.

He occasionally would be permitted to get up on horseback, but not beyond the shed row.

Martinez vividly recalls one of Aro's primary jockeys at the time, Michel Lapensee, giving him early encouragement.

“Mike Lapensee once threw his helmet and vest on me and put me up on a horse in Mikey Aro's barn and said, 'You're going to be a jockey when you grow up,'” Martinez recalled.

Decades later, that prediction resonates with poignancy: Lapensee died at age 58 in 2005 after a fall during a race at Suffolk.

But as Martinez grew into his teenage years, his interest in racing became eclipsed by a passion for soccer. He got recruited to play for a statewide team in Massachusetts.

At roughly the same time though, his father decided to follow a job offer to Parx when the Aro outfit relocated to Pennsylvania. This was a few years after Rockingham ceased Thoroughbred racing in 2002 and more than a decade before Suffolk would close in 2019.

“It was just me, my mom, and my two brothers back home,” Martinez said. “Then I broke my three last toes on my right foot, and I just couldn't get back into soccer shape. Every time I tried to run, I couldn't run. I'd fall or trip or something because I had no feeling there yet. And I kind of got mad and got away from it. Then I started hanging around the streets a lot. I got distant from everybody. I dropped out of school.”

Martinez has an uncle, Ruben Rodriguez, who had worked for standings-topping New England trainer Charlie Assimakopoulos. But Rodriguez left the backstretch life to take on construction work when that outfit also relocated as the New England circuit dissolved. Seeing that his nephew was in danger of going adrift, Rodriguez got him a job as a construction laborer in Boston. But Martinez didn't really relish the work and had a nagging feeling something was missing.

His dad phoned one day. “What are you going to do with your life?” he asked his son point-blank.

“Honestly, I was going to call you to come back to the horses,” Martinez told his father. “Because that's all I've known since I was little.”

So Martinez followed his father to Pennsylvania. Eventually, his younger brothers took jobs at Parx as well. Luis, the middle sibling, is now an assistant for Ron Dandy, another transplanted New England trainer. Juan, the youngest, is an exercise rider.

Asked approximately when he made that move to Parx, Martinez rattles off the exact date: Dec. 15, 2012.

“I remember it because it was the best thing I ever did in my life,” Martinez said.

'Never too late to start'

Aro took him on as a hotwalker, but Martinez had lost some muscle memory for the job after being away from horses for a decade.

“I had to basically learn everything again,” Martinez explained. “Because from 10 years old to 19 years old, I hadn't done anything with horses. I hadn't been around them. But I always had a really good connection with them.”

Later in the 2010s, Martinez worked as a groom for trainer Scott Lake. In the summer of 2020, he learned that he and his high school sweetheart were going to become the parents of a baby girl, and this got him thinking about trying to get a better-paying racetrack job.

Juan kept pestering his brother to get on horseback and get licensed. One day Martinez accompanied Juan to a local farm where he exercised horses. The farm's trainer had heard that the older Martinez brother wanted to give riding a shot, so he handed Martinez a helmet and gave him a leg up on a massive Quarter Horse nicknamed Gorilla because of his size and strength.

“At that farm, it takes four rounds to jog a mile,” Martinez said. “By the third round my hands were asleep, and I thought he was going to run off with me. But when I laid back, he relaxed. And the more I did that, the more he got along with me.”

The trainer told him no other rider had ever had such kinship with Gorilla.

“What I like about you was you didn't panic, you didn't get scared, you stayed on the horse so he could do his job,” Martinez said the farm's trainer told him.

Back at Parx, Martinez's father had acquired three of his own horses that he cared for in addition to his work for Aro. Although initially reluctant to let his son get licensed and jog them, he relented. At age 27, after a lifetime at the races, Martinez took his first twirl around the track on horseback.

Soon after, someone from John Servis's barn approached Martinez, complimented his style, and asked who he worked for. Martinez said he only got aboard his dad's three horses. The Servis outfit was looking for a galloper, but would let him start learning that skill by jogging. It was a Thursday-could he start on Monday?

“I can start today if you need me,” Martinez beamed by way of reply.

Martinez credits Servis with teaching him to gallop and breeze horses the right way for the last 3 1/2 years.

“I turned into his main two-minute-licker,” Martinez said. “I hit every exact second that he asked me. He'd test me-1:56, 1:58-and I'd hit them. He told me, 'Kid, you've got a clock in your head.'”

Francisco Martinez receives the “initiation” celebration after capturing his first career win | EQUI-PHOTO.

It was also Servis who nominated Martinez to ride in the Amateur Riders Club of America series at Delaware and Laurel. Those are pari-mutuel races in which riders are allowed to tack higher weights well into the 130-plus pound range.

Martinez won the very first amateur race he attempted, on Oct. 6, 2022, at Delaware aboard Boffo Kid (Friesan Fire), who won by a neck with a furious late drive in an off-the-turf route.

“I was just so happy to be in the race that I forgot to put on my goggles,” Martinez said with a laugh. “I was just getting hit with dirt, dirt, dirt. At the three-quarters pole I said, “Should I bring my goggles down?' And I was like, 'Nah, I gallop like this every morning. I'll just leave them off.”

He competed in that series through 2023, winning two of seven races over two years. The amateur jockeys do not get awarded any purse money, and although Equibase lists the wins on their lifetime records, the victories don't count against an apprenticeship if a rider does turn pro.

At Parx, Martinez also got a taste of true horsepower during that time. When trainer Bob Baffert shipped Reincarnate (Good Magic) and Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) to run in a pair of Grade I stakes there, Servis recommended Martinez to get on them in the mornings.

As 2024 neared, Martinez knew it was now or never for taking his shot at being a jockey. Friends in the Parx riding colony were asking him what he was waiting for. His main concerns were getting his weight down from 118 to 110 without resorting to unhealthy measures, and dealing with the loss of steady income from exercising horses. As a jockey, he would still be getting aboard horses in the mornings, only now he'd have to do it for free in exchange for the never-certain prospect of getting mounts on them in the afternoons.

When Martinez told Servis what he was planning to do, the trainer further complicated the decision by saying he had just been about to offer Martinez an assistant's job.

“I told John, 'I want to try this, because if I don't do it, I'm going to regret it,'” Martinez said.

Martinez cut down his weight via diet and intense gym sessions, and February was supposed to be his target to start riding in races. Then his brother Juan broke five ribs in a training accident when his saddle slipped sideways trying to pull up a rank horse, and Martinez delayed his debut.

“He got stuck next to the rail,” Martinez said. “But Juan says the rail saved his life, because if not, that horse would have been dragging him on the ground.”

Martinez finally rode in his first race six weeks ago. He was 11th and last and didn't hit the board for a week, but was not deterred.

When Martinez hit the winner's circle Apr. 10, it unlocked more opportunities. After initially hustling his own mounts without an agent, Martinez has since teamed with Richard Englander, who has him booked on 18 mounts at Parx this Monday through Wednesday, plus two more at Aqueduct on Thursday.

“I'd been wanting to do this since I was little, but I never got the chance,” Martinez said. “And now that I'm doing it, I want to get everything out that I always wanted to get out. Every time I ride I try to give my all. It doesn't matter if the horse is a long shot, what the odds are. If I get along with the horse, I'm at peace with my heart.”

Although Martinez said he has accepted some good-natured ribbing about being a rookie at age 30, he replies pensively when asked what his advice would be to others looking to fulfill a difficult dream later in life.

“It's never too late to start,” Martinez said. “God is always, always open to anybody, and He will push you if you talk to Him. That's one thing that I have learned and believe in. And I believe that thanks to Him, I'm on the right track now.”

The post Week In Review: A 30-Year-Old Bugboy’s First Win: ‘The One You Least Expect’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Bolt d’Oro Gets First Stakes Winner At Gulfstream

After switching from the dirt to Gulfstream's synthetic surface and breaking his maiden emphatically by 6 1/2 lengths at second asking Aug. 20, Mounsieur Coco entered stakes company just eight days later with the 1-2 edge. Two wide with J R's Pride (Ride On Curlin) for the lead through a half in :21.95, he took over command under his own power midway around the far turn. Much the best into the final furlong, he didn't give the closers a chance, widening his margin and hitting the line 4 1/2 lengths ahead. The first black-type winner for Bolt d'Oro (by Medaglia d'Oro), Mounsieur Coco is out of a half-sister to MGSP and Pennsylvania-based sire Uptowncharlybrown (Limehouse). His only younger sibling is a yearling half-brother by Bernardini while his dam was sent to Tapiture for a 2023 foal. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

PROUD MAN S., $65,000, Gulfstream, 8-28, 2yo, 5 1/2f (AWT), 1:04.16, ft.
1–MOUNSIEUR COCO, 120, c, 2, Bolt d'Oro–Cooking Mama, by
Bandini. ($85,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN.
O-St. George Stable LLC; B-Rose Hill Farm (KY); T-Fausto
Gutierrez; J-Miguel Angel Vasquez. $38,610. Lifetime Record:
3-2-0-0, $64,210. *1/2 to Mojo Man (Stay Thirsty), MSP,
$561,326. **First SW for sire.
2–Mariachi Crush, 120, c, 2, Cross Traffic–Stockings, by
Hennessy. ($82,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE.
O-St. George Stable LLC; B-Thomas S. & Henry L. Hinkle (KY);
T-Fausto Gutierrez. $12,870.
3–Cheerful Charlie, 118, c, 2, Adios Charlie–Sainted Dancer, by
Saint Anddan. 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Spencer McDonald;
B-Oakleaf Farm, Liz & Norman Wilson (FL); T-Luis Olivares.
$7,722.
Margins: 4HF, HD, 4HF. Odds: 0.50, 8.60, 14.70.
Also Ran: Dangerous Ride, D Coldest, J R 's Pride.

The post Bolt d’Oro Gets First Stakes Winner At Gulfstream appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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PR Back Ring Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale: Life After Kentucky Derby Controversy For Dancer’s Image

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR BACK RING

The latest issue of the PR Back Ring is now online, ahead of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale.

The PR Back Ring is the Paulick Report's new bloodstock newsletter, released ahead of every major North American Thoroughbred auction. Seeking to expand beyond the usual pdf presentation, the Back Ring offers a dynamic experience for bloodstock content, heavy on visual elements and statistics to appeal to readers on all platforms, especially mobile devices.

Here is what's inside this issue…

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR BACK RING

  • Lead Feature Presented By Crane Thoroughbreds: As the world waits for the split sample results to come back on Medina Spirit's Betamethasone positive in the Kentucky Derby, bloodstock editor Joe Nevills looks back on the eclectic stud career of Dancer's Image, the first horse to be disqualified from first in the Derby for a failed drug test in 1968.
  • Stallion Spotlight: Glenn Brok of Diamond B Farm on first-year stallion Rowayton.
  • Lesson Horses Presented By John Deere Equine Incentive Program: Craig Bernick of Glen Hill Farm on the hard lessons about the Thoroughbred market taught to him by You Go West Girl.
  • Honor Roll Presented By Uptowncharlybrown Stud: Wait For It is a homegrown “miracle horse” for Bob Hutt.
  • Ask Your Veterinarian Presented By Kentucky Performance Products: Dr. Daniel Devis of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital on LASER therapy.
  • Pennsylvania Leaderboard Presented By Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association: Beren sets the pace among Pennsylvania program incentive earners through the first two months of 2021.
  • Ask Your Insurer Presented By Muirfield Insurance: Bryce Burton of Muirfield Insurance explains how breeders can add more of a guarantee to a “no guarantee” stallion season.
  • The Stat: Leading Maryland sires by increase in mares bred from 2019 to 2020.
  • First-Crop Sire Watch: Stallions whose first juveniles are cataloged in the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR BACK RING

The post PR Back Ring Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale: Life After Kentucky Derby Controversy For Dancer’s Image appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Pennsylvania Leaderboard Presented By Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Associaiton: Wait For It Tops 2020 Incentive Earners

Some things are worth the wait, and for the Uptowncharlybrown gelding Wait for It, a year of anticipation and success saw him finish at the top of the list among earners from the lucrative Pennsylvania-bred and -sired program in 2020.

Now a 6-year-old, Wait for It brought in a combined $191,540 in earnings directly tied to his status as a horse sired and born in the Keystone State, between stakes races restricted to Pennsylvania-breds, breeder's awards, stallion awards, and owner bonuses.

A serious revenue generator for those responsible for practically every phase of his life, Wait for It led the state by Pennsylvania-bred stakes earnings ($91,200), breeder's awards ($67,664), and stallion awards ($16,916).

Wait for It made four of his eight starts last year in his native state, highlighted by a front-running triumph in the Storm Cat Stakes at Parx Racing by 2 1/4 lengths, and the Hard Spun Stakes at Presque Isle Downs, which he won with a later-timed move by 2 1/4 lengths. He also added to his incentive totals with an optional claiming win and an allowance runner-up effort to kick off the season at Parx.

Wait for It races for Uptowncharlybrown Stud LLC, and he was bred by Fantasy Lane Stable. He is out of the winning Posse mare Kimberley Diamond, who is herself a Pennsylvania-bred.

Two other horses raked in six-figure incentive earnings in 2020, both by the late perennial leading Pennsylvania sire Jump Start.

Its a Journey brought in $109,550 on the strength of a campaign highlighted by a dramatic closing victory by a neck in the Mrs. Penny Stakes at Parx Racing. The 8-year-old also won an optional claiming race at Parx and finished second in another to add to her totals for the season.

Bred by Mr. & Mrs. Robert A. Szeyller, Its a Journey races for Gap View Stables and Jagger Inc.

Joining Its a Journey in the six-figure club is Fire's Finale, a standout juvenile who finished his season with a closing score in the Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes at Parx, after breaking his maiden at the same track in his previous start.

Fire's Finale runs as a homebred for Kennwood Racing, which owns the colt in partnership with Degaetano and Pastore, Inc.

 

The post Pennsylvania Leaderboard Presented By Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Associaiton: Wait For It Tops 2020 Incentive Earners appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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