Jockey Lane Luzzi shifts tack to Remington Park

It’s a long way from Floral Park, N.Y., to Remington Park in Oklahoma City, but the 20-year-old jockey Lane Luzzi has made the journey looking to establish himself in a new market. Luzzi, the son of New York-based rider Mike Luzzi, was an Eclipse Award finalist for the outstanding apprentice of 2016.

Lane Luzzi arrived more than two weeks ahead of the start of the Remington season to work horses and get acquainted with regulars on the circuit. He grew up near Belmont Park in Floral Park, and prior to Remington had been riding at Laurel Park in Maryland.

“I had the opportunity to come down here from my agent, Bradley White,” Luzzi said. “He actually reached out to me and wanted to hear my thoughts about coming down. And I just thought at this time in my career – I lost my bug, and now I’m a journeyman – I think being in a new place where I could be a new face is important for me. I think I need to build some new connections and meet some new people.”

Luzzi won for the first time on Dec. 4, 2015, at Laurel. During his apprenticeship, he won three stakes, with two of them coming last fall at Gulfstream Park aboard Diamond Bachelor. He pursued a riding career in earnest after he graduated from high school, prepping for his career at Belmont.

“I actually got a late start,” Luzzi said. “I hadn’t really sat on a horse until I turned 16 years old. Just where I’m from – I was born and raised on Long Island, N.Y. – there’s not really much opportunity to even see any horses [other than] going to the racetrack.

“I really learned at the racetrack. There’s a two-furlong pony track there, and I would take a horse out two minutes before the track closed, and I would go gallop around there a few times. I would do that every day till I finally got out of school and I took my first job on the racetrack. My parents wanted me to finish school, and I wanted to finish, too.”

Aside from his father, Luzzi has an uncle who rode races and a great-grandfather who trained.

“I grew up around the sport my whole life,” Luzzi said. “This is always what I wanted to do, and I look up to my father as my biggest hero, my role model. The reason I always wanted to do this was because of him. Now that I’ve been riding a little while, he’s taking it a little bit easier on me. He’s my biggest teacher, and he’s my best friend. This is something we both enjoy as a passion.”

Luzzi said his father might come see him ride at Remington when he finishes riding the meet at Saratoga. Mike Luzzi, an Eclipse Award winner closing in on 3,500 career wins, has had one mount at Remington, riding the Oklahoma Derby in 2014.

Lane Luzzi has made an impression at Remington as an articulate professional with maturity beyond his years.

“I think just being yourself is a huge, important thing in this game,” he said. “It’s important on and off the racetrack, and that’s always what my dad tried to teach me. I’m myself on the back of a horse. I’m myself when I leave the track. And I think it’s important as a jockey. My riding style is my riding style. I can’t ride exactly like my dad. I can’t ride exactly like the leading rider at Remington. I’ve just got to be me, and that’s the most important thing I can do.”