2018 Eclipse Awards: Edgar Morales

It’s a special start to a career when a rider’s first winner comes for a Hall of Fame trainer.

Such was the case for Edgar Morales, who is an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice jockey of 2018.

Morales won the first race of his career for the late Jack Van Berg, in a $7,500 claiming route over 1 1/8 miles on Oct. 15, 2017 at Keeneland. His mount, Star Dog, was up for a half-length win in the field of 12.

“That horse came from far back,” Morales said. “Jack Van Berg told me to be patient, and I won!”

It would be the first of 94 wins during Morales’s apprenticeship career, which ended Nov. 16. His mounts earned $3,336,513 during that period, putting him in third place by mount earnings among North American-based apprentices at the end of 2018. The rider’s first stakes winner came in August, aboard The Money Dance in the $150,000 Governor’s Stakes at Indiana Grand.

Morales, who was the leading apprentice at meets in Arkansas and Kentucky in 2018, is a 20-year-old native of Puerto Rico. He is the younger brother of Louisiana-based journeyman Roberto Morales.

:: 2018 Eclipse Finalists: Profiles and photos for all categories

Edgar Morales said his brother brought him to Louisiana, where he galloped horses for trainers Karl Broberg, Efren Loza, and Danny Pish before heading to Kentucky. Edgar Morales is represented by agent Julio Espinoza.

“He reminds me a lot of a young Ramon Dominguez, even Braulio Baeza,” Espinoza told Daily Racing Form’s Marty McGee. “He always is saving something for the end.”

That was a lesson Morales learned earned early on – from a Hall of Famer.