Apprentice Rodriguez set for U.S. debut after success in Puerto Rico

Seven-pound apprentice jockey Yan Rodriguez will make his stateside debut at Laurel Park on Friday after a promising start in Puerto Rico. The 18-year-old rider grew up around horses and now has a chance to make a mark on the industry that raised him.

As a child, Rodriguez traveled to New York with his father, who worked in trainer Chris Englehart’s barn at Finger Lakes Racetrack. Even at that young age, he began to discover the edges of a lifelong dream.

“I remember one day, sitting in the racetrack kitchen, watching horses pass in front of me in a race,” Rodriguez said. “Something inside me felt different, like this was what I wanted to do, and it inspired me enormously.”

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When Rodriguez turned 13, he began walking horses for Kent Sweezey at Palm Meadows in Florida. While he worked there, he occasionally rode a stable pony and eventually caught the eye of a local exercise rider who began giving him riding lessons.

Rodriguez enrolled in Escuela Vocacional Hipica Agustin Mercado Reveron, a prestigious school for jockeys in Puerto Rico, when he was 16. He graduated with honors last year and began riding at Camarero Race Track in January. He won 13 races in 111 starts.

In Maryland, the young jockey will be represented by agent Tom Stift, who has had considerable success with apprentice riders in the past, including Victor Carrasco, Axel Concepcion, and Jeiron Barbosa.

“You just work,” Stift said of preparing young riders. “As an apprentice, you have to be there first thing in the morning, 4:30 in the morning. You have to see everybody and work for the chance to get a shot.”

In his first weekend at Laurel, Rodriguez has earned two mounts. In the fourth race Friday, he will ride 6-year-old mare She Is Wisky for trainer Phil Capuano. In the first race Saturday, he will ride 4-year-old filly Girl Gone Wild for trainer Kieron Magee.

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