When John Davila Jr. came to Finger Lakes in 1991, he was 26 years old and looking for direction. He had won a grand total of 37 races while bouncing back and forth between his native Puerto Rico and the United States and realized time was running short if he was going to make it as a jockey. Flash forward to present day and Davila is on the verge of his 4,000th victory. He has won 14 riding titles at Finger Lakes and overtook Les Hulet in 2017 to become the all-time winningest rider at the upstate New York track. At age 54, he is still winning at a high percentage, and through Tuesday was second in the Finger Lakes standings with 106 wins. Davila came to Florida to ride in 1983 but had only limited success and returned to Puerto Rico. When he tried the U.S. again, he won 32 races over two seasons at Thistledown but once again struggled and went home. “I did nothing for a long time,” Davila said. “I stayed away from the racetrack in Puerto Rico because I didn’t like the way they did things there. In 1991, I was ready to do anything. I needed to do something with my life.” Davila headed to Finger Lakes and dedicated himself to riding. Things began to click. “When I went to Finger Lakes, I did my exercises, I worked hard,” Davila said. “When people saw me on top of horses, they told me I had talent. It changed my life completely.” Davila won his first Finger Lakes title in 1994. He led the standings again in 1998 and then reeled off 10 straight championships from 2002 to 2011. He was leading rider again in 2016 and 2017. Through Tuesday, Davila had 3,996 career wins. Of that total, 1,899 have come for trainer Chris Englehart, the all-time leader at Finger Lakes with 3,352 victories. Davila has won another 198 races for Chris’s son Jeremiah. Between them, Chris and Jeremiah Englehart have won the last 15 Finger Lakes training titles. “Chris Englehart is like my father,” Davila said. “His wife, Sheila, is like my mother. Jeremiah is my brother. They respect me. I respect them. “Chris gave me the confidence to do all this.” Davila is looking forward to winning his 4,000th race. “I am very, very excited about it,” he said. “I never expected to win 100 races in my life. I believe when you do things right, God comes to you. I have been so fortunate.” Davila has not wandered far from Finger Lakes, where he has won 3,948 races. “I like it here very much,” Davila said. “It is beautiful country. I went to Ohio, Oklahoma, New York but I don’t like the fast city. Up here, it’s like living in a park.” Davila is married to the former rider Elaine Castillo, who between 2003 and 2013 won 541 races, all but three at Finger Lakes. When the track closes for the winter, they head to Davila’s farm in Puerto Rico, where he has a 20-horse riding stable and is in the process of building a two-level country-western bar. “It is a beautiful place,” he said. “Whenever I bring something from the States there, people love it because it is new to them.” Taking the winter off not only gives Davila time to recharge, it reduces wear and tear on his body and likely has helped extend his career. He has no plans to retire. “I go home to Puerto Rico, get my mind fresh again, and then when I come to Finger Lakes I am ready for anything,” Davila said. “I feel like I am 18. I feel freaky good. I keep waiting for my body to tell me to slow down but I don’t feel any different.”