Eclipse Award apprentice Gomez begins life as a journeyman

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jockey Jose Gomez, the Eclipse Award-winning apprentice jockey of 2022, officially became a journeyman rider on Sunday. He went 0 for 5 with two seconds at Aqueduct.

On Saturday, his final day as an apprentice, Gomez won the $97,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes aboard Drew’s Gold for his third stakes win and 171st career win.

Gomez, who sits sixth in the Aqueduct winter meet standings with 15 wins, expressed confidence that he will continue to succeed even without the five-pound weight allowance.

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“You got to believe in yourself because not everybody will,” Gomez said.

The New York jockey colony is still rich with apprentice riders, including Jason Huayas, Madison Olver, Omar Hernandez Moreno, Jaime Torres and Erick Fuentes.

Joe Petrucione celebrates 80th

Lifetime horseman Joe Petrucione turns 80 years old Thursday. Petrucione has worked in racing nearly 60 years and was associated with trainers Arnold Winick, Jimmy Iselin and Anthony Margotta Jr., and helped with the preparation of graded stakes winners Crafty Prospector, Hold Your Peace and Brunswick. Petrucione began his career in racing as a hotwalker for trainer Harry Trotsek on Sept. 1, 1965, at Belmont Park and worked around that year’s 2-year-old champion filly, Moccasin.

Petrucione, a clocker at the New York Racing Association, suffered a health scare last fall, needing multiple surgeries to repair blood clots in his leg. Petrucione plans to get back in the clocker’s stand this spring.

◗ Aqueduct’s racing schedule this week is Friday through Monday (Presidents Day). Following that, Aqueduct will race three days a week (Fridays through Sundays) until March 30 when the spring meets open.

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