Jockey Hamilton in full stride as journeyman

Maryland jockey Weston Hamilton’s five-pound apprentice weight allowance expired Dec. 22, but it shouldn’t slow him much. He’s looked like a journeyman for a long time now.

Hamilton, 20, made good use of his apprenticeship, winning 126 races – eight in 2017 and 118 this year. He has mount earnings in 2018 of $3.4 million and is a cinch to be named an Eclipse Awards finalist for apprentice rider.

“I would love to win it,” Hamilton said. “It’s been one of my goals all year long. I try not to think about it too much.”

Hamilton has more than held his own in a deep Maryland Jockey Club riding colony that includes veterans Jevian Toledo, Jorge Vargas Jr., Feargal Lynch, Horacio Karamanos, Julian Pimentel, and Victor Carrasco, the Eclipse Award-winning apprentice of 2013. Trevor McCarthy rejoined the local riding ranks in September.

Hamilton finished a close second in Laurel Park’s winter meet standings. He tied for second at the Laurel summer meet, and is in a four-way battle for second at the Laurel fall stand, which concludes Monday.

He has won four races in a day three times this year and has had five three-wins days. Hamilton is a decisive rider, a strong finisher, and does not hesitate to come up the rail.

One of Hamilton’s biggest supporters is Dale Capuano, who has trained in Maryland since 1981 and has 3,405 wins. Capuano and Hamilton are 44 for 155 this year, a win average of 28 percent.

“He’s my kind of rider, very aggressive, especially for an apprentice,” Capuano said. “He’s out every morning and will jog them, gallop them, work them, whatever you want him to do.”

Capuano singled out the fifth race at Belmont Park on Sept. 19 as one of Hamilton’s better rides.

Hamilton was aboard Capuano’s first-timer starter Strive for a Cure, who dropped well back early in the New York-bred maiden race. Strive for a Cure began to advance on the far turn, and Hamilton sent him through a tight opening along the rail entering the stretch. Hamilton came up inside the front-running leader in midstretch with Strive for a Cure and they went on to win by 1 1/4 lengths. The ground he saved likely was the difference between winning and losing.

“For an apprentice, riding for the first time at Belmont Park, it was impressive,” Capuano said.

Hamilton is the son of jockey Steve “Cowboy” Hamilton, a winner of 1,376 races who also competes in Maryland but is currently recuperating from back surgery.

“My father taught me so much,” Wes Hamilton said. “He also got me mentally ready to ride. I ask him stuff all the time and he gives me his best advice.”

Hamilton, who grew up in Kiefer, Okla., about 30 minutes outside Tulsa, said one of his biggest thrills came in late September when he won his first stakes, which came aboard the Capuano-trained Come Sundown in the First State Dash at Delaware Park.

“A lot of my family was at Delaware that day,” Hamilton said. “My aunt and uncle on my Dad’s side were there. My brother Garrett was in from Oklahoma. It was a big deal.”

Although he grew up in a rural area, Hamilton has adjusted well to life on the East Coast.

“I like both places even though they are very different,” Hamilton said. “If I’m in Oklahoma, I’m hunting and fishing. It’s hard being away from my family, who I love so much, but I’m staying in Maryland. All I want to do is keep riding.”