ELMONT, N.Y. - Jockey Luis Saez recorded the 3,000th win of his career Sunday at Belmont Park when he guided Funny Joke to victory in the sixth race for trainer Rudy Rodriguez. “I’m feeling pretty happy, pretty blessed,” Saez said. “To get 3,000 winners is a lot for me. I never imagined I was going to be here. But we’re here and we just enjoy the moment.” The win came on the one-year anniversary of arguably his biggest career achievement, also accomplished at Belmont Park, when he won the Belmont Stakes last year on Essential Quality. “It was a special moment last year with that horse,” said Saez, who is represented by agent Kiaran McLaughlin. “We just keep looking forward and keep doing what we do.” Saez was to ride Ethereal Road in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, but Ethereal Road was withdrawn from consideration for the race on Monday. Saez, a 30-year-old native of Panama, has been a star almost since the day he began riding in the United States as a teenager in August 2009. Now entrenched as a perennial top-five jockey at Belmont Park and Saratoga, he first made his mark as the leading jockey at the old Calder and Gulfstream Park, where he rode for several years before leaving for higher purse money in New York. His mounts have earned more than $165 million, placing him 29th all time. Saez returns every winter to Gulfstream, where he has been the leading jockey twice at the championship meet. On two occasions in 2018, he rode a record-tying seven winners on a single Gulfstream card. Although Saez is not a regular rider in Kentucky, he can claim strong ties to the circuit. He rides most every April at Keeneland, where in 2021 he was the leading jockey with 29 wins. He has won 22 graded stakes between Keeneland and Churchill, 10 of them Grade 1 races, the latest being the May 6 Kentucky Oaks on Secret Oath. Also, Saez’s younger brother, Juan, rode regularly as a leading apprentice on this circuit prior to suffering fatal injuries at age 17 in a spill at Indiana Grand in October 2014. Saez also endured the heartbreak of losing an apparent Kentucky Derby winner as he was the rider of Maximum Security when the horse was disqualified from first for causing interference in the 2019 Derby. McLaughlin has booked mounts for Saez the last two years following the retirement of Richard DePass, his former longtime agent. Saez got his 1,000th winner on Lea in the Hal’s Hope at Gulfstream in January 2014 and his 2,000th on Y’allcomenow in November 2018 at Aqueduct. - additional reporting by Marty McGee