Jockey Pedroza finds cure to dismal summer

CYPRESS, Calif. – Jockey Martin Pedroza, still going strong at the age of 53, found the ideal antidote to a difficult summer on Thursday at Los Alamitos.

Pedroza won two races on the first day of the Los Angeles County Fair meeting, or half the number of races he won during the entire 36-day season at Del Mar.

“I needed a double to make up for Del Mar,” Pedroza said. “I should have had a triple.”

Pedroza won Thursday’s fifth race on Kid Koil ($8) and the seventh on Princess Areni ($6.20). He was second in the fourth race on Street Vision, who was beaten by a head.

Pedroza is one of the senior members of the year-round jockeys’ room in Southern California along with Gary Stevens, 55, and Mike Smith and Stewart Elliott, who are both 53. Of those, only Elliott is riding regularly at Los Alamitos this month.

Pedroza and Elliott are fighting for mounts at Los Alamitos with several apprentice jockeys who are thriving in Southern California.

On Sunday, Pedroza does not ride, while Elliott is booked in three of the nine races. The apprentice jockeys Assael Espinoza and Heriberto Figueroa, who tied for the jockey title here in July, are in demand. Both rode winners on Thursday.

Figueroa has seven mounts on Sunday, while Espinoza has six. Fellow apprentice jockeys Edgar Payeras has six mounts and Kellie McDaid has three.

At Del Mar, Pedroza was winless with his first 46 mounts and had four wins in August. He said a few opportunities on well-regarded horses were lost to late scratches and illnesses.

“I was getting frustrated,” he said. “I thought I’d have a few here and a few there.”

Thursday was Pedroza’s first multi-win day since he won three races here July 12. Thursday’s wins gave Pedroza a record 115 career wins at major Thoroughbred meetings at Los Alamitos. He rode here during the Orange County Fair, which ended in 1991, and has been a regular fixture since daytime Thoroughbred racing resumed in 2014.

Pedroza will be expected to add to his all-time total before the meeting ends Sept. 23. The Del Mar season is behind him, but the challenges of the season gave him a chance to reflect on decades-old advice given by a legendary colleague.

“Bill Shoemaker once told me when things aren’t going your way, don’t change, keep riding the way you’re riding,” he said. “I never forgot that.”