Jockey Tejera getting reacquainted with Texas

Eguard Tejera was to have his first mounts in North America since October 2014 on Friday night at Lone Star Park near Dallas, but he’s actually never been away from the races. Tejera has spent the past few years riding in his native Uruguay as well as in Dubai and now plans to rejoin the circuit in Texas.

“I love Texas,” Tejera, 38, said Friday. “I feel like it’s home. I’ve ridden in a lot of states in the U.S. I like it here a lot.”

The feeling apparently is mutual. Tejera and his agent, Matt Siciliano, have found a warm reception at Lone Star. Tejera has mounts in six of the 10 races Sunday; among them is Lonesome Wind in the featured eighth race for trainer Bob Young.

“He’s a good rider,” Young said. “I like him a lot.”

Tejera was pleasantly surprised by the level of business right off the bat. He was to ride in four of the eight races Friday and in four of the nine races Saturday, including the featured $50,000 Lane’s End-Danny Shifflett Scholarship Stakes.

“I was so happy because my expectations [were that] I have to start everything over again,” Tejera said.

Tejera has won three riding titles at Retama Park near San Antonio and one at Sam Houston in Houston. He launched his career in Uruguay in 1997; his first win came with a horse he raised from a weanling, Desencanto.

“When I was young, my mother bought a Thoroughbred,” Tejera said.

It was the teenager’s dream to ride the horse in a race. That became a reality and a personal milestone. Tejera completely cared for Desencanto, eventually breaking the horse, or giving him his earliest training lessons, and later galloping him before partnering with him as a jockey.

Tejera’s career took him to North America in 2002 to ride at Delaware Park. He eventually made his way to Texas and in 2009 won one of his most significant races in North America, taking the Grade 3 Ouija Board Handicap at Lone Star with Wasted Tears. Following the Retama meet in 2014, Tejera went home to Uruguay.

“I went to spend time with my family,” he said.

Tejera later learned of an opportunity to ride in Dubai.

“I like to travel,” he said. “I had a chance to go over there. It was a good experience.”

These days, Tejera said he is looking forward to getting reacquainted with racing in Texas.