Jomar Torres and new agent hit the ground running

Three weeks ago, jockey agent John Salamone was looking for a rider for the Monmouth Park meet. Jomar Torres, whose business in Maryland had slowed, was thinking how he could get rolling again.

A friend of Salamone’s in Maryland called and suggested he take on Torres. Salamone jumped in his car and headed to Laurel Park. Last Saturday, on opening day of the Monmouth season, Torres and Salamone stole the show by winning the first three races on the card with Yankee Doodle Boy ($57.20) for trainer John Stephens and Postino’s Champion ($11.60) and Bank Note ($7.20) for Skip Einhorn.

The 50-cent pick three paid $238.

“When I went to Maryland, Jomar told me he couldn’t believe I came all that way to see him,” Salamone said. “I said, ‘Let’s go to Monmouth. We’ll live together, work strong together, and win some races.’ And that’s what we’re doing. Jomar is out every morning at 5 a.m., and people see that.”

Monmouth has a strong jockey colony this year that includes last year’s leading rider Jose Ferrer, the 2017 leader Nik Juarez, and Antonio Gallardo. Thirteen-time leading rider Joe Bravo, who is riding in New York, and Maryland’s leading jockey, Trevor McCarthy, will be in on certain days.

It was important for Torres to show the local horsemen what he is capable of doing.

“I was very, very happy,” Torres said. “This is my first time at Monmouth and I wanted to get off to a good start.

“I thought my horses had a good chance coming into the day and I had a perfect trip with all three.”

Torres, 23, is a graduate of the Escuela Vocacional Hípica jockey school in his native Puerto Rico. He rode in New York when he came to the United States in 2016, but settled in the Mid-Atlantic the next year, riding primarily in Maryland and Delaware. He won 130 races in 2017.

In Maryland, Torres hooked up with Claudio Gonzalez, the state’s leading trainer in 2017 and 2018. Torres and Gonzalez won 95 races together from 411 starts, a win average of 23 percent. Torres won eight stakes for Gonzalez – four on Afleet Willy, three on My Magician, and one on My Star Potential.

But recently, Gonzalez began using other riders, and Torres’s number of mounts declined.

“There are a lot of riders in Maryland,” said Torres, who got on seven horses Tuesday morning at Monmouth. “I came here to meet some new people. Things are going very good.”