Los Alamitos notes: Raul Valenzuela Jr. enjoys promising start to 2014 season

CYPRESS, Calif. – It’s easy to look up to Raul Valenzuela Jr., the leading Quarter Horse rider at Los Alamitos this winter.

The 20-year-old jockey stands 5 feet 11 inches, tall for even a Quarter Horse rider who can tack a few more pounds than their Thoroughbred counterparts. Valenzuela, a native of Arizona, rides at 120 pounds and typically has mounts with weight assignments of 124.

For the yearlong meeting at Los Alamitos in 2013, Valenzuela ranked seventh with 65 wins, far below titlist Cruz Mendez, who won 139 races in the 51-week meeting. Since the current meeting began Dec. 27, Valenzuela has 19 wins and a six-race lead over Mendez. On Friday, Valenzuela has four mounts on the eight-race program, which includes races for lower-level Thoroughbreds, which he does not ride.

For Valenzuela, the current season has been more than just leading the jockey’s standings. In the last two weeks, he has won two six-figure races – the $156,250 Los Alamitos Winter Championship aboard Nellie Delaney on Feb. 16 and the $112,000 Los Alamitos Maiden Stakes on Another Oatie last Sunday.

Another Oatie was an 8-1 outsider and won the 350-yard Maiden Stakes by a nose over 6-5 favorite Here O Beduino. Valenzuela realized during the 17.48-second race that using his whip wasn’t helping Another Oatie’s cause.

“He had a slight stumble at the start,” Valenzuela said. “I gave him a crack of the whip, and he didn’t like it. I went back to riding.”

Valenzuela’s only other major stakes win was a dead heat aboard Nellie Delaney in the $160,850 Southern California Derby on Dec. 22. Both Nellie Delaney and Another Oatie are trained by Juan Aleman.

“Juan has given me a chance to ride some really good horses,” Valenzuela said.

Valenzuela is the son of Raul Valenzuela, the Turf Paradise-based Quarter Horse trainer. Valenzuela rode his first winner at Rillito Park in Tucson in February 2010. He moved to Los Alamitos last May and had his first winner at the track last June.

In Arizona, he said, he struggled with weight, but no longer considers that to be a concern.

“After I came here, I started to eat healthy,” he said.

Valenzuela is closely linked with trainers Aleman, Cody Joiner, and Lindolfo Diaz, with whom Valenzuela has won with 12 of 30 mounts.

The current season will be his first full year at Los Alamitos and a chance to enhance his reputation as a rider to follow.