Machado's Turfway Park plan working out well

As well as Luan Machado did in Brazil, it still would have been very difficult for the 24-year-old jockey to break into a top winter circuit in the United States. So there’s a method to the madness that has Machado riding at Turfway Park in northern Kentucky.

“He and I agreed that this would be the right time and place for him,” said his agent, Jimmy McNerney.

On McNerney’s invitation, Machado arrived in Kentucky last month from Brazil, where in June he won his home country’s showcase event, the Group 1 Grande Premio Brasil, aboard a colt named Quarteto De Cordas. Now riding for high-profile trainer Wesley Ward and other top outfits, Machado finds himself in a three-way tie atop the jockey standings after eight of 21 programs at the Turfway holiday meet, which runs through Dec. 31.

Machado “has always wanted to ride in the U.S.,” said McNerney, who doubles as the Turfway race-caller. “Riding for Wesley, he’s going to win races, and hopefully that will snowball. More and more people will notice, and by the time we leave here for Keeneland in April he’ll have some name recognition and momentum – at least that’s the plan. That probably couldn’t have happened if he started out at Gulfstream or Fair Grounds.”

From his first 39 mounts, Machado has won eight races, which has him deadlocked with Turfway mainstays Rodney Prescott and John McKee as another four-night race week begins Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. Eastern.

Machado, who actually rode seven races in South Florida in 2015-16 during a brief stay, won his first race in the U.S. on Nov. 30, then recorded a three-win day on Dec. 1.