Carlos Marquez Jr. considered retiring, weary of the injuries a man will incur in 30 years of riding racehorses. But with 2,800 wins to his credit, and with a competitive fire that still burns, the 48-year-old Marquez has made his way to Turfway Park for the winter for the first time. Marquez has been riding for accomplished trainers such as Mike Maker, Kellyn Gorder, and Helen Pitts since arriving this month at Turfway in northern Kentucky, where nearly 20 years ago he won the track’s signature race – then known as the Jim Beam Stakes – when riding Concerto. “I’ve won races on a lot of good horses,” said Marquez, who came to the U.S. in 1985 from his native Puerto Rico and has been based primarily in New Jersey and Chicago for much of his career. “Skip Away, Formal Gold, Include, Da Hoss, Lost Mountain. Concerto took me to my only Kentucky Derby” when finishing ninth after winning the 1997 Beam. Not too long ago, from 2008-10, Marquez enjoyed the best run of his career, with his mounts earning more than $4 million in each of those three seasons. But a frustrating series of injuries, including a collarbone he fractured in two separate incidents, slowed his momentum. “You take time off, and people will forget about you,” said Marquez, who has ridden at an astounding 56 U.S. tracks, including such long-forgotten spots as Ak-Sar-Ben, Marlboro, and Dixie Downs. “Quickly.” This year, his numbers – just 25 wins and $730,642 in mount earnings – are the lowest they’ve been since 1987. In recent winters, Marquez had ridden in Florida or Maryland, but after Maker, the perennial leading trainer at Turfway, said he could use him this winter, “I thought I’d give it a try,” said Marquez. Riding the Polytrack at Turfway “takes a little while to get used to,” said Marquez. “You can’t really feel them hit the ground, and it’s hard to tell how fast they’re going. Once you’ve got that under control, you’re okay.” “Carlos is a veteran rider with plenty of valuable experience,” said Maker. Marquez, a father of five, has homes in New Jersey and Maryland but said he intends to remain working indefinitely in Kentucky. From his first 27 mounts at the holiday meet that began Dec. 3, he has four wins and five seconds. Marquez said his ultimate goal is to reach 3,000 wins, a milestone accomplished by fewer than 175 jockeys in North America. His father, Carlos Marquez Sr., was a successful jockey in the U.S. – he even rode Hold Your Peace to a third-place finish behind Riva Ridge in the 1972 Kentucky Derby – before returning home to Puerto Rico, where he retired only last year following a lengthy stint as a steward. The younger Marquez proudly notes that they are the only father-and-son team to win the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico. His dad won the 1970 running on Office Queen for trainer Budd Lepman, and he won in 1997 on Salt It for trainer Deborah Bodner, upsetting the heavily favored Kentucky Oaks winner, Blushing K. D. “Racing has been very good to my family,” said Marquez. “I’m going to try to enjoy it for as long as I can.” ◗ Turfway will be dark Thursday (Christmas Eve) and Friday (Christmas), meaning the track will be dark for five days following the Sunday card, with action resuming Dec. 26. The Thursday-to-Sunday schedule will remain through January, after which Thursdays will be dropped for the last two months of a winter-spring meet that runs through April 3. ◗ Only about 100 horses remain stabled at Churchill Downs and its nearby Trackside training annex in Louisville. The last day for training before both tracks close for routine winter maintenance is Dec. 30. Both will reopen about March 10.