Martin Pedroza taking a break from riding

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Martin Pedroza is taking a hiatus from race riding.

Pedroza has not ridden since Oct. 3. He took off his mounts on Oct. 4 and the rest of last weekend. Pedroza spoke with the Santa Anita stewards at the time, saying he needed a vacation.

“He told me he wanted to take a break for 30 days,” steward Kim Sawyer said on Thursday.

Richie Silverstein, Pedroza’s longtime agent, declined to comment when reached on Wednesday.

Pedroza told Sawyer that he might travel to his native Panama to visit family.

Pedroza, 54, is one of the senior members of the Southern California jockey roster. He is a year younger than Felipe Martinez, who rides only occasionally, and three weeks older than Hall of Famer Mike Smith.

This year, Pedroza has won 18 races from 176 mounts. He has 3,908 wins in his career in North America. His last stakes win was 80-1 Shades of Victory in the E.B. Johnston Stakes at Los Alamitos in September 2018.

Pedroza began riding in 1982. He is the all-time winningest rider at the Los Angeles County Fair when the meet was held at Fairplex Park in Pomona, and the all-time winningest rider of daytime Thoroughbred meetings at Los Alamitos. Pedroza rode 50-1 Martial Law to an upset win in the 1989 Santa Anita Handicap.