McGaughey sticking with Marin aboard Statesman for Wood Memorial
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Jockey Samuel Marin won two races on Statesman during the winter at Tampa Bay Downs. Typically, when a horse like this – especially a 3-year-old in spring – graduates to a graded stakes event in another jurisdiction, a jockey change accompanies that move.
Not in this case.
Shug McGaughey, the Hall of Fame trainer of Statesman, has kept Marin aboard the improving young colt for Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Marin, the leading rider at Tampa Bay with 92 wins – 12 more than Samy Camacho – is naturally thankful for the opportunity to ride in a race that potentially could lead horse and rider to the Kentucky Derby.
“It means a lot to me,” Marin said Sunday from Tampa before he went out and won the $110,000 Turf Classic aboard 14-1 Crystal Quest. “I’m so grateful that Mr. Shug McGaughey is going to keep me on. It’s good that I know him. I feel like that’s going to help us.”
While this coming Saturday is a difficult day to find jockeys, with major races at Aqueduct, Keeneland, Santa Anita, and Dubai, McGaughey was planning to stick with Marin regardless. He has obviously liked what he’s seen from the 23-year-old rider, a native of Venezuela who only began riding in the United States in 2022.
“I think he’s going to be in New York soon,” McGaughey said. “I don’t think he’s ready right now, but he’s going to be ready. He’s got patience. He seems to understand horses. I like the way he rides, the way he finishes.”
Marin rode Statesman to a maiden victory Jan. 17 and a first-level allowance win Feb. 26. Both races were at a mile and 40 yards. In the allowance race, Statesman seemed stalled around the far turn. But when Marin swung him wide and into the clear turning for home the horse kicked on for a 1 1/4-length victory.
“I rode him knowing I had the best horse in the race,” Marin said. “I thought I was going to get through in between horses and in less than a second I didn’t think I was going to get through it got that tight. I waited a little bit, I took him out, and he took off.”
Marin believes that Statesman’s strong closing kick will be evident at the Wood distance of 1 1/8 miles.
“I feel like the longer he goes, the better he shows,” Marin said.
As the Tampa meet has gone, Marin has seemed to have gotten better. He gave Crystal Quest a terrific ride in Sunday’s Turf Classic as he rallied that horse past his odds-on Michael Trombetta-trained stablemate Forever Souper.
Marin will take a 12-win lead over defending leading rider Camacho into the final five weeks of the Tampa meet that runs through May 4. Both jockeys are represented by agent Mike Moran.
“I thought we were going to be doing good, I didn’t think I’d end up being leading rider,” Marin said. “Obviously, that’s what anybody wants. I knew my agent had a lot of business down here, and Samy was leading rider here last year. I still have to beat Samy. I’m in front, but we still have a month left. I’m grateful. I feel blessed.”
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