Miguel Vasquez making presence felt at summer meet

Miguel Vasquez continues to make his presence felt in the Gulfstream Park jockey colony. Vasquez booted home four winners last Saturday at the South Florida track and once again ranks in the top tier of the local jockey standings.

Vasquez, a 24-year-old Panama native who began riding in the United States in 2014, began this week with 12 wins, second only to Emisael Jaramillo (14), at the 56-day summer meet, which began July 1. At the three-month spring meet, which ended June 30, Vasquez rode 59 winners, a close third behind Tyler Gaffalione (63) and Jamarillo (61) while further establishing himself as a go-to rider for many local horsemen.

Vasquez, a graduate of the famed Laffit Pincay Jr. riding academy in his home country, recently surpassed his career high for mount earnings, and there’s still plenty of 2018 to go. Vasquez’s total into Thursday stood at nearly $3.3 million, which exceeds the $3,044,555 earned by his mounts last year.

Vasquez stands a solid chance on improving on his totals Friday, as his agent, Peter Wright, has him named in all 10 races on a card that starts at 2 p.m. Eastern. Among his better mounts is Helping Lisa D in the race 9 feature, a $47,000 first-level allowance going a mile on the main track.

Helping Lisa D, owned and trained by Steve Dwoskin, comes off a sharp runner-up effort at this same level on June 24. The 3-year-old Flat Out filly will be stretching out from seven furlongs and faces seven other fillies and mares.

The feature is part of the 20-cent Rainbow 6, which spans races 5-10. Into Thursday, the Rainbow jackpot had not been swept by a solo winner through the first 10 programs of the summer meet and stood at $318,884.

The feature goes at 6:02 and the last race at 6:32.

◗ Entries were to be taken during a double draw Wednesday for the nominal highlight of the coming weekend at Gulfstream, the $75,000 Coast Is Clear on Sunday. The next six-figure stakes are the first two legs of the Florida Sire Stakes series on Aug. 4, with each worth $100,000.