Payeras gunning for first daytime title
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The message was simple.
Before the current three-week Los Alamitos Thoroughbred meeting began on June 19, jockey Edgar Payeras told his agent, Frank Quesada, to keep him busy.
“You better find me good horses because I want to be leading rider,” Payeras told Quesada, a former jockey.
The plan is working.
Going into Friday’s program and the start of the final three days of the meeting, Payeras led all riders with six wins, one more than Armando Ayuso and Kazushi Kimura, and two more than Ricky Gonzalez, Tiago Pereira, and Joel Rosario. A big day or two from any of them before Sunday’s closing day could lead to the riding title.
Payeras, 32, wants the award, which would be his first at a daytime meeting. This weekend, he has four mounts on Friday and seven mounts on Saturday and Sunday.
“I can’t complain, Payeras said of the results.
Payeras is also the leading rider at the Los Alamitos evening meeting that features Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds. During those programs, Payeras primarily rides in races at 4 1/2 furlongs, or 1,000 yards, that consist of Thoroughbreds.
Through Sunday, the most recent evening program, Payeras led all riders with 34 wins, three more than Henry Lopez. The year-long meeting began in late December.
The daytime and evening meetings are conducted on two different tracks. The daytime track has a circumference of one mile with a stretch of 1,380 feet, much longer than one-mile dirt tracks at Del Mar or Santa Anita. Races during the evening meeting are held on a five-furlong track. Races run at 4 1/2 furlongs start in a chute on the backstretch.
Of Payeras's six wins at the current daytime meeting, five are from stables based at Los Alamitos. His other winner, the Craig Dollase trainee Queen Kimbe, had the recent experience of racing at the evening meeting. None were favored, going off at odds ranging from 3-1 to 9-1.
“It’s a huge deal,” Payeras said of riding for Los Alamitos-based stables.
The two tracks require distinct approaches, he said.
“It’s completely different. At night, you have to rush the whole time,” Payeras said. “You can’t relax. You go, go, go. Daytime, it’s a long stretch. You get a good break and relax. You have to think you’re not riding at night. You have to wait for the end.”
After Sunday’s closing day of the daytime meeting, Payeras will focus on the evening races at Los Alamitos. When Del Mar begins its summer meeting on July 17, Payeras wants to be more involved than in recent seasons.
Of his 787 career wins on all breeds, only eight have been at Del Mar. A native of Guatemala, Payeras won three races at Del Mar at the 2022 and 2023 summer meetings but has been winless the last two summers.
Payeras did have one win at the 2024 Del Mar autumn meeting.
“I want to try to do more” at Del Mar, he said. “I’ll try and see what happens.”
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