Reinforcements arriving to Golden Gate jockey colony

The jockey roster at Golden Gate Fields has gained two members this month with the arrivals of Alexander Chavez from Ohio and Jose Valdivia, Jr., from Southern California, and will regain another prominent member when Evin Roman returns from injury in mid-January.

Chavez, 24, had a splashy local debut on Monday’s opening day of the winter-spring meeting, winning with two of eight mounts. Chavez has four mounts on Friday’s program and five for Saturday.

Chavez began riding in 2021 and is in the midst of his best season with 66 victories this year. He was approached by jockey agent Brent Harmon earlier this month about relocating from Thistledown.

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“I didn’t expect someone from California to be calling,” he said on Thursday through translator and fellow jockey Adrian Escobedo.

“It’s a big opportunity. I never expected to be here.”

Valdivia has three mounts at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday. At the Del Mar summer meeting earlier this year, Valdivia had five wins, including two stakes. Since the end of that meeting on Sept. 11, Valdivia has struggled. He won one race at the Los Alamitos September meeting.

Valdivia, 48, won the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Mile on Val Royal at Belmont Park, and the 2011 Belmont Stakes on Ruler On Ice.

Valdivia rode in Southern California in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and was the leading rider at Arlington Park for five consecutive seasons, from 2015 to 2019, before returning to Southern California in late 2019.

Roman continues to recover from a wrist injury suffered in a spill on Nov. 18, and is scheduled to return to riding on Jan. 13 or Jan. 20 depending on how his recovery proceeds, according to his agent, Leo Rodriguez.

A few weeks after the injury, Rodriguez said Roman had hoped to return to riding by this weekend. The 24-year-old rider had a cast removed on Wednesday and will undergo physical therapy.

Roman who was honored with the Eclipse Award as the outstanding apprentice of 2017, has won 165 races this year. He won a personal best 175 races in 2021.

Roman was the leading rider at the Golden Gate winter-spring meeting, which ended in June. He was first in the standings at the track’s autumn meeting when he suffered the injury.

William Antongeorgi and Kevin Radke tied for the title at the autumn meeting with 29 wins. Roman finished sixth with 19 wins.

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