Retiring jockey Eurico Da Silva to have day in his honor

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine will honor perennial leading rider Eurico Da Silva on Saturday with a special day to celebrate his retirement at the end of the meet on Dec. 15.

Da Silva will participate in a meet-and-greet session with fans and sign autographs prior to Saturday’s card, from 11:30 a.m. to noon on the second floor of the grandstand. Commemorative T-shirts with his popular catchphrase, “Good luck to everybody,” will go to the first 250 fans who make a minimum $5 donation to the LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society. A winner’s circle ceremony for him will take place during the card.

Da Silva is en route to earning his sixth title as Woodbine’s leading jockey. He first topped the standings in 2010 and has won the riding title in each of the last four years. In 2018, he set the record for most wins in a single meet at Woodbine with 237.

A six-time Sovereign Award winner as Canada’s outstanding jockey, Da Silva has more than 2,000 career wins, including victories in all three legs of the Canadian Triple Crown and in each of Woodbine’s signature races.

After a 30-year career, beginning when he was 14 in his native Brazil, the 44-year-old announced his retirement earlier this year. Da Silva said he wants to spend more time with his young family, while pursuing a career as a life coach for athletes.

Who will fill the void when Da Silva is gone next year? Da Silva said he believes that Rafael Hernandez and Luis Contreras will have an edge over upstart Kazushi Kimura, who became a journeyman in late October after leading the local apprentice ranks the last two years.

“Kimura has been riding very well, but for next year, Rafael and Luis have much more experience.” Da Silva said. “That will count for a lot. Rafael has been riding brilliantly. I think he’s the upcoming rider. Kimura has lots of promise, but he needs a little bit more experience.”

Trainer Marty Drexler and Da Silva have combined for a whopping 32 wins from 98 starters at the meet. Drexler said he will miss Da Silva.

“Obviously, [his absence] is going to be something we need to adjust to,” Drexler said. “He wasn’t my number one guy at the beginning of the year, but he became more and more available to us, and he gave us some great rides on a lot of horses.”

◗ Daisuke Fukumoto returns to action here this week and will ride at Aqueduct this winter, according to his Woodbine agent, Pram Seebah. Fukumoto was sidelined with a hairline fracture of his elbow suffered in a spill on Oct. 27. He was the second-leading apprentice here in 2018-19 before losing the bug in September.