Reyes rides four Saturday winners, leads standings

MIAMI – Jockey Leonel Reyes proved that the three victories he registered on opening day of the 2019 Gulfstream Park West meeting were no fluke when he came back Saturday to post four more wins, including a natural hat trick with Dixie Spirit, Royal Spirit, and La Australiana in races 5 through 7 on the card.

La Australiana, the 5-2 favorite, captured the afternoon’s main event, a first-level allowance race on the turf for trainer Juan Avila.

Reyes is a two-time national riding champion in his native Venezuela. He rode more than 1,400 winners before coming to the U.S. on the advice of trainer Jose Garoffalo in 2016. His most notable victory in this country came last winter at Gulfstream Park aboard Gladiator King in the Grade 3 Hutcheson.

Reyes won 23 races during the Championship meet and another 22 while finishing eighth in the standings during the recently concluded Gulfstream Park summer session. His eight victories to open the Gulfstream Park West meet puts him atop the leaderboard when racing resumes Wednesday. He is followed in the standings by Cristian Torres and Jairo Rendon, with five and four winners, respectively.