Riders jockeying for position to replace Prat, Rispoli in Southern California

ARCADIA, Calif. – Victor Espinoza has been a top-level jockey for so long in Southern California that he spans the generations between the famous riders from the 1990s and early 2000s to the much younger men and women who surround him today.

Early in his career, Espinoza, 49, rode with such greats as Eddie Delahoussaye, Julie Krone, Chris McCarron, Laffit Pincay Jr., Alex Solis, and Gary Stevens, to name a few from that era, and now rides with the likes of Flavien Prat, Abel Cedillo, Juan Hernandez, and Umberto Rispoli.

Espinoza and the evergreen Mike Smith, 56, are two Hall of Fame riders active at Santa Anita who can claim leading roles then and now.

“It makes me look old,” Espinoza said with a laugh.

With that longevity, Espinoza has an expert’s perspective of how the list of leading riders has evolved over time.

“It’s interesting how the jockeys’ room changes over the years,” said Espinoza, who rode Express Train to a win in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 5.

“It’s like every two or three years it adjusts.”

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The jockey roster in Southern California is approaching a massive transition. Prat, the dominant rider in recent years, announced March 5 that he is leaving to ride in New York in coming weeks. Rispoli, a fixture in the top 10 since arriving in Southern California from Hong Kong in late 2019, is making the same move.

Prat said he is relocating in an attempt to improve his chances of winning the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding rider. Prat, 29, was named as a finalist for the first time in 2021, but lost the award to Joel Rosario, who was a leading rider in Southern California in the late 2000s and early 2010s before moving east in 2012.

Rosario’s departure led rival Rafael Bejarano to take a leading role on the circuit before he left for the East in early 2020.

Through the years, the riders in the Southern California jockeys’ room were the finest in the world, many of them now enshrined in the Throughbred racing Hall of Fame. Bill Shoemaker was still a dominant rider through the 1970s after being at his pinnacle in the 1950s and 1960s. Hall of Famers Pincay, Darrel McHargue, and Sandy Hawley were also prominent in the 1970s. In the 1980s, Pincay competed for top mounts with Patrick Valenzuela, Delahoussaye, McCarron, and Stevens, a group challenged in the 1990s by Kent Desormeaux, Corey Nakatani, and Solis. Pincay was even at the top of the standings as late as 2002, when he was in his mid-50s.

In this century, as some of those riders retired, Espinoza and Garrett Gomez emerged as title candidates and were later challenged by Bejarano and Rosario.

Several jockeys and trainers said recently that the ramifications of Prat’s departure will not be determined for several months, possibly until the summer meeting at Del Mar from July 22 to Sept. 11. Prat and Rispoli plan to ride at Santa Anita until early April, which will leave scores of top mounts available for other riders in the months before the current season ends on June 19.

Riders such as Tyler Baze, Drayden Van Dyke, Kyle Frey, Edwin Maldonado, Cedillo, Hernandez, and the apprentice Diego Herrera could be the beneficiaries. Through Monday, Hernandez was second in the standings with 36 wins, far behind Prat’s 62.

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Van Dyke was ninth in the standings with 11 wins, but holds the distinction of being the last rider other than Prat to win the riding title at the Del Mar summer meeting, having done so in 2018.

Van Dyke briefly left Southern California in 2021, when he was mired in a slump, but was back on the circuit by last summer for Del Mar. The absence of Prat and Rispoli could boost his position in the standings.

“I hope I can pick up some scraps and be back to where I was,” Van Dyke said. “I want to be in the top five. I just want the opportunities.”

Hernandez, 30, said that riding with Prat and Rispoli has helped him improve his own skills and that he will miss the competition.

“I’m not really that happy they are leaving,” he said. “They are good riders. You can learn a lot riding with them.”

At the same time, Hernandez acknowledged the changes may help his career.

“I’ve been working hard and riding hard,” he said. “Let’s see what happens afterward.”

Hernandez, Frey, Cedillo, and Ricky Gonzalez, who won a Grade 2 stakes last weekend, all have backgrounds riding in Northern California in recent years. Espinoza and Rosario made the same transition earlier in their careers.

Armando Ayuso, second in the standings at Golden Gate Fields through Monday, is strongly considering a move to Del Mar this summer, according to his agent, Tom Doutrich. The absence of Prat is a factor.

“We’re thinking Del Mar for sure, and this might enhance it,” Doutrich said. “He’s looking to move down there.”

It would be no surprise if another rider or two based on the East Coast or in the Midwest ventured to California, many riders said.

“It will be interesting to see what the jockeys’ room will be at Del Mar,” Espinoza said.

Frey, 30, sees the absence of Prat as a potential boost, but lowers the profile of the entire jockey roster. The Del Mar standings will look much different this summer.

“There are a lot of guys that will move up, but the colony is going down,” he said. “I think for the next meet riders will move up.”

Trainers will have to adjust quickly. Through Monday, Prat and trainer Phil D’Amato had combined to win 11 races at the current meeting. D’Amato has won 25 races since the season began Dec. 26.

“Riders elsewhere might see it as an opportunity, and riders here will have more opportunities to show what they can do,” D’Amato said.

At the same time, D’Amato said the Southern California circuit’s schedule of racing three days a week for most of the year could be a drawback for out-of-town riders considering a move since other circuits – such as Kentucky and New York – race four or five days a week.

“There are more opportunities there than there are here,” he said. “The purses are still good here.”

Richard Mandella was instrumental in giving Prat mounts when the jockey rode in California on a part-time basis during winters in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Mandella continued to support Prat when he moved from his native France to the United States to ride year-round in the winter of 2014-15.

“It’s going to leave a helluva hole,” Mandella said. “I think he’s one of the best riders we’ve ever seen, and I don’t just mean this group.”

Mandella would know. Bill Shoemaker rode his first winner, La Mesa, at Hollywood Park in 1974. Mandella nominated Hernandez, Van Dyke, and Jessica Pfyer, the nation’s outstanding apprentice jockey in 2021, as riders who can benefit from the absence of Prat and Rispoli. Pyfer has struggled to gain mounts and wins since she lost her apprentice status in November, but Mandella sees promise.

“Drayden looks like he’s coming back around,” Mandella said. “Hopefully, Jessica will get a little more of a chance. With a little confidence, she can be good. She’s a good rider.”

If there is a backstretch favorite among racing insiders for leading rider at Del Mar this summer, Hernandez would be the choice. Last weekend, his agent, the veteran Craig O’Bryan, was reluctant to predict how the standings would look by the summer.

“I’m expecting everyone will move up a little bit,” O’Bryan. “Usually when I talk about stuff like that I jinx it.”