Rookie agent Yamaguchi handling bookings for Bejarano

DEL MAR, Calif. – Tora Yamaguchi toiled in the racing office for 15 years, from the time he graduated from the Racetrack Industry Program at the University of Arizona, but he is now operating on the other side of the entry clerk’s desk after recently taking over as the jockey agent for Rafael Bejarano, whose previous agent, Joe Ferrer, retired and returned to Florida.

It’s not completely unusual for a racing-office employee to eventually become an agent; former racing secretary Tom Knust is an agent, too. But what is unusual in Yamaguchi’s case is that he didn’t have to apprentice with a low-level rider; he wound up with the jockey who annually wins more races than anyone else on the Southern California circuit.

Bejarano has been the leading rider at Del Mar the last three summer seasons and has won four summer titles here overall.

“If you’d have asked me while I was working in the racing office if I wanted to be an agent, I’d have said you were crazy, but things just fell into place,” said Yamaguchi, 38. “Joe was thinking about retiring, and I was friends with Rafael before this happened.”

Yamaguchi said his years in the racing office give him “an appreciation for what goes on there.”

“It’s a lot of work. This is, too,” he said. “I can’t take for granted the opportunity I’ve been given. You’ve got to put the work into it.”