Santana bidding for seventh straight Oaklawn riding title

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. has a Kentucky Derby mount to look forward to in Plus Que Parfait, but before the May 4 classic he has some business to attend to at Oaklawn Park.

Santana, who at 25 has established himself as the track’s most dominant rider since Pat Day, is chasing his seventh straight title in Arkansas. Day won 12 from 1983 through 1994.

Santana started his reign in 2013. In order to maintain it he will be spending the final days of the meet, which ends May 4, fighting off a serious bid from David Cohen. Santana held a 64-61 advantage over Cohen heading into the races Thursday.

“He’s an amazing rider,” Santana said. “I like the competition we have on the track. I like the competition because it makes me ride stronger, makes me ride smart. If somebody gives you competition, it makes you a better rider.”

Santana is a native of Panama and the son of a jockey. His father, Ricardo Santana, rode until a morning training accident left him with a broken back when his son was 12.

“I always wanted to go to the track with him in the morning,” Santana said. “I fell in love with the horses.

“I asked my dad if I could be a jockey and at first he didn’t want me to because he’s in a wheelchair. He didn’t say no, but you could tell it on his face. I told him, ‘This is what I think I want to do, and I hope you let me do it.’ My dad said, ‘Okay. Whatever you feel.’ ”

Santana attended the Laffit Pincay Jr. Vocational Jockey School in Panama, graduating alongside Luis Saez and Abel Lezcano.

“When we started in jockey school, that’s all we talked about,” Santana said. “We wanted to be like [Pincay]. We wanted to be one of the top like him.”

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Santana won his first race when he was 16, on Dec. 8, 2009 in Panama. He captured his first North American win on Sept. 21, 2009. It came at Delaware Park, and it was from that meet that he ended up coming to Oaklawn in 2011.

“I was riding horses for Ron Moquett over there in Delaware, and one day he asked me if I wanted to come here,” Santana said. “I was going to ride a few horses – not the barn – and he gave me a few shots.”

Santana said jockeys Calvin Borel and Terry Thompson were the first to help him when he arrived at Oaklawn. Ruben Munoz, the agent who brought Santana to the states from Panama, began working with the rider full time in 2012 after representing Gabriel Saez.

From there, Santana started to take flight. Moquett supported Santana more and more, and in time the jockey formed a professional relationship with Steve Asmussen, who is poised to win his 10th title at Oaklawn. Santana – who has 1,200 wins in North America and $57 million in mount earnings through Tuesday – has registered half of his victories for Moquett (127 wins, $6.5 million in mount earnings) and Asmussen (517, $30 million), according to Daily Racing Form statistics.

“Ricardo is obviously physically gifted and talented, and I think the reason we work so well together is because we’re not satisfied with what we’ve gotten done,” Asmussen said.

Asmussen said that even after winning a stakes race, Santana is just as eager to go out and win the nightcap.

Santana’s first Grade 1 win came for Asmussen, the 2016 Arkansas Derby with Creator. At the current meet, the rider has won a trio of Grade 3 races for Asmussen, aboard She’s a Julie in the Bayakoa, Mitole in the Count Fleet, and Lady Apple in the Fantasy, which is a prep for the Kentucky Oaks.

Santana – who has six stakes wins at the meet – leads all riders at the meet in mount earnings with $3,987,775.

The success comes following Santana’s best year on the track. He won three Grade 1 races last year – the Metropolitan Handicap with Bee Jersey, the Forego with Whitmore, and the Apple Blossom with Unbridled Mo – to help lift his 2018 mount earnings to $14 million. He also won a career-high 189 races in 2018.

And then there’s the title tear at Oaklawn.

“It means a lot because I never thought I was going to be in that position because I started in this business pretty young,” Santana said. “I have a lot of support from owners and trainers, and a real big barn here with Steve. I feel like all the support they give me here is amazing and that’s why I do so well here.”

Santana also was quick to credit the work of his agent – and his mounts.

“I feel that it’s all about the horses,” he said. “If you have good horses and you’re being a good passenger, he’s always going to make you look good. I never believed it was about the rider – ‘Oh the rider makes the difference.’ No, I always feel it’s the horse and you have to be a good passenger.”

Year after year, Santana has proven he’s the leading “passenger” at Oaklawn.