Tampa Bay Downs: Gallardo success story continues

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Like a lot of folks around Tampa Bay Downs, jockey Antonio Gallardo was glad to see blue skies and sunshine on Sunday after a week of cool temperatures and rain that must have reminded him of the cold weather that prompted him to relocate from his native Spain five years ago.

Gallardo had a breakthrough season in 2013, winning 101 races and more than $2 million in purses, and it was truly a case of a rider finding himself following a tough period of adjustment. Gallardo hated the cold weather for parts of the year while riding in Madrid, and trainer Jennifer Bidgood told him he should try riding in sunny and warm Miami. Gallardo resisted leaving his family, but one morning in 2008 Bidgood surprised him with an airplane ticket to Miami, telling him to take a shot. If he didn’t like it, she said, he would always have a job to come back to.

Despite winning with just 7 of 175 mounts in his first full season in this country, and just 41, 31, and 42 races the next three years, Gallardo hung in and finally blossomed in 2013, with the highlight of the year a four-stakes-win day at Calder last summer.

This season Gallardo is having his best Tampa meeting by far. Through Sunday’s program, the 26-year-old has 48 wins and is in second place in the standings, four victories behind Ronnie Allen Jr. With Fernando De La Cruz back in action, having recovered from a broken wrist, and Daniel Centeno continuing to gain momentum, the jockeys race should be fun to watch.

◗ Trying to compete at Tampa with horses shipping in from farms and training centers is no easy task, which makes Ed Williams’s record this meet even more remarkable. Williams, who races horses off the farm from his Ocala headquarters, has won five races from nine starters at the Tampa Bay meet, for a blistering 55 winning percentage. His last winner, The Pink Wildcat, won a $25,000 maiden claimer by 4 3/4 lengths on Jan. 31. Ricardo Feliciano has been aboard all five of Williams’s winners and has 10 victories at the meeting.

◗ Ian Wilkes is also having a successful stand, having sent out six winners from 21 starters through Sunday, for a 28 percent winning pace. Wilkes has won at 21 percent or better in each of his last three seasons locally.

◗ Aldana Gonzalez has been doing well in her first few months as a head trainer. Gonzalez, who recently took over a division of owner Bruno Schickedanz’s horses, has won 5 of 22 starts and her runners have finished among the top three in 10 of those races. Gonzalez worked for trainer Joan Scott before striking out on her own.

◗ Jockey Clint Magera won the second race on Sunday for his first victory of the year. A 22-year veteran, Magera looked good aboard the Steve Cathcart-trained first-time starter Always Dear, slipping her through along the rail turning for home en route to a two-length win. Always Dear returned $21.80.