Valdivia gets off to a great start
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – From Jan. 1 through May 1 last year, jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. rode 92 races and won three of them. Four months, three winners – that is not a great place to be for a 40-year-old journeyman rider, especially considering that Valdivia’s cold spell in south Florida continued into April even after the big-name riders had left Gulfstream Park for summer quarters.
Last Saturday at Arlington, though, Valdivia visited the winner’s circle as many times during one three-race span as he had during those four long months at the beginning of 2015. Valdivia scored a pure hat trick on a four-win Saturday, won three more races on Sunday’s card, and came out of the first racing week of the Arlington season with a 7-7-2 record from 18 mounts. Valdivia won the Arlington riding title last summer, and he appears to be on track for an even better meet this season.
“It’s been a whirlwind run, and everything seems to be coming together,” Valdivia said Wednesday. “Listen, I’ve always believed in my talent. I just wondered about getting the opportunities. When things weren’t going well last year, I was determined to make myself come out of it. I wasn’t going to crawl in a hole and decide I’m no good anymore. I thought all I needed to do was start winning again.”
The winning started after Valdivia began working in Florida for trainer Wesley Ward. The number of riders whom Ward, a former jockey himself, has given aid has grown nearly too long to list. He suggested Valdivia try Chicago and hooked him up with Ward’s former agent, Steve Leving, who had not had a rider’s book in years.
“They told me Steve was the real deal, so I said, ‘Why not give it a try?’ ” Valdivia said.
Valdivia, 41, said he feels better now than he did 10 years ago. He changed treatment regimens two years ago for a chronic asthma condition and now goes without asthma medication for the first time in his life. Valdivia said he has less trouble making weight now than in the past.
“Physically, I feel great, and because my business is so good, I’m in a good place mentally, too,” he said. “I’m on live horses, and I’m having fun now.”