NEW ORLEANS – Last summer, veteran jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. came out of nowhere to win the riding title at Arlington Park. Valdivia won 80 races from 370 mounts there – a 180-degree turnaround from a winter meet at Gulfstream Park that couldn’t have turned colder for him. Set back by a broken fibula sustained in October 2014, Valdivia was unable to get his business going late that year and early in 2015, and he wound up with only three wins from 105 mounts at that Gulfstream meet. This winter, Valdivia, eager to build on the momentum that he established at Arlington, is based at Fair Grounds for the first time. Competing in a riding colony much deeper than Arlington’s and at a track with a reputation for being somewhat cliquish, Valdivia is battling to gain traction. Through Thursday, he had eight wins, nine seconds, and eight thirds from 66 mounts, putting him in a tie for 12th in the jockey standings. “He knows how to save horses, and it allows him to finish up strong,” said trainer Ron Faucheux, for whom Valdivia rode Smittys Cougar to a runaway victory Thursday in the $95,770 Louisiana Futurity for Louisiana-bred fillies. “That’s one of his biggest attributes. . . . A lot of Louisiana trainers stick with Louisiana jockeys. The more people watch him, the more he’ll catch on.” Valdivia and his agent, Steve Leving, say they’re not discouraged, and both are hopeful that a hot streak is around the corner. “I’m ambitious,” Valdivia said. “I’m not happy where I’m at. The meet is still young, in its early stages.” Leving said: “New Orleans is a great city. We appreciate being here.” Valdivia, a 41-year-old native of Lima, Peru, grew up around racing. His father, Jose Valdivia Sr., was a jockey. The younger Valdivia is the nephew of retired jockey Fernando Toro, who was known for turf-riding skill. Another uncle is Juan Suarez, who was the leading trainer in Peru. Valdivia Jr. has won 1,349 races in a career that began in 1994. His most significant victories came in the Belmont Stakes on Ruler On Ice in 2011 and the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Val Royal in 2001. Successful for many years on the Southern California circuit, Valdivia teamed for a while with trainer Bobby Frankel, for whom the jockey rode eventual champion Ghostzapper to victory in his career debut in 2002 at Hollywood Park. He won by nine lengths and paid $25. “That’s the one that got away from me,” Valdivia said. “That’s the one that made [Javier] Castellano.” Sparked by the strong meet at Arlington, Valdivia has won 95 races this year, his most victories in a season since he rode 100 winners in 2001. The move to Arlington came at the suggestion of trainer Wesley Ward, who provided a few mounts for Valdivia when he was struggling at Gulfstream. “I went to Wesley just because I had a past relationship,” Valdivia said. “I said, ‘I need some help. I’m dead.’ ” Ward asked Leving, who hadn’t been an agent for 20 years, if he would represent Valdivia. “Wesley told me, ‘If you take him in Chicago, he’ll be the leading rider,’ ” said Leving, whose many positions in racing included Hawthorne stakes coordinator, racing manager for Frank Calabrese, consultant to Louie Roussel III, and bloodstock agent. Leving takes no credit for Valdivia’s success at Arlington. “The cream rises to the top,” Leving said. “It wasn’t so much me. It was him.” Valdivia’s other stakes win at this Fair Grounds meet was on the filly Fila Primera in the Pago Hop on Dec. 26 for trainer Mike Stidham. Of course, Valdivia said, his biggest thrill in racing was winning the Belmont on Ruler On Ice, who paid $51. First-time blinkers made a big difference, said the jockey, who can recall every step of that 1 1/2-mile trip in the slop. His first move, he said, was to put Ruler On Ice on the tire tracks, where the footing was better. “We were living in Brooklyn,” Valdivia said. “That night, we went to Times Square. I saw my name on the ticker. For the next few weeks, people would stop me, the people in my building.”