Jockey Jaime Torres fell in love with horse racing & the Preakness Stakes (G1) when he watched on television as Authentic, co-owned by Spendthrift Farm and the MyRacehorse fractional-ownership entity, captured the COVID-delayed Kentucky Derby (G1) of 2020.
Fast forward 3 Ā½ years and Torres will make his Triple Crown riding debut in the 149th Preakness at Pimlico Race Course aboard MyRacehorseās Seize the Grey. That colt gave the 25-year-old Torres his first victory in a graded stakes in the $600,000 Pat Day Mile (G2) on the May 4 Kentucky Derby undercard.
āI have no words for it,ā Torres said. āIām very thankful for the opportunity from MyRacehorse and (trainer) Wayne Lukas.ā
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Seize the Grey pushed the pace in the Pat Day Mile, split horses in mid-stretch and edged away late from favored Nash for a 1 Ā¼-length victory over Nash before the Derby Day crowd.
āHe rode a very good race on that horse,ā Lukas said. āI see no reason to change. I give young riders an opportunity if they have ability. Those who look like they have a future, I donāt mind pitching in and helping. (But) you canāt lead with your heart. You have to make a business decision. I feel real comfortable with him on that gray horse. Heās real level-headed. I donāt think heāll get caught up in the hype at all.ā
Torres has said that horse racing got on his radar when his mom was flipping through the television channels and races from Puerto Ricoās HipĆ³dromo Camarero were on. He said he went to the track the next day.
But it was watching the Derby the next year that sealed his future.
āThatās when MyRacehorse won the Derby with Authentic,ā he said. āWhen I rode Seize the Grey for the first time and saw their silks in my locker, I was like, āWow! Iām going to ride for MyRacehorse and D. Wayne Lukas.āā
Torres admits he didnāt know anything about racing horses when he showed up at Puerto Ricoās famed jockey school at the track, starting in the year-long program for exercise riders. He said he stayed for six months before flying to Florida to start working for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., but his goal all along was to ride races.
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āI knew it was going to be pretty hard for me riding in Puerto Rico, because the weight is less, like 109 (pounds),ā Torres said. āSo, I just flew to the U.S.A. and tried to start here. To be in the (jockey) school, you have to be 105 for two years. That was kind of tough for me; I mean, Iām tall.ā
His first victory came on Sept. 17, 2022 at Gulfstream Park on Takestwotowiggle, who paid $28.20 to win in the $6,250 claiming race. Torres subsequently was the leading apprentice in New York in 2023 with 37 victories.
Among those wins was a Saratoga maiden race on Seize the Grey at 13-1 odds. Later that fall, Torres had a good fourth in Churchill Downsā Iroquois (G3) and a third in a Keeneland allowance race before being reunited with Seize the Grey for the Pat Day Mile, which they won at 9-1.
Torres rode at New Orleansā Fair Grounds over the winter before joining the Kentucky circuit. Through Friday, he had 145 career victories and almost $7.3 million in purse earnings after riding only 20 months.
Asked about going from knowing nothing about racing to riding in a Triple Crown race just a few years later, Torres said, āItās crazy. If someone told me that before I started, I would be like, ānaw.ā Iām very happy, very blessed.ā
Torres has never ridden at Pimlico but expects to have a couple of mounts before the Preakness. He said he has no concerns about Seize the Grey going from the Pat Dayās one-turn mile to the Preaknessā 1 3/16 miles.
āI think heāll be fine. I mean, heās by Arrogate,ā he said, referencing the late stallion who won the 1 Ā¼-mile Travers (G1) and Breedersā Cup Classic (G1) as a 3-year-old in 2016 and started his 4-year-old season with victories in the Gulfstream Parkās Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) and the Dubai World Cup (G1).
Lukas has named new Hall of Fame inductee Joel Rosario to ride Just Steel for the first time in the Preakness. After finishing second in the Arkansas Derby, Just Steel was part of a resolute pace in the Derby, tiring to 17th.
Rosario has won the Derby (Orb in 2013) and the Belmont (Tonalist in 2014, Sir Winston in 2019) but never the Preakness, in which heās had four seconds.
āHeās overdue,ā Lukas quipped. āI think thatās a good fit. We donāt want to change the horseās style. I donāt blame (jockey) Keith (Asmussen) for the last time, because he got in trouble (after being bumped hard early in the race) when the horse grabbed the bit and pulled him up there. So, there he was on the lead or near it. Weāll try to correct that next time.ā
Lukas said Flavien Prat will ride Oaklawn Parkās Honeybee (G3) winner Lemon Muffin, eighth in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), in Fridayās Black-Eyed Susan (G2) on Preakness Eve.
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