TAMPA BAY: BOOT BARN JOCKEY OF MONTH FERRER’S LONGEVITY CONTINUES TO ASTOUND

By Mike Henry —-

OLDSMAR, FL. – Jose Ferrer doesn’t demand the younger jockeys at Tampa Bay Downs listen to his advice on how to keep themselves and their rivals safe during a race.

But he’s still going to do his best to be heard above the commotion inside the room, even if it means bruising some feelings and blistering a few eardrums in the process.

“I try to be tough because I want them not to do stupid stuff again. I want them to learn from their mistakes,” said Ferrer, the 2018 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award winner. “If I open my mouth, you’re going to hear my voice, because I want you to know what I’m thinking.

“It’s like a father who spanks their kid to make sure they get their point across, then you move on,” said Ferrer, himself a father of 8 and 7-year-old boys. “If you want to take my knowledge and learn from it, that’s up to you. If you don’t, good luck. But if you’re trying to force your horse into a space you think is there and it closes, and your horse goes down and I’m behind you, there is my life (in jeopardy).”

The 58-year-old Ferrer, whose career accomplishments of 4,674 winners and 28 graded-stakes victories are well-documented, knows from losing – as in the 26,658 times he’s made that lonely walk back to the jockeys’ room while one of his peers celebrates.

Some folks believe that jockeys struggle as product spokespeople because even the best lose more than 80 percent of the time, but that statistic illustrates the inherent difficulty of the profession. Getting to the winner’s circle is hard enough; for someone like Ferrer, who has competed more than 40 years and suffered his share of race-related injuries, being able to take another shot at winning in the next race is paramount.

“I always wanted to be around good riders. I was around Angel Cordero, Jr., Jorge Velasquez, Jacinto Vasquez,” Ferrer said, referencing three Hall of Fame members. “Angel always told me when you’re around good riders you develop good habits and you’re going to have good races, and then if you perform, you’re going to do really well.”

In the final analysis, not even Ferrer – a devoted physical-fitness adherent who performed 20 push-ups in the Tampa Bay Downs winner’s circle after a three-victory effort on his 57th birthday – can win the race against Father Time. But he is turning back the clock in the early stages of the current meet, winning eight times from his first 27 mounts to edge (34-year-old) veteran Pablo Morales for the Boot Barn Jockey of the Month Award.

“He’s riding really well, he’s in a good frame of mind and he has a lot of confidence in himself, and that combination makes for a lot of winning,” said trainer Gerald Bennett, who besides using Ferrer on two winners locally brought him to Gulfstream Park on Dec. 8 for a victory on the conditioner’s quarter-million dollar earner Feast in a 5-furlong starter/optional claiming race.

When Ferrer extends his 5-foot-2 frame across a horse’s withers and gets to pushing and scrubbing in the stretch drive, observers sense the rider’s innate desire to get home first. Ferrer won a similar type of race to the one on Feast here for Bennett on Dec. 9 going 5 furlongs on the turf, keeping Averill Racing and Jayson R. Werth’s 3-year-old filly Talk Much to task for a maiden special weight victory from She’s Rednecker in 56.85 seconds.

Talk Much won in gate-to-wire fashion, but only after surrendering the lead to trainer Christophe Clement’s filly Plaisante briefly on the turn for home. It was one of three victories on the card for Ferrer.

“It looked like the outside horse (Plaisante) had good momentum, but when (Talk Much) got headed, (Ferrer) didn’t give up. He roused the filly and she kept going,” Bennett said. “It was only her second start, so she is still learning about competition, and I think she was surprised to see that other horse come up, to but Jose was able to save something for the run home.

“Jose has always been excellent at getting a horse out of the gate, so he is known for being a speed rider,” Bennett said. “But he won the (Grade II Lambholm South) Tampa Bay Derby two years ago coming from far back (on Helium, for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse), so you know he fits a lot of horses with different running styles.”

Ferrer is quick to point a finger skyward when asked to explain his remarkable longevity in the sport. “I’ve been blessed,” said Ferrer, who credits his wife Steffi and their boys, Derek and Joey, for inspiring him on a daily basis. “I think God put all of us here for a reason. Mr. Bennett was born to be a horseman, and he’s one of the best I’ve ever seen. I was born to be a jockey. It helps that I’m light and I’ve never had any weight problems. A lot of riders decline because there is more strain on their body to lose weight as they get older, but I love my breakfast and protein shakes in the morning before I ride and I’m able to stay at 110 pounds.”

His experience (including all those losses) has imbued Ferrer with a clock in his head that enables him to gauge the pace of a race and sense if his horse is going too fast. “The more you ride, the better your timing gets. That’s a big advantage for a rider,” he said. “I know how fast I’m going the first quarter-mile, the first half-mile, and I’m able to adjust. If you know the tempo is too fast the first part of the race, you either slow down or get out of there.”

Ferrer’s agent is Mike Moran, who took over after the jockey’s previous agent moved to Oaklawn Park in Arkansas. Moran – the leading jockey at Tampa Bay Downs in 1978, when the track was called Florida Downs – is also the agent for Oldsmar’s leading jockey, Samy Camacho, and a master of positivity, as well as an expert at finding good horses for his riders.

So, the Ferrer-Moran pairing is going as smooth as silk.

“I’ve been watching Jose through the years, and I love this guy,” Moran said. “He won the Tampa Bay Derby a couple of years ago, and I had a feeling I should take him. I like the way he works, and he tells it like it is. If he tells me he’s going to do something, he does it.

“Jose is not afraid to work and he’s out there hustling all the time. I tell him if we take care of business good, we’re always going to have good business,” Moran said.

Iorio wins her first. Apprentice jockey Melissa Iorio woke up today confident she would make the most of her lone opportunity to earn her first career victory.

“I said ‘I’m winning,’ ” she said after riding 3-year-old filly Hollywood Honey to a 7 ½-length victory from Wind Tryst in the second race. “It was a feeling in my spirit, and it felt like she was in the zone” (warming up before the race).

Hollywood Honey, who was also winning for the first time in her nine-race career, paid $9.20 to win. She is owned by Veb Racing Stable Corp. and trained by Victor Barboza, Jr. The mount was the eighth of Iorio’s career.

Iorio, a 30-year-old New Jersey product, thought she had earned her first career victory in her second start on Oct. 20 at Delaware Park aboard 5-year-old mare Charlotte Webley. But the horse was disqualified and placed last for a positive drug test at a later date, putting Iorio’s entry into the winner’s column on hold for almost two months.

There were few nervous moments on Hollywood Honey, who surged to a big lead on the backstretch of the 7-furlong race and was never threatened. “I was just thinking to keep her comfortable and keep the momentum going, and being aware of what was going on around me,” Iorio said. “She was pulling away pretty well, but you never want to get comfortable out there.”

Iorio, who previously competed as an equestrian in three-day eventing and worked as a marketing manager for an animal health company, entered the Thoroughbred world two years ago when she began galloping horses for trainer Tom Proctor at Glen Hill Farm in Ocala. “I had wanted to be a jockey since I was little, and when I started working for (Proctor) I was absolutely hooked,” she said.

Iorio was looking forward to celebrating with her boyfriend, trainer Keith Harris, and to her next race. “It’s wonderful, but at the same time it’s just one day,” she said. “I have to get back after it tomorrow.”

Raymond to be honored. Late trainer Bobby Raymond, who died May 8 from septic shock after his leg became infected during a beach outing, will be honored after Saturday’s second race, the Bobby Raymond Memorial Classic. Post time for Saturday’s first race is 12:32 p.m.

The 74-year-old Raymond, who earned the Trainer of the Month Award in March, trained 1,294 winners in a 43-year career. He and his wife Kathy were married 48 years.

Former assistant Pedro Posadas has kept Raymond’s legacy going, training 18 horses out of his Barn 5 at Tampa Bay Downs. About half of Posadas’s horses are former Raymond trainees, and he has three victories this meet by his mentor’s former horses: 4-year-old filly Truly a Dream, 3-year-old gelding Azure Sky and 5-year-old mare Magicgirl.

“I’m just trying to follow what Bobby was doing,” Posadas said. “He told me to always be patient with the horses, and to teach them but let them teach you, too. He told me to watch how they move because that was how they talk to you.

“I called him Dad sometimes, and he called me his son. He taught me everything,” Posadas said.

Friends of Raymond and his family are invited to the winner’s-circle celebration after the race.

“Tampa Bay Owners Club” race is Saturday. The fourth annual “Tampa Bay Owners Club” contest, which enables fans to become part of a fantasy-based Thoroughbred ownership syndicate, will be held Saturday in conjunction with the eighth race.

Individuals who pick the winner of Saturday’s eighth race join a fantasy ownership syndicate of the horse for the remainder of the 2022-2023 meet. There is no cost to enter. Participants must fill out an entry blank at either the main Grandstand or Clubhouse entrance and deposit it in a numbered box corresponding with their selection to be eligible.

Everyone picking the winner becomes part of the “Tampa Bay Owners Club” (in case of a dead-heat for first place, two groups of winners will be declared).

Contest winners receive many of the perks associated with Thoroughbred ownership each time their horse returns to compete at the current meet, including free admission; a Tampa Bay Downs racing program; a mutuel voucher; concession-stand discounts; and an attractive “Tampa Bay Owners Club” pin. Club members, who will be contacted by e-mail each time their horse is entered at Tampa Bay Downs, will also be admitted to the paddock before their horse’s races and inside the winner’s circle after a victory.

Besides offering an opportunity to get closer to the horses, owners, trainers and jockeys, the contest is designed to spark interest in actual Thoroughbred ownership, whether through partnerships or buying a horse of their own – often an expensive proposition, but a venture that can lead to untold joy and excitement and even profit.

Around the oval. Trainer Victor Barboza, Jr., sent out two winners today. In addition to his victory with Hollywood Honey, Barboza won the fourth race with Hard Belle, a 6-year-old gelding owned by Skull Stable and ridden by Carlos Rojas.

Jorge Delgado also sent out two winners. He won the first race with Fighting Force, a 4-year-old gelding owned by Lea Farms and ridden by Rojas. Delgado added the sixth with Great King, a 4-year-old gelding owned by AMO Racing USA and ridden by Jose Batista.

Tampa Bay Downs will conduct a special Thursday card next week, providing fans with four consecutive days of racing (Wednesday through Saturday) before the track is closed on Dec. 25 for the Christmas holiday.

The first Sunday card of the meet will be held Jan. 1, from which point the track will race each Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday through May 6, with the exception of April 9, Easter Sunday, when the track is closed.

Except for Christmas and Easter, the track is open every day for simulcast wagering, no-limits poker action and tournament play in The Silks Poker Room and golf fun and instruction at The Downs Golf Practice Facility.