TAMPA BAY: JOCKEY OF MONTH GALLARDO GAINS INSPIRATION FROM LATE FATHER

By Mike Henry —-

JOCKEY OF MONTH GALLARDO GAINS INSPIRATION FROM LATE FATHER

OLDSMAR, FL. – It’s the moments when Antonio Gallardo is away from the racetrack that he most feels the loss of his father, who died unexpectedly in mid-June in the family’s homeplace of Jerez de la Frontera in Cadiz, Spain.

“When I’m on a horse working or in a race, I’m focused on the horse,” said Gallardo, the Mother’s Restaurant Jockey of the Month, outside the Tampa Bay Downs jockeys’ room earlier today. “That’s the only time I’m OK. My family (wife Polliana and their two children) and I have a beautiful farm in Odessa, and every year when my father came to visit, he’d be working on the farm or we’d walk the property, or we’d just have a cup of coffee and talk.

“When my wife came to the track (Thursday) I was crying, because my mom and my sister Marta and her family are here visiting and they’re going to be there for the Jockey of the Month (presentation). But I won’t have Papi there.”

Gallardo said there was no specific cause of death. He was at Monmouth Park to ride a race when his sister called him and urged him to return home because their father was failing. He drove from New Jersey to Erie, Pa. (the site of Presque Isle Downs, his primary summer base) to retrieve his passport, then booked a flight to Tampa, from where he and Polliana flew out the next day.

When they arrived, they learned that the elder Antonio had fallen asleep and not awakened. He was 67.

While his mother Paqui has had some health problems, his father was extremely healthy. “His heart was good, his brain was good. He never drank and he didn’t smoke,” Gallardo said.

In fact, the elder Gallardo, a hotel manager, was so “sound,” to borrow the racetrack phrase, that doctors were able to harvest several of his organs. Gallardo was told by the doctor a day after his father’s funeral that his organs helped save the lives of seven people over two days.

Gallardo went back to work upon his return at the beginning of July, but it wasn’t easy. After winning a race on July 2 at Presque Isle Downs aboard Q F Seventy Five – his first victory since his father’s passing – Gallardo broke down in the jockeys’ room. “I was crying so much, I was shaking. I wanted to take off the rest of my mounts,” he said.

“(Fellow jockey and close friend) Pablo (Morales) told me, ‘I’m sorry that happened. But you have to be strong.’ But it’s still not easy. My father came here to visit every year, and we talked almost every morning on social media. He’d tell me to remember to pray and that everything would be OK. He’s still with me. Sometimes I think people think I’m talking to myself, when I’m talking to him.

“If it makes me feel good, why not? I know he’s looking for me.”

Gallardo considers himself fortunate to have a loving family and to have his agent, former jockey Paula Bacon, and trainers such as Kathleen O’Connell looking out for his best interests. The five-time leading Tampa Bay Downs jockey won the Presque Isle Downs title going away, riding 118 winners and winning at a virtually unheard-of clip of 32 percent. He fell just short of his second consecutive Colonial Downs title in Virginia, winning 22 races to finish third, and finished the year with 201 victories.

His victory today in the fifth race on the turf aboard 5-year-old gelding Two Minutes Apart, for owners James Politano and Vincent Politano and trainer Kathleen Demasi, was his 15th of the meet, good for third place.

“He is like a bulldog. He’s extraordinarily driven,” Bacon said. “He just pushes and pushes and pushes. He’s 37, and he has the energy level of a 20-year-old. He’d get in the car with me on Wednesday night at Presque Isle and we’d drive 7 or 8 hours to Colonial Downs – he’d drive the first part, then I’d take over so he could sleep – and we’d get there about 2:30 a.m.

“He’d get a little more sleep and then he’d have to go lose weight and ride the next day. Most young kids can’t do that, but his drive is what makes him successful,” Bacon said.

On a couple of occasions, fellow jockey Ronnie Allen, Jr., joined him for the trip from Erie, Pa., to New Kent County, Va.

O’Connell, the three-time leading Oldsmar trainer, took Gallardo under her wing 13 years ago when he was struggling to get business and doubting he had made the right move by coming to the United States. Their success together has filled numerous scrapbooks and award cases.

“He’s a horseman,” O’Connell said, paying Gallardo her ultimate compliment. “He’s astute at figuring horses out and communicating his insights. He excels on the turf, and he’s a very strong rider. And he’s always thinking. If he’s riding a horse that wants to be on the front end and it gets wiped out at the break, he always has a Plan B and a Plan C in his mind to go to.”

Gallardo, who has ridden more than 2,700 winners in the United States, set the single-season record at Tampa Bay Downs with 147 winner during the 2014-15 meet. He has won at least one graded stakes in nine consecutive years, including the Grade I United Nations Stakes in 2018 on 4-year-old colt Funtastic for trainer Chad Brown.

Gallardo finished second in North America in 2015 with 320 winners, behind only Javier Castellano, and was second the following year to Jose Ortiz with 332 winners.

If anyone is equipped to go on boldly in the face of a personal tragedy, it’s this hard-charging athlete from Spain who has made a name for himself throughout the sport. Now, it’s his time to show more strength than ever, just as his father did when encouraging him to stay the course after starting 7-for-176 stateside in 2008 and 2009 – while reminding him he was always welcome to return should he make the decision to leave.

“My mom is pretty strong. She tries not to show us she’s hurting,” Gallardo said. “I bought them a house (in Jerez de la Frontera), and my goal was to buy another house there for my family and my sister’s family with a swimming pool and many nice things.

“It’s just weird that my dad was so healthy and now he’s gone. He was the one who was always on top of me. He meant everything for me, everything.”

Vassimo wins for Pletcher, Ortiz. Trainer Todd Pletcher, who has won the Kentucky Derby twice – in 2010 with Super Saver and in 2017 with Always Dreaming, both of whom competed at Tampa Bay Downs – won today’s third race with another 3-year-old colt he has high hopes for, Vassimo.

Ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr., the son of 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist out of the multiple Grade II-winning dam Bsharpsonata rolled to a 2 ¾-length victory from Lastabitlonger. The time for the mile-and-40-yard distance was 1:39.32, .64 seconds off the track record.

Vassimo is 2-for-2, including a victory Dec. 14 at Gulfstream under Ortiz.

Vassimo, who is owned by Team Penney Racing, is a “very exciting colt,” Pletcher said in a text message after the race. “He handled the stretch-out around two turns very well. We’ll consider all options, but certainly a stakes race will be the (next) target.”

Pletcher added that a start in the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes, a “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points race on Feb. 8 at Tampa Bay Downs, is a possibility.

Ortiz was highly enthused by Vassimo’s performance, as well. “It went perfect. He broke a little sharper today (than his debut) and was more focused going into the turn,” Ortiz said. “He was a little green last time, but today he was very straightforward. At the 3/8-mile pole I showed him the stick and he responded.

“I think he’s still learning. When he made the lead (approaching the stretch) he started looking around a little. But he can get better and I think he will.”

Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr., rode two winners today. He captured the fourth race on Rip Riding Away, a 3-year-old Florida-bred filly owned by James Fugate and Paul Higgins and trained by Kathleen O’Connell. Diaz added the sixth race with Fabulous Candy, a 5-year-old mare owned by Lewis E. Mathews, Jr., and trained by Chelsey Moysey.

Thoroughbred racing continues Saturday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:15 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs is open every day for simulcast wagering, no-limits action and tournament play in The Silks Poker Room and golf fun and instruction at The Downs Golf Practice Facility.