Jockey Carrasco Continues to Thrive in Maryland
Jockey Carrasco Continues to Thrive in Maryland
Talent, Work, Consistency Put Eclipse Award Winner on Top
LAUREL, MD – Though he has earned both riding titles and awards in his still-blossoming riding career, jockey Victor Carrasco isn't motivated by such accolades. As easy-going as he is competitive, Carrasco just wants to win.
Winning is all Carrasco has done since coming to the United States from his native Puerto Rico in early 2013. He was voted the Eclipse Award as leading apprentice that year and has finished as Maryland’s second-leading rider in 2014 and 2015, his first two full seasons on the circuit.
Carrasco is at it again in 2016. In the midst of Laurel Park’s summer meet which resumes its 24-day stand on Friday, the 24-year-old Jessup, Md. resident shares the standings lead with Feargal Lynch at 17 wins. Carrasco already enjoyed three three-win days and picked up his 700th career victory with Lady of Moray on July 31. Overall, Carrasco’s 103 wins match Trevor McCarthy for the most in Maryland.
“He’s just steady. He’s always right there,” said Carrasco’s agent, Tom Stift. “The leading rider thing doesn’t drive him. When it gets close at the end and people want to put him on horses and take other people off, that’s not him. He says, ‘If I win, I win and if I don’t, I don’t.’ It’s all about winning races. And he’s just as happy for [Jevian] Toledo or McCarthy if they’re leading rider. He’s not disgruntled or doesn’t get upset. He’s just happy every day.”
Carrasco is Laurel’s defending summer meet champion, his third title including the Laurel’s 2013 fall stand and the 2015 Preakness Meet at Pimlico. He has finished second to McCarthy this year in both the Laurel winter-spring meet and Preakness meet.
“Some guys, all they think about is to win the title and win the trophy. To me, it’s awesome if you win the title but I don’t really pay attention to that,” Carrasco said. “It’s easy to look at the standings and see you are two in front or two behind, and then you lose focus. You’re just worried about beating one guy. I don’t really care about winning the standings. The most important thing is winning races.”
Born into a family of horsemen, Carrasco grew up around the racetrack. His grandfather and uncle, both trainers, would take him along during summer vacation and put him to work, hotwalking horses and cleaning stalls.
“They always teach me how to take care of a horse and learn about the horses from the ground up,” he said.
Carrasco graduated high school before enrolling at Escuela Vocacional Hipica, Puerto Rico’s state-run jockey school. His class of 12 included Edgard Zayas and Manuel Franco – the other Eclipse Award finalists during Carrasco’s championship year, when he led all apprentices with 215 wins and $4.357 million in purse earnings – and Toledo, Maryland’s leading rider in 2015.
“In Puerto Rico you can get into the jockey school when you’re 16, but my grandfather told me I had to finish high school first and that’s what I did,” Carrasco said. “We had three years in the jockey school. The first year they give you a horse and you are the groom of the horse all year round. They teach how to ride but they make sure you take care of the horse. Whatever they tell me to do, I do.
“The second year was all galloping. I didn’t have to take care of any horse,” he added. “I just galloped and breezed and rode in practice races. All the students, every [other] Friday we had practice races. In each class there’s always one or two that do really well, but they say for the last few years that ours was the best class.”
Carrasco won 11 professional races in Puerto Rico before earning his first domestic victory aboard Wellspring Legacy at Tampa Bay Downs on March 23, 2013. Still speaking limited English, he soon he found himself in Maryland where he hooked up with Stift and the two have been together since.
“I think he had only won six races when I got him,” Stift said. “You could tell he was raised right and he had a really good work ethic. His family was in horse racing and he knew the business real well. He works as hard today as he did when he had the bug. I’d say he’s one of the hardest working jocks in the country.
“He hardly ever takes a morning off,” he added. “He just loves getting on horses. He’ll walk around to find something to do so that’s a big plus, and he’s got the talent, too, and a great personality. I’ve hardly seen him upset once in three years. Now matter how bad or good things are going, he’s the same. He keeps the same level head.”
Unlike some riders, who struggle after losing their apprentice weight allowance, Carrasco has also kept his business and watched it grow. He has won three stakes in Maryland this year – the What a Summer, Caesar’s Wish and Weber City Miss during Laurel’s winter-spring meet – and won five races at Pimlico on June 11. He also won five on Oct. 24, 2015 at Laurel.
“Winning the Eclipse Award means so much. I worked real hard for that. I think that helped me out after I lost the bug,” Carrasco said. “I was worried I was probably going to start riding two or three horses a day and it’s not going to be the same, but then I was riding six or seven races a day or the whole card. My business never went down.”
Much of that is due to Carrasco’s dedication, as well as his talent. He is on the backstretch at 5 most mornings to exercise horses as well as network with horsemen, and has kept himself busier in the afternoon. He rides three days a week at Laurel, three at Delaware Park and at least two Tuesdays a month in Philadelphia.
“You have to get up every day in the morning. That’s one of the main things in this game. If you don’t go to work in the morning, even if you don’t get on so many horses, at least the trainers see you and you say hi and ask if they need anything,” he said. “Sometimes I feel tired. It’s not easy.”
Carrasco is named in six of eight races on Friday’s weekly twilight program that starts at 3:40 p.m. There are nine live days remaining in the summer meet, which ends Aug. 21.
“Everything has been going real good so far. I can’t complain. I’ve been winning. Almost every day I have a winner and if I don’t, maybe the day after I have two or three winners. The trainers have been giving me really good opportunities to ride some nice horses. It’s all about them,” he said. “I am loving the summer time but also in the winter and spring it was great. I have great support from all the trainers. They always give me the chance to ride some nice horses, and I owe them everything.”
