When Opportunity Knocked, Davis Answered

Opportunity can knock at any time—even when the world is facing epic upheaval and tragedy.

About a month ago, jockey Dylan Davis and his agent, Mike Migliore, read the tea leaves and made a decision that is finally paying off.

Three weeks after he started riding at Gulfstream Park, Davis racked up a three-win day April 11 at the Florida track, including a victory aboard a 3-year-old first-time starter sent out by the nation's premier trainer, Chad Brown.

"That was a nice day," Davis said. "It was a great opportunity to ride for Chad, and I'm really happy to be riding. It's working out well."

At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has shut down New York racing and sidelined the jockeys who rode at Aqueduct Racetrack's winter meet, Migliore said Davis "seized the moment" and took a bold step to remain in the saddle.

Following a March 19 announcement that racing was being suspended at Aqueduct after a backstretch worker was diagnosed with the coronavirus, the 25-year-old jockey and Migliore huddled about what they should do.

"The options were for Dylan to stay in home in Elmont (N.Y.) or ride somewhere else," Migliore said. "I told him it was a great opportunity to go somewhere else and show off all of the talent he has, and I give him a lot of credit for going down there. He was Johnny on the spot. He put himself in the right place at the right time."

After they briefly pondered a move to Laurel Park, that idea was scratched when the Maryland track made a March 20 announcement that it, too, was canceling racing. Mindful that a day earlier, jockeys Irad Ortz Jr., the two-time Eclipse Award winner, and Rajiv Maragh announced they would stop riding at Gulfstream Park because of the virus, Davis' travel plans became clear.

"Mike told me riding at Gulfstream was my only option," said Davis, the son of former rider Robbie Davis and brother of jockeys Jacqueline Davis and Kate Davis.

So Davis and his wife, Sara, drove their two young children, and his tack, for about 20 hours until they arrived at Hallandale Beach, Fla., during the morning hours of March 21. A little while later, he was riding six horses on the Saturday card at Gulfstream.

In his first ride, Davis piloted She Throws Hard to a fast-closing third-place finish in a maiden race on turf for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey and the August Dawn Farm of two-time Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Parcells.

"I thought he was going to win that race," said Migliore, who remained in New York and lines up Davis' mounts by phone. "I thought it was destined to be a great start for Dylan."

But after that initial ride, all the inherent problems in making a sudden move to a new circuit bubbled to the surface. When Gulfstream's Championship Meet ended March 29, Davis was winless in 39 starts with three seconds.

"I think it would be difficult for any rider coming into a new track with mostly new trainers and a new riding colony," Davis said. "It was a tough transition after moving from 40-degree weather to the 80s here. I picked up some horses at first, but I didn't have a set business."

During the past two weeks, Davis' hustle and perseverance have been rewarded. With Ortiz and his Eclipse Award-winning brother, Jose, plus Hall of Famer John Velazquez taking a break from riding after the Championship Meet and Javier Castellano completing a 14-day isolation after being diagnosed with COVID-19, Davis has become a popular choice for trainers at Gulfstream's spring/summer meet.

With a large contingent of New York stables staying in Florida longer than usual due to the lack of racing in New York, Davis has been getting more mounts and better mounts. He's well on his way to reprising the success he enjoyed when he was leading apprentice at Gulfstream's 2013-14 Championship Meet, notching five wins from 40 starts at the current meet. As a sign of how well he's fitting in, after handling 10 mounts on the April 12 card, he's scheduled to ride five horses April 16 and seven April 17.

"It was really good for his morale to have such a big day," Migliore said about the trio of wins. "He rode a lot of longshots when he first got there, but he was riding for the right people, and that's what will take you to the next level."

While he may be a stranger to some Florida horsemen, Davis is well known among New Yorkers as a regular on the ultra-competitive New York Racing Association circuit. Though he rides year-round in the Big Apple, the winter months have been the time for him to shine. He was fourth at this year's abbreviated Aqueduct winter meet with 46 wins and was third the previous year with 55 wins.

Since Davis last rode at Gulfstream on a regular basis in 2014, his career has taken off the past few years. After winning 204 races and earning a little more than $10 million combined from 2015-17, his earnings were $8.9 million with 142 wins in 2018 and $8.2 million with 134 wins in 2019. Those 2018 totals include a record-tying six-win day at Aqueduct.

Yet with just four graded stakes wins, Davis has yet to emerge as an elite rider on the national scene, so it's been a boost for him to win at Gulfstream Park for trainers Michael Tomlinson, Ken McPeek, Jorge Abreu, Kelly Breen, and, most importantly, Brown, whose stable amassed a record $31.1 million in earnings last year.

Davis has ridden four horses for Brown. Winning an April 11 maiden aboard first-time starter Mister Winston, a son of Lookin At Lucky  owned by Peter Brant and Robert LaPenta, was, for Davis, like capturing a stakes.

"Winning for Chad Brown is something special," Migliore said. "You could see the smile on his face when he crossed the finish line. It was huge for the kid. People saw he can win on a Chad Brown horse, and that can impact how other trainers will look at him."

As much as Davis has welcomed the chance to continue to ride, he also understands the seriousness of what is happening during the pandemic and how tenuous racing can be. Unlike when he rode at a bustling Gulfstream Park six years ago, this time the racetrack is empty and closed to the public, like so many stores and businesses in the area.

"Usually, the roads are packed and the track is filled with so many people," Davis said. "Now there's no one. It's so quiet. In New York, I was used to hearing from the fans all the time, be it good or bad."

The reminders of the pandemic surround Davis every day at the quiet racetrack. He'll wear a face mask when he's not riding, and instead of horses being saddled in the paddock while surrounded by fans, they move directly from their stalls to the walkway leading to the track. There they are spaced far enough apart to meet social distancing requirements, and the riders are given a leg up.

"What's mandatory is wearing gloves. They've never talked about masks. It might be difficult for us to wear them while we're riding because of the heat and the way we're exerting ourselves," Davis said. "The gate crew and pony people have masks and gloves, and so do the grooms and valets that come in. I'll wear a mask when I walk in and out, but not when I ride."

It's surely a different way of life than anything Davis—or anyone else—has ever seen, yet the opportunity to ride with his family close beside him has helped him get through a difficult period and make the best of an awful situation.

"I don't have many options, and I'm just happy to be riding," he said. "We're taking it day by day and staying safe."