Student of the Game Vazquez Proves Quick Study

Right at the break, let's get one thing straight. Ramon Vazquez, who will be riding the highly rated contender Practical Move  in the 149th Kentucky Derby (G1) May 6, is a red-blooded American, born and bred in the United States, with full privileges of native-born citizenship.

Vazquez can roam freely throughout the land without fear of background checks. He can board a plane and fly from Nome to Nantucket by simply flashing the customary ID. He's 39, which means he can run for President. Of the United States.

But hang on. The Breeders' Cup website says, "The native of Puerto Rico won his first race ever in his homeland in 2002… and moved his tack to the United States in 2011 to ride at Delaware Park."

The San Gabriel Valley Tribune, a Southern California paper, last year referred to Vazquez as "… a 38-year-old native of Puerto Rico who began riding in the U.S. in 2011."

Meet the Jockeys of the 2023 Kentucky Derby

And a profile from America's Best Racing notes that Vazquez "graduated from the Puerto Rico Vocational Jockey School in 2002 and began his career in his home country."

At least that last part is unintentionally true. Vazquez, a winner of more than 3,500 races, absolutely began his career in his home country—the U.S.A. He also began his career in the United States Territory of Puerto Rico, which is not a country.

Thus endeth the civics lesson.

Jockeys from Puerto Rico have won six runnings of the Kentucky Derby, three each by John Velazquez and Angel Cordero Jr., Vazquez was inspired to follow in their footsteps by watching races on television with an uncle—his mother's brother—who would regale him with tales of the Derby and other famous races. Thus inspired, young Ramon was determined from an early age—he says "six or seven"—to enter the exotic world of racing. It was at that point his uncle told his nephew that his father, also named Ramon Vazquez, was in fact a jockey.

"My father was gone from us when I was very young," Vazquez said recently at Santa Anita, as he prepared for the trip to Kentucky. "I didn't even know he was a jockey. It was just me and my mother. I was her only child. She did not want me to be a jockey."

To hear Vazquez tell it, even by that young age, it was too late to change his mind. It helped to have the occasional encounter with the teenager who lived in the home behind the Vazquez residence in the San Juan suburb of Carolina.

"That's right," a beaming Vazquez said. "John Velazquez was our neighbor. He knew me from the time I was a kid growing up. He would come to our house sometimes. I always wanted to be like him." 

Vazquez jokes around and calls Velazquez "Dad" whenever they greet, even though the Hall of Famer has only 12 years on his fellow Puerto Rican. As for his real father, who is a licensed trainer at Finger Lakes, in upstate New York, "The last three or four years we've had better communication," Vazquez said. "He knows what I'm doing. It hasn't been easy, but we're closer now."

As soon as Vazquez finished high school he enrolled in the jockey training program located at the Hipodromo Camarero near San Juan—officially the Escuela Vocacional Hípica—where he learned about Thoroughbreds from the ground up. 

"Hotwalking, grooming, everything," Ramon said. "I remember the first time I got on a horse. It was incredible. And from the first, my teachers said I had something. I knew what to do."

Vazquez won 284 races during his apprentice year and never let up. In nine seasons in Puerto Rico, he won more than 1,500 races. As noted, his mainland career began in 2011, and since then he has added another 2,000-plus winners at such far-flung outposts as Delaware Park, Oaklawn Park, Turfway Park, Ellis Park, Gulfstream Park, Calder Race Course, and Churchill Downs.

"I wanted to ride at the big tracks," he said. "That was my goal forever."

For the past year, Vazquez has made Southern California his home. If there was any culture shock, he hid it well. With his Midwestern agent, Bill Castle, at his side, Vazquez finished third in the 2022 Del Mar summer standings, then dethroned local kingpin Juan Hernandez at Santa Anita in the fall. His purse total of nearly $10 million last year was by far the high watermark of his career.

Vazquez also found a Kentucky Derby horse. Practical Move, trained by Tim Yakteen and owned by Pierre and Leslie Amestoy of Albuquerque, N.M., made his first four starts with Drayden Van Dyke in the saddle, winning a maiden race on disqualification and finishing third in the Bob Hope Stakes (G3) at Del Mar. The next time the colt appeared in the entries, for the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) Dec. 17, Vazquez was attached on the overnight.

"Pierre and Leslie really liked Ramon," Yakteen said in explaining the change. "He'd ridden one of their horses before. Pierre is an old jocks' agent and Leslie was a trainer. They're two very educated owners who are students of the game. It makes the whole equation easier when we're talking the same language.

"Ramon is an aggressive rider," Yakteen added. "Timing-wise, I think he was what Practical Move needed. He seems to have a touch the colt really enjoys."

Thrown into a grade 2 race off the bat, Vazquez had to be a quick study.

"I studied his races, to see if I could do something to help the horse," Vazquez said. "The thing I noticed in the replays was that he was a little aggressive. I watched out that I did not fight with him, just let him settle. Everybody always said to me that I've got good hands. I don't know why, but horses relax with me. I put my hands a little low, and they get comfortable. In that race at first I had to get him to slow down, then he relaxed and won easily. I love the way he lets me do my job."

They got the job done again in the San Felipe Stakes (G2) March 4 and in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) April 8, that one by just a nose over the unknown Japanese colt Mandarin Hero .

"For a 3-year-old, he's a very smart horse," Vazquez said. "In the Derby, the race came up different. I had to move with him a little bit sooner because at the three-eighths pole I had to ask him to get in position. Then he relaxed a little, and he was hanging in the last part. The other horse got close, but he never got past."

In all three of his races under Vazquez, Practical Move has made his winning run along the inside. With an early midpack placement likely in the Kentucky Derby's field of 20, such a ground-saving trip is far from guaranteed.

"That's okay," Vazquez said. "He's not scared wherever he has to go. And who knows? Maybe he'd like the outside better. Hopefully, we'll be in a position to find out."

In turn, the wider world will learn more about Ramon Agustin Vazquez, a natural lightweight who does 109 pounds and eats "whatever I want," a menu topped by his favorite Puerto Rican recipe of rice and beans. While riding at Prairie Meadows he submitted to a local tattoo artist from Mexico who adorned Vazquez with an elaborate "sleeve" of blue-inked decoration on each arm. There is a wolf, a collection of tribal designs, and his unique "RV" logo inked on the back of his left hand.

"Yeah, that one hurt a little," Vazquez admitted.

Before Practical Move came along, Vazquez was best known as the man aboard long-distance specialist Lone Rock , the son of Majestic Warrior  who needs at least 12 furlongs before he perks up. Over the past two years, Lone Rock and Vazquez have won eight stakes, including the 2021 Brooklyn Handicap (G2) at Belmont Park by 11 1/2 lengths. They will team again May 3 for a defense of their score last year in the Isaac Murphy Marathon at Churchill Downs.

Vazquez also will take a swing Friday in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) with the Arrogate filly And Tell Me Nolies , winner of the Chandelier Stakes (G2) and Del Mar Debutante (G1) and second most recently in the Santa Anita Oaks (G2). In seven starts, Vazquez has been her only rider.

Then comes Saturday, and a chance to join his two fellow "countrymen" as Puerto Rican winners of America's most famous horse race.

He'll take the honor no matter how he is described.

"I just hope I can make it three," Vazquez said.