Jaramillo Making Waves on West Coast

Jockeys from around the world are always taking a stab at California racing, arriving with dreams of making big money, winning big races, and realizing dreams they have had their entire lives. Most end up leaving a few years later, realizing what actors have been finding out about Hollywood all these years: it's a tough place to break into. Some are good enough and lucky enough to hang on, and some even make a name for themselves. But even that takes a couple of lean years to accomplish.

Late last December, a veteran jockey based in Florida brought his tack out to Southern California. Emisael Jaramillo had done well in Florida, winning races by the bunches and becoming a go-to rider at Gulfstream Park. He had ridden in the Kentucky Derby and the Breeders' Cup, but he'd never won one of the big races. Jaramillo decided he needed to go to a place where he could make that happen.

"Sometimes you can achieve a lot of things in your career but still have a lot of things you still want to do," Jaramillo explains. "Southern California has been known for getting the best horses in the U.S.A. My main factor for coming here was to get grade 1s, Breeders' Cup, and Kentucky Derby."

Turned out that two- or three-year adjustment period was not in the plans for Jaramillo. Instead of languishing in the middle of the jockey standings, waiting his turn to get on the better horses, he went out and won right away. So much so that Jaramillo won the riders' title at his very first meet, the Classic Meet at Santa Anita this winter. He rode 50 winners, eight more than runner-up and perennial jockey champion Juan Hernandez.

"I owe a lot to Doug O'Neill because he opened the door to his barn to me," Jaramillo says. "He gave me every horse that I needed to win in any race. And my agent, Tom Knust, has done an excellent job. Every trainer that opened their doors for me, I'm very thankful because they didn't know me, but they gave me a chance to ride their horses, and thank God we've done very well."

In a short time, the 49-year-old jockey has established himself in one of the toughest jockey colonies in the U.S. Everything seems to be falling into place. He's winning big races. He won four graded stakes in that first meeting at Santa Anita. He captured the G2 Charlie Whittingham during the Hollywood meet at Santa Anita this spring, and last weekend Jaramillo won the G1 Bing Crosby at Del Mar, a "Win and You're In" for the Breeders' Cup Sprint. Not bad for a man who came from humble beginnings in rural Venezuela.

"I was born on a farm," Jaramillo recalls, "so since I was a kid I've had horses around me every day of my life. I was riding Quarter Horse races on the farm. I was 12 years old when I decided to focus on being a jockey."

He became a professional rider in 1996 at the age of 19. By 1997, he was riding at Venezuela's premier racetrack, where he won his first riding title in 1999. He would become the winningest rider in Venezuelan horse racing history, winning more than 4,000 races and three Venezuelan Triple Crowns. 

But the desire to improve on his accomplishments pulled him away from his comfort zone at home and to the U.S., where for several years in the early 2000's he bounced around Florida and Puerto Rico. He took several years off from racing but finally landed in Florida full-time in 2015.

Now, amid the biggest success of his career, tragedy has struck in Jaramillo's home country. A massive earthquake has paralyzed Venezuela, leaving those far from home worried about friends and family back home.

"We have and know a lot of people in Venezuela," Jaramillo states. "Thank God our family was not affected by the earthquake but we stand with all the people who are suffering right now. This time is really hard for our country."

Jaramillo has done his best to remain focused on the task at hand. While the jockey colony at Del Mar is relatively the same as the one he faced up in Arcadia, there have been some additions, like a Hall of Fame rider (Joel Rosario) and a possible future Hall of Famer (Julien Leparoux).

"I really like it when there are a lot of good jockeys," Jaramillo insists. "Competition makes you better. Without competition, there is nothing to keep you going, so I like it when I ride with excellent jockeys. For me, the ones that are here are legends, and I'm just glad to be riding with them."