Edgard Zayas Ready for First Breeders' Cup Ride

Edgard Zayas makes it all sound so simple.

As the 24-year-old jockey recalls what inspired him to take up his vocation, it is stark how uncomplicated the circumstances were. He grew up minutes away from the racetrack near his hometown of Canóvanas, Puerto Rico. He didn't come from a racing family or riding background, but he always took joy away from his encounters with the equine athletes during trips to the track with his grandfather. 

Upon his graduation from high school, he enrolled in the jockey school at Hipódromo Camarero figuring he'd "give this a try."

"I liked the horses and I just kind of fell into it ... and it turned out to be a good idea, I guess," Zayas said.

If Zayas' account of his early days comes off as facile, the results he has put up the past five years have been equally straightforward. He has already blown past the 1,000-win milestone (1,057 victories and counting), he earned his first grade 1 victory barely a year into his career, and now enjoys a reputation as one of the most prolific riders on the Florida circuit.

Zayas checks off his objectives as quickly as he sets them. Come Nov. 4 he will have the opportunity to knock off a career-defining achievement in his first attempt.

Successful as he is in the Sunshine State, Zayas will head west this week for an outing he hopes will go down as an example of how his ability translates beyond his comfort zone. Gunnevera, the multiple graded stakes winner Zayas has been helping develop since the colt's 2-year-old season, will become his rider's first Breeders' Cup mount when the two break from the gate in the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Del Mar.

It has been that kind of year for Zayas—a season full of moments that has kept his signature megawatt smile at level 50. In March he dove headlong into some of deepest international waters when he traveled to Dubai to ride multiple graded stakes winner Sharp Azteca to a third-place finish in the Godolphin Mile Sponsored By Meydan Sobha (G2). In May a new bundle of joy and perspective arrived when his wife Ashley gave birth to their daughter Lilly. And six days before he booted home his 1,000th winner, he got his chance to ride Gunnevera to victory when he guided the Antonio Sano trainee in the Aug. 6 Tangelo Stakes at Gulfstream Park, after serving as the colt's regular work rider dating back to last year.

Lost in the mix of West Coast's gate-to-wire 3 1/4-length triumph in the Aug. 26 Travers Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) was Gunnevera and Zayas running past a trio of Classic winners en route to a runner-up finish. That showing was enough to confirm to Sano that both the son of Dialed In  and the rider he considers part of his family deserved an opportunity on the World Championships card.

"You know (this season) has surpassed my expectations, really, because I had some rough years the past couples years, where I had a lot of injuries," Zayas said. "Luckily this year I've been riding with no injuries. I've had a very good year so far. ... I had a chance to go to Dubai, I got the chance to ride this horse in the Travers, and now I'm having the opportunity to ride him back again in the Breeders' Cup. It's a big opportunity for my career.

"If I could win, I think it gives a little bit of respect that you're not just a jockey for cheap races or a jockey just based in Florida. (It shows) that you can compete against everyone. Hopefully it works out."

Since arriving in Florida in 2012 after less than two years in jockey school, Zayas' statistical output has been emblematic of a natural talent. He was an Eclipse Award finalist for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey in 2013, when he booted home 203 winners, including guiding Starship Truffles to victory in that year's Princess Rooney Handicap (G1). The following season he ranked fourth among all riders in North America with 285 victories and, despite being sidelined at various points for a broken collarbone, a broken rib, and ligament strain in his left knee, Zayas still compiled more than $5.1 million in earnings in both 2015 and 2016.

"He's got a good head on his shoulders. He's a very smart kid for his age," said Tito Fuentes, who has been Zayas' agent since February 2013. "He studies races constantly every day and so he's very well prepared when he goes to ride. And he's got a good opinion on every horse he works in the morning. That's probably his best asset. When he works them in the morning, he can give you an opinion as good as any jockey on the grounds."

Sano, for one, takes Zayas' word to the bank.

When the affable jockey worked Gunnevera, then a recent maiden winner, at Gulfstream Park West last summer, he told the trainer he thought the colt had as much upside as any runner he had been aboard. The endorsement helped convince Sano to ship the chestnut to Saratoga Race Course, where he went on to earn his first graded win in the 2016 Saratoga Special Stakes (G2).

Though it was future Hall of Famer Javier Castellano who got the call that day and for five of Gunnevera's next six starts, Sano trusted Zayas to get his rising stable star prepped for the Triple Crown series. When it was time to bring owner Margoth's good-natured colt back from the freshening he received after running fifth under Mike Smith in the Preakness Stakes (G1), Sano gave Zayas the nod to take what he was feeling in the mornings and use it to get the colt back to the winner's circle in the Tangelo Stakes.

"His last workout (before Saratoga), I did it and the horse won. Then when he went back to Delta Downs (for his win in the grade 3 Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes last November), I started working him again and he won again," Zayas said. "Antonio was like, 'Every time you get on him, he starts winning.' So from there on, he started putting me on him all the time to work him out and ... I knew sooner or later he was going to give me an opportunity to ride him."

"Edgard is like my son among the jockeys," Sano added. "The horses in my barn run right every time he starts working them. I told the owners one day after the Kentucky Derby ... the best decision for me is one jockey. And Edgard, he knows the horse very well."

At 30-1 on the morning line for the Classic, a victory by Gunnevera on Saturday would go down as one of the most popular of upsets.

Sano's tale of having survived multiple kidnappings years ago in his native Venezuela—and his openness in retelling that harrowing chapter of his life—made the entire camp among the most endearing figures during the run-up to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1). Their collective success in getting Gunnevera ready for a spoiler bid in the Classic is further convincing Zayas he may need to broaden his own scope of what he is capable of.

"Eventually I want to see if I can try up north in New York around that area," he said. "So far I've done so good (in Florida) that sometimes I just get so comfortable. But I want to try that someday. I always suspected that a good horse will help, and this is the opportunity now to see where this takes me."