A horse-racing circuit’s roster of riders is traditionally known as a “jockey colony,” but in Southern California this year a better phrase might be “jockey carousel.”
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Accomplished jockeys have been jumping on and off like tourists at an amusement park attraction, and having a good time doing it. Emisael Jaramillo arrived from Florida last winter little-known here and immediately led the Santa Anita Classic Meet in wins. Joel Rosario returned in the spring after more than a decade back east and led the Del Mar summer standings. Antonio Fresu took his Santa Anita Hollywood Meet title and headed to New York, and he’s fitting in at Belmont Park, ranking sixth in mounts.
The newest addition in California is Jamie Spencer, the Ireland-born former champion jockey in his country and Britain who won his first classic with Tarascon in the 1998 Irish 1,000 Guineas at age 17 and is still going strong at 46.
Spencer figured this would be a nice place to spend the fall and winter months when British flat racing goes dormant. After winning the Canadian International Stakes with UK-based Arabian Crown in early October, he came to Santa Anita with plans to stay in California at least through Del Mar’s November meet. It’s the first time he’ll ride regularly in the United States.
On the holiday Monday earlier this week, Spencer introduced himself to Santa Anita fans by coolly rallying the 5-year-old mare Tirupati from an awkward start to a half-length victory as the 3-1 second choice in the Swingtime Stakes.
“It’s nice to get the first win on the board,” Spencer told Santa Anita TV interviewer Michelle Yu in the winner’s circle.
Spencer said he and trainer Jonathan Thomas wanted Tirupati close to the front of the eight-horse field, but the poor break left her next to last early in the 1-mile turf race and forced the jockey to “go to Plan B and ride her patiently.”
“I always thought at the top of the straight she was going to grind them out and nail them late-on,” said Spencer, who didn’t use his whip in the stretch.
Said Thomas: “(Spencer) went to Plan B like it was Plan A. He’s a world-class rider, and he rode her like that. He timed it perfectly.”
It was Spencer’s fourth mount since his Santa Anita arrival on Oct. 10. The first three were disappointing.
“I suppose I’d better apologize to (the trainers) I rode the first few horses (for),” Spencer said in the TV interview. “It takes a few races to get used to (Santa Anita). It’s such a tight track compared to what we’re used to in Europe. I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it.”
Spencer’s breakthrough means 20 Southern California-based jockeys have won at the stakes level at the Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos thoroughbred meets in 2026. That’s up from 17 by this point in 2025.
The past five major meets at Santa Anita and Del Mar have been led by five jockeys, including Juan Hernandez and Umberto Rispoli. At the same five meets the year before, Hernandez dominated with four titles and Fresu had one.
The Southern California jockey colony isn’t as strong as it was decades ago or as strong as New York’s now, but its jockey carousel has been getting more interesting. Spencer is the latest reason.
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Second-half kickoff
Santa Anita’s six-week autumn meet starts its second half Friday with a $54,223 carryover in the pick-six on races 4-9. The total pool is projected to reach $375,000.
While leading jockey Jaramillo misses Friday’s Santa Anita card so he can get to Keeneland for two stakes mounts Saturday, co-second-place Hernandez and Rosario can trim their four-win deficit. Each rides three morning-line favorites Friday.
Saturday, Hernandez has Artislas, Rosario is aboard Astronomer and Hector Berrios replaces Jaramillo on Nesso’s Lasthurrah in the minor Lure Stakes.
Spencer will be away for the weekend to ride Royal Supremacy in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup in Australia on Saturday.
Two weeks to Breeders’ Cup
Buildup to the Oct. 30-31 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, in Lexington, Ky., officially begins next week. “Pre-entries” are due Monday and will be announced Wednesday, and lineups and morning-line odds for the 14 races will be set Oct. 26.
It’s looking more like Sovereignty, the 2025 Horse of the Year, will be able to run in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. He has worn a stabilizing bar shoe on his left hind foot in three workouts at Saratoga since his training was interrupted by a hind-foot abscess.
Safety watch
Empressum’s death, after the 8-year-old quarter-horse gelding was injured and pulled up in the Oct. 10 Robert L. Boniface Los Alamitos Championship, was one of three horse deaths in a three-day period and nine from Sept. 12 to Oct. 12 in racing and training at Los Al and Santa Anita.
The spike brought total deaths from Jan. 1 to Oct. 12 in racing and training at Los Al, Santa Anita and Del Mar to 30. The number is above the average of about 25 in that part of the year in 2021 through 2025. But it’s below the 42 in the same span in 2020, the first year the California Horse Racing Board posted fatalities.
The death of the 5-year-old thoroughbred mare Ebok’s Dream Girl, attributed to non-musculoskeletal causes, followed a last-place finish at Los Al on Oct. 11. The death of the 5-year-old thoroughbred gelding Mici’s Express came after he was injured and pulled up early in a main-track race at Santa Anita on Oct. 12.
Big win for Norco
The Grade I Los Alamitos Championship Invitational will be remembered for the death of 2022 world champion Empressum. But the victory by 7-2 second choice Norco and jockey Gabriel Lara was notable.
Norco’s fifth win in 12 career starts validated the Ed Allred-owned gelding’s victory at 57-1 odds in November’s Los Alamitos Super Derby, and rewards trainer Scott Willoughby’s decision to give him a nine-month layoff following a fourth-place finish in December’s Champion of Champions.
Now Norco is on his way back to the Champion of Champions on Dec. 12. It’s the quarter-horse equivalent of the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
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Follow horse racing correspondent Kevin Modesti at X.com/KevinModesti.
SANTA ANITA LEADERS
(Through Sunday)
Jockeys / Wins
Emisael Jaramillo / 14
Juan Hernandez / 10
Joel Rosario / 10
Kazushi Kimura / 9
Umberto Rispoli / 8
Tiago Pereira / 7
Drayden Van Dyke / 5
Kyle Frey / 5
Armando Ayuso / 5
Hector Berrios / 4
Tyler Baze / 4
Trainers / Wins
Doug O’Neill / 11
John Sadler / 7
Peter Miller / 6
Jeff Mullins / 5
George Papaprodromou / 5
Michael McCarthy / 5
Phil D’Amato / 5
Carla Gaines / 3
Hector Palma / 3
Richard Mandella / 3
Ryan Hanson / 3
UPCOMING STAKES
SANTA ANITA
Saturday
• $80,000 Lure Stakes, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile on turf
LOS ALAMITOS
Saturday
• $25,000 Azure Three Handicap, quarter horses, 3 and up, 220 yards