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 Veteran
Sunland jockey hits another milestoneBy Ray Sanchez Sunland Park, NM - Jan. 22, 2012 - Like Old Man River, Joe Martinez just keeps rolling along. And winning. The grizzled veteran jockey, often described as the “Iron Man” of New Mexico horse racing, doesn’t get as many horses to ride as he used to. He turned 50 recently and, as he notes, there are too many talented young whippersnappers around. But boy, does he still know what to do with a horse. Since Jan. 1, he had ridden only nine horses at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino before this week – and he had won on three of them. That’s winning at a 33 percent rate, folks, which is more than amazing. Any jockey who wins at a 10 percent rate is considered good. Anything over that is outstanding. And those who hit 20 percent are considered great. So what does .33 percent make Joe? Out of this world? Anyway, he hit another milestone last week at Sunland. He recorded his 2,500th thoroughbred victory, much to the delight of his many admirers. And he did it on a longshot. He rode Fanny Chenal to victory in the seventh race on Friday Jan. 13. It paid $22 to win, $8.20 to place and $4.20 to show. He already had a stakes victory among his triumphs. He won the $110,000 Albert Dominguez Memorial Handicap aboard Desert Hennessy on Jan. 1. After 36 years of riding as a registered jockey, Martinez’s record through last week stood at 2500 victories, 2280 seconds and 2168 thirds for earnings of $20,571,644. And that’s only on thoroughbreds. Records of quarter horse jockeys weren’t kept until more recently but Martinez figures he’s won another 2000 races in that category. Asked last week if he has any thoughts of retirement, he frowned and shook his head. “Not at all,” he said. | ||
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