Hotshot Jockey Rides Into Town : Jose Santos, the Top Gun in N.Y., to Try His Luck in the Southland

The Southern California jockey colony, already considered the strongest in the world, gets even stronger today when Jose Santos, the country’s leading rider the past four years, becomes a resident.

Santos was scheduled for three mounts, including Daughter of Wolf in the $60,000-added Allez France Handicap, on opening day of Hollywood Park’s 37-day fall-winter meeting.

Santos, a native of Concepcion, Chile, has been riding in the United States for seven years. In the past four years his mounts have earned an average of $13 million in purses.

He did most of his riding in that period at Belmont Park in New York and The Meadowlands in New Jersey.

Starting today, he’ll be a full-time Californian.

“It’s going to be a good challenge here, competing with the top jockeys,” Santos said. “We (Santos and his agent, Frank Sanabria) have been planning to come to California for three years, and finally we’re here.”

Santos, 29, will join a group of riders which includes, among others, Gary Stevens, Chris McCarron, Eddie Delahoussaye, Laffit Pincay and Kent Desormeaux.

Stevens currently leads the nation in purse earnings with more than $12.5 million. Santos is second with over $11.8 million.

“I’m not nervous at all,” Santos said. “I’ve ridden here occasionally and I know the jockeys. I’ve won some big races at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita. I’ve won some claiming races here, too.

“I know I’ll have some real tough competition here. But I’ll be one of the top guys, too. Everybody respects me. I’m here to win some races. We’re planning to stay. If we’re doing well, we’ll buy a house here.”

Santos has won a lot of races since arriving in 1984 to ride in Florida--1,886, to be exact. His mounts have earned more than $70 million.

Santos, the son of a jockey, rode his first race in Chile at age 14. He admitted he wasn’t so confident when he arrived in the United States.

“When I came here, I hoped to win at least 50 races a year so I could earn a living,” he recalled. “Things started out well, (but) I certainly didn’t expect to do so well.

“When I started winning some races in New York, that’s when I became real confident.”

Santos was the only jockey to win more than one race in the Breeders’ Cup last month--he was victorious aboard unbeaten filly Meadow Star and colt Fly So Free in the juvenile events.

He’ll almost surely ride one or the other in the Kentucky Derby next May.

“That’s my goal, to win the Kentucky Derby,” he said. “That’s every jockey’s goal. I’m still young. I’ll get one, maybe more.”