Teen jockey hits California gold

For most kids his age, spending the summer in the Del Mar area means swimming, surfing or just hanging out. But for 17-year-old Joe Talamo, it means riding racehorses.

“I’m leading the life of a 30-year-old -- I’m always working,” Talamo said on the phone from the Del Mar racetrack Monday before going out to ride in all of the day’s eight races. By the end of the day, he had two more winners, giving him seven for the first five days of the 43-day meet.

Despite his age, Talamo may be the hottest jockey on the Southern California circuit. He lost his apprentice “bug” Saturday, meaning he no longer gets a five-pound advantage.

He is now a journeyman because Saturday was the one-year anniversary of his fifth win. Usually, when an apprentice loses his bug, his business drops. Owners and trainers shy away because there no longer is a weight advantage.

But nothing seems to have changed for Talamo (the name rhymes with Alamo). On Sunday, his first day as a journeyman with no weight advantage, he won three races, including a $100,000 stakes aboard longshot Spenditallbaby.

The big race of the day was the Grade I $400,000 Eddie Read Handicap, won by heavily favored After Market, with Alex Solis the jockey.

But Talamo’s three wins showed he can compete with the big boys, despite still being nearly a year away from graduating from high school.

He dropped out of high school in New Orleans, but takes classes on the Internet.

“I’m on the computer any chance I get,” he said. “I’m going to graduate from high school. After that, we’ll see.”

Talamo says he can’t quite believe what has happened to him since coming to Southern California toward the end of the Santa Anita meet.

“Every morning, I pinch myself,” he said. “I’ve been blessed and fortunate.”

Eddie Delahoussaye, another Louisiana jockey who had a great career after coming to Southern California, said he believes Talamo is on his way to being a superstar.

“For a 17-year-old, he has a lot of talent,” Delahoussaye said. “He’s very patient, and the more he rides, the better he is going to become.”

Talamo is the son of an assistant trainer, also Joe -- “I’m actually Joe III,” says the 5-foot-1, 109-pound Talamo. He started riding thoroughbreds at age 8. He began riding professionally as an apprentice at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans in June 2006. He won his first race July 9 and his fifth July 21 and ended up winning the jockey title with 119 victories, 25 more than the runner-up.

He was lured to Southern California by trainer Bobby Frankel; it was supposed to be a stopover on his way to New York. But then he finished second in the Hollywood Park jockey standings to another youngster, 20-year-old Michael Baze, leading Talamo to decide to stay in Southern California.

He and his agent, Ron Ebanks, were living in an apartment in Marina del Rey, but Talamo says they plan to move into a house in Playa del Rey after the Del Mar meet ends Sept. 5. Ebanks, calling Sunday the second-biggest day of Talamo’s career, said, “The biggest was when he won two stakes races at Hollywood Park.”

That was July 7, when he won the $300,000 Vanity Handicap aboard Nashoba’s Key and the $300,000 Triple Bend Handicap atop Bilo, a 9-1 longshot.

And it appears more big days are ahead for Talamo.

“He rides like a veteran,” trainer Ron Ellis said. “But beyond his riding skills, he has a lot going for himself. He’s a great kid, a nice guy and has a great attitude.”

Trainer Nick Hines said: “It’s tough to put into words, but he is going to be a Hall of Famer if he continues the way he has been. He not only has talent, he has the attitude of a winner.

“Whether he is riding a 6-5 favorite or a 65-1 longshot, he makes you feel you have a winner.”

larry.stewart@latimes.com