Jose Santos and Jr. make a great father-son team

Jose Santos and Jr. make a great father-son team

From the very beginning, it appeared to

be written that Jose Santos Jr., son of Hall of Fame jockey Jose Santos, was

destined for a life on the racetrack.

"I was six days old when I spent my first day at a track," Santos said. "And

that very same day, my dad won the Whitney with Colonial Affair. In fact, he

later told me that he almost missed my birth because he was up at Saratoga the

morning I was born to work Colonial Affair for that race."

And with that, the nearly one-week old Santos was initiated to the world of

Thoroughbred racing, a world he inhabits today as the 17-year-old agent for

jockey Eddie Dominguez.

"It's as close to being a rider one can get, without actually being a rider,"

Santos said from Calder on Fathers' Day Sunday. "I just love it."

As the smallest kid in his seventh-grade class at 4 feet 6 inches, Santos

believed he would follow in his father's footsteps, and that a career as a

jockey was a certainty. But the certainties of youth are often far from certain,

and as months fell from the calendar, Santos physically outgrew his dream.

"Back then I was small, but I had big hands and size seven feet," Santos

recalled. "I didn't think anything of it, but my dad knew that was a sign I was

going to grow. The thing is, he never told me; he never wanted to ruin my dream.

I had boots and a vest and would practice on the Equicizer. All I wanted to do

was ride. But by eighth grade I was already over five feet, and I was still

getting bigger."

With any hope of riding horses for a living derailed by size, Santos found a

new outlet for his racing-related energies when initially exposed to the job of

jockey's agent in the summer of 2010, when his father first journeyed out as an

agent to represent Fernando Jara at Delaware Park.

"We were riding first call for Pletcher, so my dad would spend most of his

time focusing on that," Santos explained. "And I would handle the work for the other

trainers we rode for. My dad and I would sit down daily and go over the

condition book together. And when I wasn't able to be up in Delaware because of

school or some other reason, we would speak on the phone every day."

Those father-to-son sessions continued on a regular basis and were eventually

relocated to south Florida in 2011 when the elder Santos agreed to represent

jockey Hector Berrios at Calder.

"That time we spent with Hector was so valuable," the younger Santos

revealed. "I

really learned a lot that year, from my dad and from Hector. Without that time

together, I'm not sure I would have been ready to take Eddie's book by myself

this year."

And while the younger Santos is clearly handling the responsibilities of

being an agent by himself, hitting the barns in the morning to hustle mounts and

attending the daily draw in hopes of picking up an unexpected ride, input from

his father is regularly offered and valued.

"Every Monday and Tuesday, I get together with my dad and Eddie, and we go

over tapes and watch races to see what we can do better," Santos said. "And then

after we watch the races, we watch and study even more races. We're always

trying to pick up on something we can improve."

The early-morning hours kept by a jockey's agent aren't always conducive to

the lifestyle of a 17-year-old during the summer months following his high

school graduation. But Santos credits his father, and their mornings spent

together while his dad was riding, for his ability to adjust to a schedule that

most teenagers would run from.

"I'm in bed almost every night at nine-thirty and I'm here every morning at

five," Santos said. "But that's nothing new for me. When my dad used to ride,

every chance I had on weekends or during summer break, I would go with him to

the track in the mornings. Same thing when we were at Delaware; every morning we

were up early."

But a daily routine that starts before the sun rises and is over just after

the sun sets can sometimes seem foreign to others his age. For this reason,

Santos has developed a bond with another jockey's son that recently relocated to

Calder.

"One of my good friends is Austin Solis, Alex's son," Santos said. "He came

from California and gallops horses here. It's great, because he's someone I can

always talk to about the horses. Some of our friends think we're crazy, but

while they're going to the beach or a party, Austin and I can just sit around

and talk about the horses.

"And he's going to be a good rider," Santos added. "We talk all the time

about one day him riding and me being his agent."

But those days will have to wait as Santos will put down the condition book

in August when he leaves for his freshman year at Bellarmine University in

Louisville, Kentucky, where he will study broadcast communications while on a

full soccer scholarship as a goalkeeper.

"The first day of tryouts in high school, I saw one kid who wasn't doing any

running, and asked what position he played," Santos said. "They told me

goalkeeper, and I knew that's the position I wanted. But I never thought it

would take me this far; that I would be able to play in college. I just wanted

to stay fit and impress girls. But on February 2, national signing day, I signed

a letter of intent for Bellarmine."

Bellarmine wasn't the only university to notice Santos and offer an athletic

scholarship, but it was the only school less than six miles from Churchill Downs

to offer Santos a scholarship, and that proximity to the track was a deciding

factor in his choosing the Kentucky school.

"That was a huge," Santos admits. "Having the horses nearby is so important

to me. I couldn't imagine going to a school where I couldn't be around racing on

a regular basis."

As for his father, Jose Santos the elder can be found in the Calder stable

area, practicing a new trade with all the enthusiasm and passion the Chilean

native exhibited while riding.

"He is running a feed company called Instride International," the younger

Santos said. "He absolutely loves it. He knows so much about feed, I'm amazed.

Learning about feed and how to run the business has become his life. I'm just in

awe of what he knows."

And Santos is still in awe of what his father has accomplished in life, and

what opportunities those accomplishments were able to provide.

"Growing up, my dad took me to everything," Santos said. "If he had an

interview, he took me. If there was a trainer he needed to talk to, he took me.

Whatever he was doing, he wanted me to be a part of it. And there was nothing I

wanted more than to be a part of it.

"And looking back now, it's amazing to think where my dad being in this

business has taken me. I've been to Dubai, Jamaica, Chile, places like, and I

grew up watching the best like Day and Bailey. It's just been so awesome being a

part of it. I feel so lucky."

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