Tampa Bay Downs jockey Sonny Leon felt his heart swell with love and pride on Christmas Day watching his 4-year-old Paula open her presents – including a toy violin, a trumpet and a flute.
Despite his profession, Leon has never missed celebrating Christmas with his wife Cryss Carmona and their daughter. He flew from Tampa after Wednesday’s races to be with the family at their home in Kentucky, then returned this morning to ride five races, highlighted by a victory on Silver Slugger in the fourth.
Two days earlier, he experienced the kind of nervous anticipation children feel when they know Santa is about to arrive. Getting home, if only for a day, meant the world to the 35-year-old Venezuela product.
“Christmas is the best day for our family, and I had to be there,” Leon said earlier today. “I want to spend time with (Paula) whenever I can. When you see her face opening the presents from Santa. … she was so happy and I was too.”
Leon, the second-leading jockey at Tampa Bay Downs this season with 14 victories, is the choice as the Martin’s Italian Jockey of the Month – and he didn’t have to miss any work to be “Super Dad” back home.
Clearly, he has an abundance of passion to spread between his family and horse racing – his own winning formula for balancing a rich family life with the rush of riding racehorses for a living.
“When I’m with my family, I want to stay in touch with them and give them all my attention. When I come to the racetrack, everything is about the horses,” Leon said. “I love being with my family and I love horse racing. Being a jockey is not a job to me. If I didn’t love it, I’d stay with my family a little longer.
“This sport can be like a (roller coaster), so I keep my focus on business when I’m at the racetrack,” he added.
Leon became a household name in 2022 when he piloted 80-1 shot Rich Strike to a stunning victory in the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve, rallying from 15th place with a quarter of a mile left to secure his place in Thoroughbred racing lore. At Tampa Bay Downs, he is happy to recapture that magical two-minutes-and-change every time a fan asks for an autograph or a selfie photo after a race.
“Those are always good feelings. It’s part of my business, but it also makes people happy and it motivates me to work hard and keep going,” Leon said. “Winning the Kentucky Derby is always a good memory, so I am happy if someone wants to take a picture with me.”
Leon finished fifth in the Oldsmar standings last season with 41 winners and kept the momentum going at Monmouth Park, scoring 43 victories to place fourth in the standings. On June 29, he notched career victory No. 1,000 in North America on Not Too Late, a 3-year-old filly owned by Trin-Brook Stables and trained by Uriah St. Lewis.
“I’ve only been in the United States for 10 years, so that was a good accomplishment for me,” Leon said. “I want to keep going and hit 2,000 in my career. I know it’s not going to be easy, but when you keep working hard in this business and you keep knocking on the doors of every single barn, some day they are going to open for you.”
And for Sonny Leon, there is a door back home in Kentucky that is always open.
Around the oval. In today’s fourth race, Leon teamed with 5-year-old gelding Silver Slugger for an impressive 2 ¼-length triumph from Rome’s Conquest in a 6-furlong starter allowance. El Principito finished third. The victory was the fourth in a row for Silver Slugger, a streak that includes two stakes races. The victory was his 11th from 17 starts.
Silver Slugger’s time was 1:09.49, .82 seconds off the track record. He is owned by Victoria’s Ranch and trained by Juan Carlos Avila.
Samy Camacho rode three winners today. He swept the early daily double, winning the first race on Chrome Ghost, a good-looking 5-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by J J Brevan Stable and trained by Gerald Bennett. Camacho added the second race with Play Free Bird, a 4-year-old filly owned by La Marca Stable and trained by Steve Klesaris.
Play Free Bird was claimed from the race for $5,000 by trainer Jon Arnett for new owner Danny Stafford.
Camacho added the seventh race on the turf with Risk Tolerance, a 4-year-old colt owned by Klaravich Stables and trained by Chad Brown.
Long Gone Sally, a 3-year-old Florida-bred filly, won today’s eighth race, a starter/optional claiming event, for her third consecutive victory at the meet. Ridden by Samuel Marin, she is owned by Tom Abrahamson and trained by Lynn Rarick.
Marin also won the ninth and final race on the turf on True Myth, a 4-year-old filly owned by Christopher La Rosa and trained by David VanWinkle.
Thoroughbred racing continues Saturday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:35 p.m. The Tampa Turf Test starter handicap series begins with a pair of 1-mile races on the grass for horses of both sexes which have started for a claiming price of $16,000 or less in 2025. The series consists of four races for males and females at progressively longer distances.
Saturday’s distaff Tampa Turf Test race, the fifth, is for fillies and mares 3-years-old-and-upward, with trainer Gerald Bennett’s 3-year-old Crafty Collector the 6-5 morning-line favorite in what is expected to be a 10-horse field of turf lovers. Samy Camacho will ride Crafty Collector, who won the Cellars Shiraz Stakes at odds of 61-1 in her most recent start on Oct. 31 at Gulfstream Park.
A field of 10 is also expected for the Males Division, which is the seventh race on the program. The 9-5 morning-line favorite is 5-year-old gelding Eldest Son, who won here on the Nov. 19 Opening Day card racing a mile on the turf.
Tampa Bay Downs races each Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with Sundays added to the mix on Jan. 4.
The track is open every day for simulcast wagering, no-limits action and tournament play in The Silks Poker Room and golf fun and instruction at The Downs Golf Practice Facility.
