After riding four winners at La Rinconada in his native Venezuela five years ago, Kleiner Mejias took the last three years off from race-riding to polish his overall horsemanship skills in the United States.
From stints on the backstretch of Monmouth Park and Churchill Downs, as well as at the Ocala Training Center and various Ocala-area farms, Mejias set his sights on a day like today, when he would prove he belonged against the quality of jockeys at a track like Tampa Bay Downs.
“He can’t even try to put it into words,” explained interpreter Ricardo Feliciano, a journeyman member of the Oldsmar riding fraternity, after the 27-year-old Mejias score his first stateside victory from 14 starts in the third race on 46-1 shot Ikigai. “Tears started coming out of his eyes. It’s one of the greatest feelings of his life.”
Fellow riders waited inside the paddock to perform the traditional initiation ceremony, dousing Mejias with buckets of ice water, dumping baby powder on his head and lathering his face and hair with shaving cream.
Judging from the fact he returned in the fourth race to finish second on Heavens Express – like Ikigai, trained by Enrique Hernandez – it appeared Mejias was barely fazed by the experience.
Yet who can really tell what beats inside the heart of a young man or woman attempting to fit in one of the most challenging, and often dangerous, sports on the planet.
Mejias said he benefited from getting on the 6-year-old gelding Ikigai, owned by Alex Kazdan, just about every morning. “He’s a little crazy, but I’ve gotten to know him,” Mejias said through Feliciano. “He broke a little slow today, but I sent him to the lead and he got big-hearted. I took a nice hold, (Ikigai) grabbed the bit and he just started dragging me around. It was a really good feeling.”
Since it was officially his fifth career victory, Mejias’s apprentice weight allowance dropped from 10 to 7 pounds. The time for the 6 furlongs was 1:11.33.
Feliciano and every other jockey in the room who has had his number posted and entered a winner’s circle can relate. “You’re not in the club until you win a race,” said Feliciano, who won his first of 2,527 in 1997 at Mountaineer Park. “That’s why you put in all the hard work and determination, to win like that, and it’s what keeps us putting in all those hours because there is no greater feeling than crossing that wire first.”
And long after he forgets the details of his initiation, so visible to the public, that feeling of accomplishment and pride is what Kleiner Mejias will keep coming back to.
Lifelong “racing enthusiast” wins “10 Days of Festivus” contest. Despite carrying a healthy lead into Wednesday’s final round of the “10 Days of Festivus” Handicapping Contest, David Barth wasn’t taking anything for granted.
“He said ‘I don’t think they can catch me, but I won’t know until the last race is over,’ ” said his wife of 57 years, Nancy. “I saw he had a big grin on his face (after the final race) and I said ‘You did it.’ ”
He did indeed. The U.S. Navy veteran, a retired small-business owner and a self-described “racehorse enthusiast” his entire adult life who tries to make it to Saratoga every summer, seemed to make the right moves at the right time during 10 days of selecting, emerging on top even though he picked only four winners.
Barth, an 81-year-old resident of Laconia, N.H., and runner-up Ewell Johnson, 76, of Clarksville, Ind., who spent today trying to pick winners at Caesars Race & Sportsbook in his hometown, proved the importance of experience when it comes to managing money and expectations during the contest’s three-week duration.
That is, until Dec. 19. … because how does one explain Barth picking 45-1 shot Greyzer for his mythical $2 across-the-board wager in that day’s eighth race, a 7-furlong claiming event? Under a patient ride by Sara Hess, the 7-year-old Florida-bred gelding surged late on the far outside to win by a neck in a four-horse photo finish.
The contest still had three days left, but that $137 win, place and show injection was basically the clincher. Barth’s final bankroll was $228.20, $14.50 ahead of Johnson.
A field of 1,123 entered the online contest, with 86 surviving to the final day.
“He looks at their previous races, and he often plays longshots,” said Nancy Barth, attempting to explain the unexplainable. “And he loves to give female jockeys the benefit of the doubt.”
“You don’t get those kind every day,” said Johnson, who picked six winners, “but you have to have stuff like that happen” to win.
Barth earned first-place money of $1,000, while Johnson collected $500.
Around the oval. No bettor hit the Late Pick-5 combination of 2/5/8/9/11 today, creating a carryover pool of $63,841 into Wednesday’s Late Pick-5. There is also a carryover of $5,158 into Wednesday’s Ultimate 6 wager.
The Tampa Turf Test got off to a rousing start when 92-1 shot Mackenzie’s Novva laughed in the face of his odds to post a gritty head victory from 6-5 favorite Eldest Son in today’s seventh race, the 1-mile Males Division of the starter handicap series.
Jockey Gaddiel Martinez kept Mackenzie’s Novva on the lead virtually throughout, and the 6-year-old Pennsylvania-bred gelding showed firm resolve against strong challenges from Eldest Son and 26-1 shot Soulmate, who finished a neck back in third. Still another longshot, Cupid’s Dude, was another neck back in fourth in the 10-horse field.
Mackenzie’s Novva paid $187 to win, the largest win price of the meet. Even with the favorite finishing second, the $1 8-1-9 trifecta paid $6,216.70.
Mackenzie’s Novva is owned and trained by 25-year-old Ralph N. Baez, who was certain his horse was much better than his odds reflected. Although a bit off-form recently, he has won four times and finished in the money eight times from 18 races in 2025.
His time for the distance was 1:35.05.
In the Fillies and Mares Division of the Tampa Turf Test, Dynamic Actress wasted no time paying dividends for her new connections after being claimed for $16,000 from a victory on Dec. 12.
Rated expertly on the lead by leading Oldsmar jockey Samuel Marin, the 3-year-old filly had just enough left to withstand Crafty Collector’s belated charge by a neck in the opening leg of the distaff division. The winner’s time for the 1-mile distance was 1:36.60.
Dynamic Actress is now owned by Steve Hassig and in the barn of trainer John Pimental. She paid $7.20 to win as the second betting choice. Mobay Princess held on nicely for third, with Alcohol fourth in the 10-horse contest.
Thoroughbred racing continues Wednesday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:35 p.m.
