– Leading Tampa Bay Downs jockey Samuel Marin says his confidence level is at 150 percent. And he believes his horses can sense it.
“When you’re riding good horses like this, you just have to show them the confidence and they will feel it,” the 23-year-old Venezuela product said after riding five winners today for the first time in his career, with two seconds and a third, from eight mounts. “All I have to do is get them in a good spot and not get them in trouble, and at the end they will give me their all.”
Marin now has 103 winners for the meet and a virtually insurmountable 18-victory margin from runner-up Samy Camacho, the winner of the last four titles. Marin, who is planning to move his tack to Monmouth Park in New Jersey after the Oldsmar meet, should be the rider to beat in a high percentage of his races the rest of the meet.
“He’s riding great and showing great patience,” said Mike Moran, his agent. “It’s awesome – he just goes with the horse and waits until the right time. I loved the last race (on the turf on trainer Christophe Clement’s 5-year-old gelding Summer Cause) – he didn’t get excited and made the last move, which was the winning move.”
Marin won today’s first race on Shabam, a 9-year-old mare owned by Danny Stafford and trained by Jon Arnett. No. 100 on the season came in the third race on the turf with Low Key in Love, a 3-year-old filly owned by Bradley Thoroughbreds, Cambron Equine, Allen Northcutt, Gary Finder, Kurz Equine Investments, Sara Starr, Kent Starr and Jeff Walsh and trained by Chad Brown.
Marin next won the seventh race on the turf on Perky, a 3-year-old filly owned by Robert S. Evans and trained by Christophe Clement. He kept the pedal to the metal in the eighth, winning on 6-year-old Florida-bred mare Sweet Laura for owner Charles D. Nielsen and Arnett. Sweet Laura was claimed for $20,000 by trainer Reynaldo Yanez for new owner Frank DeLuca.
Summer Cause, the winner of the ninth, is a homebred racing for owner Waterford Stable.
Marin is winning at a 21-percent rate this meet, and his purse earnings of $2,270,259 are No. 1. “It’s an incredible feeling,” he said. “I have to thank God for giving me the ability and thanks to all the trainers who have supported us since Day 1 – I really appreciate all of them.”
