BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE (Edited)
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL—In less than a year, jockey Pedro Pena’s journey in the U.S. took him from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic and back again before landing in South Florida, where the 25-year-old apprentice from the Dominican Republic is just hitting his stride.
Despite arriving nearly two months into Gulfstream Park’s Royal Palm Meet, which began April 2, Pena entered the final full weekend of July leading all apprentice riders and ranking tenth overall with 13 wins from 79 mounts (16%), to go along with $330,450 in purse earnings. Seven of those wins have come with his last 26 starters (27%) prior to Saturday’s program.
With eight seconds and 11 thirds going into the weekend, Pena had finished in the money at a 41% clip with his seven-pound weight allowance. Boosted by three payouts of $30 or more, including a high of $59.40 on July 13, he had an average win price of $19.43.
“It’s been very good. I am very happy with the success that I’ve been achieving,” Pena said through and interpreter. “My agent [Jose Sanchez] is doing a very good job. I thank God for everything I am getting here.”
Pena left the Dominican Republic for Chile and then the U.S., starting in Kentucky where he was noticed by fellow jockey Walter Rodriguez. A native of El Salvador, Rodriguez was working at an appliance store in Baltimore before launching his career in the summer of 2022 at Laurel Park. Rodriguez and was the leading rider at Turfway Park to open 2023.
Rodriguez called his mentor, Laurel-based trainer and former jockey Jose Corrales, to let him know of the talented but raw rider, and soon Pena was in Maryland working toward making his professional debut.
Corrales has gained a reputation for finding and developing young riders such as Rodriguez; Yedsit Hazelwood, runner-up for the 2025 Eclipse Award as champion apprentice; and British champion David Egan, who lived with Corrales for eight months and whose father rode with Corrales in Macau.
“He was just galloping horses at different tracks. I don’t think he ever rode before,” Corrales said of Pena. “I started from scratch and just worked with him. It took me longer, because jockeys when they’re new and they know a little bit already, they have their own ideas from listening to somebody else. He was a good listener, and he kept going with it.
“Put it this way: when you go to school to be an architect, when you go build a building the first time, you’re going to get confused because you’ve never done it. That’s the way he was. He had everything that he needed. He knew how to hold the reins, how to get in good position, how to switch the stick. He knew everything you need to do out of the gate, but to be in a race with 10 different horses and 10 different riders that have the same idea, to win, it’s not that easy.”
Pena ran fifth in his North American debut on September 7, 2025 at Laurel, where his first winner came in his thirty-first mount – Diamond N Dress on January 26. He continued to ride at Laurel into early March and had a couple of mounts at Turfway Park before settling in at Horseshoe Indiana. There, he had two winners from 32 mounts until making his way to Gulfstream in late May.
“I saw the opportunity where [not many] apprentices were based here for the summer, so I talked to my agent and he said it was a good idea to come. I took the risk. I know that it is tougher here than it is at Horseshoe Indianapolis and Laurel Park, but I decide to take the chance,” Pena said. “Right now, I just want to stay healthy and work hard every day to show what I can do.”
Pena’s first Gulfstream win came in his seventh mount, Dime Papi, June 12. He has registered two-win days July 12, 13 and 19 and his 13 wins have come for 10 different trainers including Pedro Garcia Jr. (3), Monica McGoey (2), Ramon Minguet, Beau Chapman, Eduardo Nunez, Donaldo Gonzalez, Frank Regalbuto, Ronald Coy, Ron Spatz and Kathy Mongeon.
“He goes to Gulfstream and he works hard. He tries to do the best he can. I see he’s putting together what I said and I tell him just keep going,” Corrales said. “The results are coming now. I said maybe Maryland was not your place, but you’ll find your place and you’re going to be good. Now he’s pretty much going in the right direction.”
Pena credits his original agent in Maryland, retired graded-stakes winning jockey Frank Douglas, with helping further his career, and he continues to lean on Corrales—a successful rider in the U.S., Macau and his native Panama—for counsel and advice.
“When he needs anything and he doesn’t know exactly what to do, he still calls me. It’s a communication that we keep going,” Corrales said. “That’s what I do. My main thing is pick up a young rider, polish them and make them good. Even if they rode some races, they still need it. At the time I was riding and I first came to the U.S., I wish I had somebody.
“I teach them like they’re my kids. I teach them how to dress, how to respect other people and how to deal with everything,” he added. “It’s not only talent. You have to have charisma, you have to have the work ethic, everything you need to be successful in this business. It’s a tough business. You can go up high fast, but you can drop and not come back.”
Pena plans to continue riding at Gulfstream through the August 31, the end of the Royal Palm Meet and during the subsequent Sunshine Meet, which begins in early September as a prelude to the 2026-2027 Championship Meet, set to launch Thanksgiving Day, November 26.
“The plan is to be here and ride the next meet after this meet is over,” he said. “When the Championship Meet arrives, it is very tough. All the best jockeys come. I will talk with my agent to see whether I will stay here or ride at another track. We are going to work hard and hope for the best.”
Note: Statistics are through Monday, July 20.
Return to the July 25 issue of Wire to Wire
