It's been more than 40 years since jockey-turned-trainer Jose Corrales left his native Panama to try to build a career for himself in the U.S. But he still stays in touch with the Panamanian racing community and when he heard that there was a teenager who was receiving rave reviews at the Laffit Pincay Jr. Technical Jockey Training Academy in Panama, he couldn't wait to bring him to his base in Maryland.
And Corrales told anyone who would listen that the young rider, Yedsit Hazlewood, wasn't just going to do well at Laurel and Pimlico, but would prove to everyone that he had the skills to eventually become one of the top riders in the sport. So far, everything he has predicted has come true.
Just 17, Hazlewood is dominating the current meet at Laurel. He leads all riders with 64 wins, 30 more than runner-up Jevian Toledo, who rides for the powerful Brittany Russell stable. He is winning at a 23% clip and, during his brief career, has already won four stakes races. Then there's the streak. For 23 straight race days during which he rode at Laurel between Oct. 31 and Dec. 20, he earned at least one victory on each card.
“I told him you can come to me,” said Corrales, who is not only his mentor but also his legal guardian. “I will teach you everything and we will get you ready to ride. I told everybody this kid is going to make it. I told him that the only thing that can keep you from making it is you. But if you want it, don't stop because I will get you to where you want to go.”
Hazlewood, who still struggles with his English, actually came to Corrales when he was 16. It was decided that before he accepted his first mount he would gallop horses at the training center in Fair Hill, Maryland. Corrales watched closely, offered some tips and helped to put on the finishing touches.
When Hazlewood turned 17, Corrales had him take out his jockey's license, and he made his debut on Mar. 21 at Laurel. He lost with his first 12 mounts, but then scored victories with three of his next four riding assignments. He appeared to be well on his way to the stardom that Corrales was so sure he would achieve.
But he almost tossed it all away one night in June. Hazlewood gathered some friends, and they decided to take a road trip to New York. It wasn't to go to Belmont Park to gallop horses, but to enjoy the Big Apple. Corrales warned his protege that it was a bad idea.
“I told him, no, don't go,” he said. “This is a business–you have to stay here and work.”
On the way back to Maryland, the car that Hazlewood was riding in got into an accident and the young jockey broke his wrist and had to undergo surgery. He did not ride between June 8 and Aug. 14.
“He was almost done,” Corrales said. “He had to have surgery on his wrist, but he's a young kid and he healed fast. I told him that this could have been a lot worse. I said to him, 'I hope you understand that God has given you another opportunity in your life because you could have died in that car accident.'”
While Corrales has done his best to put Hazlewood on winners, his main client has become Gary Capuano. The two have forged a remarkable record together, as Hazlewood has won with 33 of the 74 mounts he has accepted for Capuano, good for a winning rate of 45%.
“He showed a lot of talent right from the start,” Capuano said. “I have a lot of confidence in him. He rides with a lot of confidence, he rides hard, and he's a pretty smart kid. He keeps the horses out of trouble and gets good trips. He's just a really good up-and-coming apprentice rider. I pinch myself every day because this year has been amazing. I have a lot of really nice 2-year-olds in the barn and Yedsit has ridden most of them. Every time we go out there it seems like the combination is really working. It's hard to explain. Things are just clicking. I've had a fantastic year and he's been a big part of it.”
Corrales predicted from the very start that Hazlewood would win the Eclipse Award as the outstanding apprentice of the year. While he is in the running, that might be hard to pull off. Canadian apprentice sensation Pietro Moran has earned about $2.3 million more than Hazlewood and also won his country's Kentucky Derby, the King's Plate.
But Hazlewood, his agent John DiNatale, and Corrales have their eyes set on bigger goals. Hazlewood, who is now also riding regularly at Parx, won his first race in New York on Nov. 8. Corrales said New York trainers have reached out to him and asked that Hazlewood come to Aqueduct more often.
When will he make the full-time jump to New York or, perhaps, Kentucky?
“It's getting closer,” Corrales said. “I don't know how long it's going to be, but it's getting closer. He's getting a lot of offers already. We just have to wait for the right time to say go.”
Corrales realizes it won't be easy to conquer a bigger circuit, but when it comes to his rider, there is no shortage of confidence. He believes it's only a matter of time until he is one of the top riders in the sport.
“He's going to make it,” Corrales said. “He's going right to the top.
The Maryland circuit has produced a number of young riders who went on to have Hall-of-Fame careers, a list that includes Chris McCarron, Kent Desormeaux, Edgar Prado, and Ramon Dominguez.
“He is on the same path as those guys,” Capuano said. “It may even be that he started out stronger than some of them. Maryland has always had a lot of apprentice riders who have done extremely well and have gone on to do big things in their careers. If he keeps improving the way he has, it's easy to believe that he's going to be someone who is really, really good.”
Corrales has mentored other young jockeys. He said that he was the one who discovered Walter Rodriguez, a native of El Salvador, who is currently the leading rider at Turfway Park. He is proud of all of his pupils.
“I always liked the movie the Karate Kid, and they said that Mr. Miyagi was a good teacher,” Corrales said. “But Mr. Miyagi said that in order to be a good teacher, you have to have good students. Yedsit is a good student.”
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