Bravo Right at Home in South Florida

Though he is known throughout the industry as ‘Jersey Joe,’ recognizing both his birthplace and the dominance of his hometown circuit, jockey Joe Bravo is as much at home in South Florida.

Now 43, the Long Branch, N.J. native was just 16 when he won his first professional race aboard Daffy Dac in the spring of 1988 at the former Calder Race Course. Nine years later he captured the first major race of his career, the 1997 Donn Handicap (G1) with Formal Gold at Gulfstream Park.

“I’ve been coming down to Gulfstream for years, so it’s always been home,” Bravo said. “What [chairman] Frank Stronach has done for racing with the new Gulfstream facility is really special. It’s pretty much the only racetrack in the country that’s made the way it is, and it makes it even more fun to come and be a part of it. It’s not just a racetrack, it’s an entertainment complex.”

Bravo heads into Gulfstream’s Championship Meet Saturday with 4,983 victories, just 17 shy of 5,000, a benchmark reached by just 28 jockeys. Among the active riders with more victories are Gulfstream winter regulars Edgar Prado and John Velazquez, both Hall of Famers.

"It’s a great milestone to get to, but you don’t try to think about it. You go out there and enjoy your job,” Bravo said. “I love going out there and competing every day. Who knows? It might not happen, or it might happen. I have all my friends telling me about it. I don’t know how many riders have done it, so it would be pretty fun to be part of that kind of group. I’m just enjoying my job. You just want to let it happen, let it come along and just be part of this great game of horse racing.”

Over the past three winters, Bravo has ranked among the leading riders in both wins and purse earnings at Gulfstream, averaging 35 victories and more than $1.5 million. During the 2013-14 meet, he won nearly $1.8 million in purses and had 33 wins including the Fort Lauderdale (G2) with Summer Front and the Marshua’s River (G3) with Naples Bay.

“We’ve got a riding colony at Gulfstream Park that is just amazing,” Bravo said. “You look around the jock’s room, and it’s all Hall of Fame riders. It’s great fun to be a part of that.”           

It could be said that the 5-foot-2, 112-pound Bravo was born to ride. His grandfather, Bartolo, and father, George, were both jockeys. He began riding quarter horses in Texas at the age of 13 before turning to Thoroughbreds.

“When I was a kid, there was no second-guessing what I was going to be,” Bravo said. “My grandfather and my father were jockeys and growing up, it was kind of cool. I didn’t have to worry about what I was going to do. All my friends were like, ‘I’m going to college, but what am I going to be?’ I’m like, ‘Well, I’m not playing basketball, I’ll tell you that.’”

Among Bravo’s victories are 117 graded stakes (through Nov. 23), 11 of them in Grade 1 company. This year, he had his best finish in a Triple Crown race when third in the Kentucky Derby (G1) with Danza.

Since the early 1990s, Bravo has earned 13 riding titles at Monmouth Park and another nine at The Meadowlands, and in 1991 became the first rider in New Jersey history to be leading rider at all three of the state’s tracks, including Garden State.           

Overall, Bravo has had than 27,000 mounts and earned in excess of $147 million in purses. He earned his 4,000th career victory on July 4, 2007 at Monmouth Park.

“It’s really cool when you sit back and look at it,” Bravo said. “When I was a kid and started riding, you just wanted to get the next winner and the next winner and the next winner. Now you look back and say, ‘Wow, there have been a lot of winners in the past.’

“Another thing that makes it so special is that I’ve been doing it for almost 27 years and I still enjoy it. I don’t care what job you do for that long, you better really love it because it turns out to be a job. But it’s fun.”

Bravo’s career hasn’t been without setbacks. He broke his leg in four places in a 2001 spill at Monmouth Park. In 2006, he broke his back in a spill at Gulfstream and was carried off in a stretcher, only to return four months later after eschewing doctor-recommended surgery. The next year, he broke his collarbone at Belmont Park but returned to riding in less than a month.

“There’s so many ups and downs,” Bravo said. “I’ve had so many injuries in the past, and the last couple of injuries I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it back. It was kind of tough, but going out and competing every day is the fun part of it that I love. Hopefully, I can keep doing it for another however many years.”

Source: Gulfstream Park