Juan Saez Follows in Brother's Bootsteps
The third race on Thursday’s Churchill Downs card marked the U.S. debut for 17-year-old Juan Saez aboard Malibu Springs, who finished second a half-length behind Danzig Gold for trainer Ian Wilkes in a 1 1/8-mile maiden claiming race on the turf.
Saez is the younger brother of Luis Saez, who captured his first Grade I wins in 2013 on Champion 3-year-old Will Take Charge in the Travers at Saratoga and the Clark Handicap Presented by Norton Healthcare at Churchill Downs.
“I wanted to become a jockey because of my brother; that’s why I went to jockey school,” Saez said. “But I also want to be better than my brother.”
Juan Saez recently graduated at the top of his class from the Laffit Pincay Jr. Jockey Training Academy near his native Panama City, Panama and has jockey agent Julio Espinoza keeping his book.
Espinoza, who as a jockey himself captured 642 wins (ninth all-time) riding at Churchill Downs from 1973-1998, took some questions and helped translate for Saez, who is still brushing up on his English.
“It was the first race he’s rode in four months and his first time on the grass, he’s going to be fine,” Espinoza said of Saez after his runner-up effort Thursday.
“It’s totally different from the dirt,” Saez said. “It feels like you’re flying in the air; I’ve never even worked a horse on grass before.”
“He’s fit; he’s been running, jogging and training,” Espinoza said. “There’s nothing quite like riding in the actual race, but he was ready for it.”
It didn’t take long for Saez to catch the eye of some of the top trainers at Churchill Downs. He will ride three mounts on Friday’s “Downs After Dark” card, one on Saturday’s card and two on Sunday’s card.
“We’re just thankful to Ian for giving us an opportunity to ride for him,” Espinoza said. “When he watched Juan work one horse, that’s all it took. He gave us an opportunity right away. He rides for D. Wayne Lukas on Friday. He worked one for Wayne and Wayne put him up right away too. He obviously looked pretty good on the horses in the morning.”
“I really like to ride and want to ride every race,” Saez added.
“When you’re that young, I remember when I used to want to ride every race,” Espinoza said. “I told my agent, ‘I don’t care if he’s 100-1, let me ride him.’ When you’re that young you just want to ride.”
Saez will continue riding mounts at Churchill for the remainder of the meet and then move to Ellis Park for the summer meeting in Henderson, Ky.
“He’ll go to Ellis Park for the summer,” Espinoza said. “We’ll try to ride some at Indiana Grand but mainly focus on Ellis Park and then go on to New York in the Fall.”
Saez’s Friday mounts are Miesque Amour for trainer Billy Gowan in the first race, Shere Khan for Lukas in the second and Yankee Diva in the fifth for trainer Robert Radcliffe.