BALTIMORE, Md.— Teenage apprentice Jeiron Barbosa registered a natural hat trick Friday to reach the 100-win milestone at historic Pimlico Race Course.
Barbosa, an 18-year-old native of Puerto Rico, scored consecutive wins aboard Beckon ($12.40) in Race 2, Maythehorsebwithu ($6.00) in Race 3 and Gift of Gab ($9.60) in Race 4. Both Beckon and Gift of Gab are trained by Michael Merryman.
Represented by agent Tom Stift, Barbosa also finished third on Master of None in Race 5, fourth aboard Killy Start in Race 6 and second with Laddie Liam in Race 7. He left Baltimore following the seventh race for Penn National, where he was scheduled to ride two horses Friday night. Barbosa is named in seven of 10 races Saturday at Pimlico.
Barbosa, who rides with a five-pound weight allowance, attended the famed Escuela Hipica Vocacional in Puerto Rico for two years. According to Equibase statistics, he rode his first professional race there Jan. 1 and had three winners before arriving in the U.S. March 23. Two days later, he made his mainland debut at Laurel and won with each of his first two mounts – Heliacal Rising and Ludicrous Mode.
Despite missing the final three days of Laurel’s spring meet, Barbosa edged Jevian Toledo becoming just the third apprentice in a decade to lead the Laurel standings following Yomar Ortiz (2013 winter) and Julio Correa (2019 summer).
Barbosa earned his first stakes win Aug. 6 at Laurel aboard Music Amore for trainer Gerald Brooks, and followed up three days later by winning the Keswick at Colonial Downs with Titoschngedmyluck.
Through the first six months of his career, Barbosa has 100 wins from 589 mounts and purse earnings of more than $2.94 million.
David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club
Photo by Maryland Jockey Club
