Mirco Demuro. (Benoit Photo)
“I always longed to be a jockey and my dream was to be like Jerry Bailey.”
By Jim Charvat
Del Mar has seen an influx of new riders joining the jockey colony this summer. That’s not unusual. The jockey colony often has new additions hoping to break in and improve their careers.
One of the more interesting additions this year is a 46-year-old rider from Italy. Mirco Demuro arrived in the U.S in time for opening day at Del Mar hoping to fulfill a lifelong dream of winning a Grade I race in America.
Demuro is not your ordinary newcomer to the Del Mar jockey colony. He was once a leading rider in his home country and a sensation in Japan, complete with endorsements and even billboards.
This is not the first time Demuro has been to this country. He first came here when he was a young man looking to expand his horizons.
“I was 17 when I came to the United States for the first time,” Demuro notes. “I always longed to be a jockey and my dream was to be like Jerry Bailey. I love his American style of riding. He was so cool on the horse.
“When I first came here the jockey room was filled with Alex Solis, Laffit Pincay and David Flores,” Demuro adds. “To pick up rides was very hard, but I learned so much from them.”
One of the valuable lessons he says he learned while in the States was something that made him quite in-demand back home in Italy. He learned how to gauge or feel the pace as the race developed. That way if they are going too fast, you might want to back off. If they’re going too slow, you might want to pressure the front runners.
“I learned the pace, up here,” Demuro states pointing to his head. “After I was here for two or three months, I got back to Italy and people went crazy for me. I was doing so good with the timing. I could feel it and trainers felt ‘this guy knows what to do’. I got so much business and I started to win Group races.”
Demuro has been around horses and racing for as long as he can remember.
“My father was a jockey,” Demuro says. “He wasn’t a good jockey, but he was light and small, and he loved the horses and passed me his passion. I was so happy to see how he treated the horses.”
His own journey in horse racing began in Rome, his birthplace, when he was 15 after his junior year in high school. Within six months he was ready for a bigger challenge.
“I started to win, win, win so I moved to Milano, which is a bigger racecourse,” Demuro recalls. “I got a contract with a big owner and big trainer, and they taught me about horse racing. He wanted me to learn more so that’s when I came for the first time to the United States.”
That was 1996. He arrived at LAX and didn’t waste any time getting out to nearby Hollywood Park where he talked his way onto the backside and wandered into the barn of Richard Mandella. There he convinced the Hall of Fame trainer to give him some work.
Demuro was Stateside for three months, soaking in everything he could about the American way of racing. Then it was back to Italy, and he picked up where he left off. He was Italy’s leading jockey from 1997 to 2000 while he was winning Group I races all around Europe. He went to England, France and Hong Kong to ride.
“One day I met Teruya Yoshida of Japan’s Shadai Farm, and he asked me to go to Japan,” Demuro recalls. “I was 19 years old, and I said, ‘Why not, I like to learn’.”
But you don’t just pick up and go ride in Japan. Being a ‘foreigner’, he was only allowed to ride in Japan for three months out of the year. Then it was back to his home country where he essentially had to earn his way back into Japan.
“They allow you to go to Japan only if you’re the leading jockey in your country,” Demuro says. “You spend three months in Japan then you have to go back to your country, and you have to be the leading jockey.”
It would be nearly 15 years before Demuro earned full time status in Japan. In the meantime, he made his presence known.
In 2001 he captured the first of 111 graded stakes victories in Japan. In 2003 he notched the first of 34 Group I races. Six weeks later he won his first Japanese Derby, becoming the first foreign rider to win the coveted Tokyo Yushun. He won the race on Neo Universe and the two teamed up again to win the second jewel of the Triple Crown, but they finished third in the final leg of the series.
In 2008 he won the prestigious Japan Cup on Screen Hero. Then in 2011 came a golden opportunity to ride in the Dubai World Cup.
“I rode the horse (Victoire Pisa) before,” Demuro recalls, “and was supposed to ride him in the Japan Cup but I had a contract to ride another horse from Italy. The owner really wanted me to ride his horse, so I rode him in the (Arima Kinen) the last Group one of the year in Japan. He won so easy the Japanese connections decide to try Dubai.
“It was different because it was a Tapeta track,” Demuro adds. “Victoire Pisa was used to running on turf. It was a bad time in Japan because they had just had the big earthquake and tsunami. So, Japan was really down. I was in Italy at the time, and they called me and asked if I’d ride the horse in Dubai.”
Richard’s Kid was in the race, eight months after he had won his second Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Gio Ponti also was representing the U.S. in the race.
“It was a funny race because my horse missed the start,” Demuro continues. “He always goes to the front, but he felt uncomfortable in the gate and missed the start, so I was far back. I said to myself ‘They’re going too slow’ so I used my American clock and made a move (to go to the front) on the backstretch and then in the stretch he just kept on going.”
Victoire Pisa won the race in a photo finish and Demuro had another achievement for his extensive resume, a victory in the world’s richest race. He counts the Dubai victory as one of the highlights of his career. The other involved the Emperor of Japan, who attended one of the big races Demuro won in Japan.
“I was in front of the emperor,” Demuro says. “It was not allowed but I jumped off the horse and I made a bow in front of the emperor. The steward wasn’t very happy with me, but it became one of the most viewed videos on YouTube.”
Throughout it all, Demuro was still working on three-month licenses. He was also making short stops Stateside, racing three times at Calder Racecourse in Florida in 2000, four races at Del Mar in 2001 and as many as 38 races between Santa Anita and Del Mar in 2002.
Then in 2014 Demuro decided to take the test required for fulltime riding status in Japan. He was the first foreign rider to take it. He failed, partially because all of the tests are written in Japanese. But a year later he passed and, along with fellow jockey Christophe Lemaire, they became the first foreign jockeys to become full-time riders in Japan.
For the next 10 years he was the top jock in Japan. Last September, he reached the 1,300th win mark. Only 30 jockeys in Japan racing history have achieved the milestone.
“I was riding for all the good owners over there,” Demuro notes. “Japanese horses are very good; the prize money is very good, and the racecourses are so nice. So, I was doing very good, and it didn’t make sense to move.”
Until now. As it seemingly always does, business had declined for Demuro in Japan over the past three years, so after riding much of his career in the Land of the Rising Sun he decided now was a good time to pursue his lifelong dream. His last race in Japan was July 12. Then he packed up and moved his tack to Del Mar.
“I’m 46-years old so it’s no more about money,” Demuro points out. “It’s about reaching my goals.”
After four weeks of racing at Del Mar, Demuro has three wins from 37 mounts.
“It’s tough,” he says of breaking into the Southern California circuit. “In the beginning it’s hard to adjust. I hope to find good horses and get going again.”
Demuro’s plan is to ride here for three months and then re-evaluate things. Given his track record working in three-month periods of time, good things well might happen at Del Mar.
