Jockey Samuel Marin after winning five on the day at Monmouth Park. (Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO)
Starting With Friday’s Monmouth-At-Meadowlands Card
Tom Luicci/Monmouth Park
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – When Samuel Marin looks back to the starting point for what has become a breakout year, he traces his success back to the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands riding title he won last fall.
That marked his first title in a career that started in 2022.
As he returns to riding during the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet this week, with the all-turf six-race cards set to resume on Friday (weather permitting), he will do so with burgeoning credentials that hint at a career about to take off.
“Things started getting better for me after I won the riding title at the Meadowlands last year,” said Marin, who skipped the boutique meet’s opening weekend to ride at Gulfstream. “After that success more people started calling and there were many more opportunities, I’d definitely agree that’s where this success started for me.”
Since winning that title, Marin – listed on four horses plus one also eligible on Friday – has won the Tampa Bay Downs riding title, has won the first two graded stakes of his career, tied Paco Lopez for the most stakes wins during the Monmouth Park meet (nine) while leading all riders in earnings with more than $2.8 million, and finished a solid second in the jockey standings at the Jersey Shore track.
“The things I have accomplished this year are things I have always dreamed of since I came to the United States,” said Marin. “I have always had big goals for myself. I think people know I am willing to put in the work to reach those goals.”
Though Marin had ridden in graded stakes before, he had not won one until he guided Surface to Air to victories in the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup and the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes during the Monmouth Park meet.
“People notice when you ride in graded stakes – especially if you win them,” said Marin. “But just getting the opportunity to ride in those types of races gets people to notice. So, winning those two graded stakes races was a major accomplishment.”
The irony of the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands title being a launching point for the 24-year-old Marin is that it’s an all-turf meet. In Venezuela, where Marin is from, there is no grass racing.
He said he leaned on the advice of former jockeys about turf riding, absorbing whatever he could.
“I have come to love turf racing,” said Marin. “It didn’t take me long to adapt to it because I had a lot of help from former riders. Their advice has really made a difference for me. Now I am very comfortable riding on the grass.”
With a career-best 170 wins this year, Marin is setting his sights on the 200-win milestone for 2025.
“It’s a big number,” said Marin. “My only goal this year was to win as many races as I can. It’s really hard to get 200 wins in one year. You may think about it as a goal when the year starts but you know it’s a hard goal.
“I have the rest of the year to try to get it. But the main thing is staying healthy. If you can stay healthy and work hard good things can happen.”
Following the conclusion of the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet on Oct. 19, Marin will rider at Gulfstream for a few weeks (“to stay fit,” he said) before shifting his tack for the start of the Tampa Bay Downs meet on Nov. 19.
