|
Carlos Garcia
Photo Credit: Jim McCue/MJC
|
LAUREL, MD. 12-18-09---After nearly 40 years training Thoroughbred horses, Carlos Garcia will saddle his last horse in Saturday’s $50,000 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship at Laurel Park. The 69-year-old is staying in the industry as an agent for jockeys Abel Castellano and Brian Pedroza.
“It was just time for me to move on,” Garcia said. “But I still get to stay in the business as a jockey agent. Abel is going to Arkansas for the winter but will be back in April. Pedroza has potential. The genes are there. His father is Martin Pedroza, who rides in Southern California, and his mother is former rider Kimberly Davis.”
Castellano will ride Jim’s Prospect for Garcia tomorrow afternoon. The daughter of St Averil is the 5-2 morning line favorite in the 7 ½ furlong test. She has yet to finish out of the money in three career starts, including a victory here on Oct. 10.
“She is in good shape for this race,” Garcia said. “I am not one to tout but the horse is in good condition.”
Twelve other two-year-old fillies are entered including Popeye’s Lady (3-1), Smart Tori (4-1) and That’s How I Roll (6-1).
Garcia left his native Argentina in 1964 with $100 in his pocket to work for Hall of Fame trainer Frank “Pancho” Martin in New York and arrived in Maryland in the early 1970’s. He ranked in the top 10 among Maryland trainers for five straight years in the early 90’s and won 19 stakes in the state in 1990. Garcia saddled Fobby Forbes to a seventh place finish in the 1986 Kentucky Derby.
“Fobby Forbes was a good one but Squan Song was the best,” Garcia said, who has 133 stakes winners to his credit.
Squan Song was a four-time Maryland-bred champion (1984-87) and earned Horse of the Year honors in 1985. A winner of 18 of 36 races, the daughter of Exceller earned $898,444. She won 14 stakes, including the Grade 3 Cotillion Stakes, and finished second in nine other stakes races.
“She won here and in New York, beat boys, could go short or run long,” added Garcia. “She was a little filly and very hard to train but she was so special.”
His first stakes winner was Donetta and another top runner was Brilliant Brass, who won six stakes races at Laurel and Pimlico Race Course in 1992.
“I want to thank everyone throughout the years: owners, the racing office and especially my staff-some who have been with me for 20 years,” said Garcia. “I have been lucky and learned from so many good people. Horatio Luro said to me, ‘Young man, if you want to be successful in this business keep yourself with good company but keep horses in the worst company you can find’. I’ll never forget that. I have been lucky to have been in good company and won a lot of races by trying to place them in the best possible spots.”
Garcia enters Saturday with 1,303 career winners from 8,111 starters for earnings of nearly $24.5 million.
He and his wife, Carol, will continue to own 14 horses in training. One of them, Baltimore Bob, is scheduled to run in the Buddy Diliberto Memorial Handicap at the Fair Grounds on Dec. 26. Garcia will make the trip to Louisiana for the race and watch the race with Maryland Jockey Club announcer Dave Rodman, a New Orleans native, who will be spending the holiday with family.
-MJC-