Samuel Marin is checking a lot of boxes in his quest to be considered one of the top jockeys at Tampa Bay Downs.
Some would say the 23-year-old Venezuela product has already arrived. But in a profession that appears glamorous from the outside but leaves little margin for trying to cut corners, Marin knows he needs to deliver the same steady work ethic and attention to detail on a day-in, day-out basis.
“Since I started riding, I’ve been working really hard to get to where I am right now,” said Marin, the Mother’s Restaurant Jockey of the Month. “I believe I was born to do what I’m doing. Every single horse that I ride, I enjoy it so much.
“I want to keep winning races, do my job and try to learn as much as I can every day.”
Marin rode four winners on today’s card to move into solo first place in the standings with 17 winners, one more than Samy Camacho (more on Marin’s victories below). Marin and Camacho, who has won the last four Tampa Bay Downs jockeys titles and five of the last six, are both represented on the Oldsmar backside by agent Mike Moran, himself the leading jockey in 1978 when the track was called Florida Downs.
The two jocks enjoy a healthy competition, and no one is happier to see them push each other to new heights than Moran.
“Everything is clicking,” said Moran, who took over Marin’s book about halfway through last summer’s Monmouth Park meet. They were rewarded with a third-place finish in the standings with 40 victories, six more than Camacho.
“If they stay healthy, I think they are going to be 1-2 in the standings. I’m going to get them on good horses, and they have to go out and do their jobs. It’s a lot of fun because they are both trying to make good moves in their races and stay on the best part of the track, and whenever they’re on a ‘live’ horse, they’re going to be tough to beat,” Moran added.
Marin – who began competing on horseback when he was 12, riding Quarter horses in match races in his homeland for his father, an uncle and friends – has been making steady inroads since arriving at Tampa Bay Downs two seasons ago. He is no “Johnny-come-lately” to racing, having been the leading apprentice in Venezuela in 2020 and winning the 2019 Group I Clasico Hipica Nacional on 3-year-old filly Go Sexy Go at La Rinconada in Venezuela.
In January of 2023, Marin won the Pasco Stakes on 3-year-old Florida-bred gelding Zydeceaux for trainer Ramon Minguet. Marin rode Zydeceaux to another stakes victory that March in the Florida Cup Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore Stakes, and he finished eighth in that season’s jockey standings with 30 winners.
Marin gained more notice last January with another Pasco Stakes score, this time on trainer Derek Ryan’s vaunted gelding Book’em Danno, who won by 12 ½ lengths. Reunited with Book’em Danno in July in the Jersey Shore Stakes at Monmouth, Marin rallied the Grade I winner (courtesy of Irad Ortiz, Jr., in the Woody Stephen Stakes) to a nose victory from Little Ni. Marin had also won the 2023 Smoke Glacken Stakes at Monmouth on Book’em Danno as a 2-year-old.
Marin finished 11th in last season’s Oldsmar standings with 28 winners after suffering a broken left collarbone in a training accident, causing him to miss the last five weeks of the meet.
Following his success at Monmouth and the month-long Meadowlands meet, where he led the standings with 10 winners, Marin wasted little time showing he was geared up for Florida by winning the Sandpiper Stakes here on Dec. 7 on 2-year-old Florida-bred filly Mrs Worldwide for trainer Brian Lynch.
“Right now, he is getting on horses for a lot of top trainers – Kathleen O’Connell, (Jose Francisco) D’Angelo, (Gerald) Bennett, (Jon) Arnett,” Moran said. “He is having success with all of them.”
Other trainers are clamoring for his services, too.
“He seems to be getting better all the time,” said owner-trainer Mike Dini. “He tries hard all the time, that’s the biggest thing. And he likes to stay inside if he can. He comes to the barn with a good attitude, and he seems to watch races. He knows something about your horses, even if he hasn’t ridden them before.”
Marin would like to give Camacho, and any other contenders, a run for the title. But his biggest goal is continuing to improve and gain the kind of positive reviews that will enable him to ride in bigger races.
“I would like to be the leading rider, but I don’t get crazy about it,” he said. “My goal is to do the best I can here and keep learning. I try to ask (veteran) riders like Jesus Castanon and Daniel Centeno questions, but I wouldn’t be able to name all the guys I talk to because there are a lot who will give me tips if I ask them.”
Marin got off to a fast start today by capturing the first race on Oops Haha, a 3-year-old filly owned by Juan Arriagada and Stephen J. Derany and trained by Arriagada. Marin added the sixth on Moretastic, a 3-year-old filly owned by BBN Racing, LLC and trained by Gregg Sacco. Moretastic was claimed from the race for $5,000 by new owner-trainer Arriagada.
Marin came through again in the seventh on the turf on Peace Not War, a 3-year-old gelding owned by Winning Stables, Inc., and trained by Gerald Bennett.
Marin wasn’t through. He won the eighth race aboard 14-1 shot Bati King, a 3-year-old gelding owned by GOP Racing Stable and trained by Gerard Ochoa, with a stirring stretch rally that had to open more than a few eyes among close jockey followers.
Spanabel earns nursing degree. Skyler Spanabel was disappointed to come up a half-length shy of victory in today’s first race aboard 15-1 shot Charlie’s Charade, a first-time starter.
But she still felt like celebrating after receiving her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree Tuesday from the Arizona College of Nursing – Tampa in a ceremony at Higgins Hall.
Spanabel was one of 20 graduates from an original class of 56 students who started in the program four years ago. “You have no idea the amount of weight that came off my shoulders,” said Spanabel, who shared a graduation cake from her mother, Kelly Spanabel, with her fellow jockeys between races.
The year-round program is demanding, with students receiving a single week off every 16 weeks. “It took a lot. I want to thank everybody at the track for their support, especially the trainers who rode me on their horses while I was in school. They had a lot of patience,” she said.
Spanabel, 25, will begin working as a registered nurse in February in the Medical-Surgical Unit at HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital in nearby Hudson. But she is determined to continue her career as a jockey, confident she can strike a balance that will enable her to be successful in both endeavors.
“I’ll be working at the hospital Monday through Wednesday, so I can ride Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” she said.
“My first love is horses. (Nursing) is my second.”
Around the oval. Thoroughbred racing continues Friday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:40 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs will then race Friday, Saturday and Sunday, followed by a special Christmas Eve card on Tuesday.
The track will be closed on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, before jumping into its normal 4-days-a-week schedule (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday) on Dec. 27.
Also on Dec. 27, Tampa Bay Downs will hold its annual Calendar Giveaway, with the first 5,000 patrons receiving a commemorative 2025 calendar free of charge. With its spectacular photography and timely reminders of upcoming events, this is always one of the track’s most popular promotions, and fans are encouraged to get theirs before they run out.
With the exception of Christmas and Easter Sunday, April 20, Tampa Bay Downs is open every day for simulcast wagering, no-limits action and tournament play in The Silks Poker Room and golf fun and instruction at The Downs Golf Practice Facility.
