Welcome Rafael Bejarano!

Today Rafael Bejarano made his presence known in the southern California riders colony. Adding to an already talented field of jockeys, such as Mike Smith, Garrett Gomez, Pat Valenzuela, Victor Espinoza, Richard Migliore, Tyler Baze, MC Baze, Joe Talamoe, Alex Solis, Cory Nakatani, ect...
Sorry if I've left anyone out as the list just goes on and on. Watching his first few rides I could see that he would face the same challenge that all east coast riders coming west find. Speed! The horses in California are primarily trained for speed. There is not a lot of time to sit back and wait. There were a few times Rafael ran into this problem. He had the horse to be more forwardly placed and took to much of a hold. I am confident that he will adapt to the change in riding styles. He picked up his first winner on a horse I loved trained by my good Friend Melody Conlon. He will be a welcome addition to an already tough line up of jockeys.