Page 86 - November 2021

THE BACKSIDE
EDWIN ESCOBEDO
A Jockey’s Perspective
by John Moorehouse
Edwin and Lynnder 16 winning the Canterbury Park Distaff Challenge-G3
“I got a great opportunity and I’ve been going really good. I’m going to keep trying harder and achieve bigger goals.”
HOME BASE: Claremore, OK EXPERIENCE: Made his debut as a
professional jockey on May 23, 2020.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND ACHIEVEMENTS: Won the jockey title at Canterbury Park this year. Qualified three different horses for this year’s Q-Racing Video Distaff Challenge Championship. Won the Prairie Meadows Gold Futurity and the Prairie Meadows Gold Derby on the same day.
HOBBIES: “I used to play soccer for my high school. When I have time, I like to play with my friends. I always enjoy fishing, too.”
What were you doing when you were 19 years old? Well, in late October, jockey Edwin Escobedo, who is—you guessed it, 19—found himself headed to Albuquerque for the Bank of America Challenge Championship card.
Escobedo didn’t acquire his jockey’s license until 2020, but he’s no newcomer to the horse racing world. After his family moved to Claremore, Oklahoma, when he was 13 years old, Escobedo started finding ways to work in the sport.
“It all started because my dad would race match races,” he said. “And then I just started galloping his horses and I started liking the sport and I got more into it. I started meeting people at
the track and working, and it worked out fine.” Escobedo first started riding racehorses when he was 15. By 17, he was competing
in match races. He got his gallop license in 2019, and then his jock’s license last year. Since then, Escobedo has not looked back. He won the jockey title at the 2021 Canterbury Park meet and, earlier this year, won both the Prairie Meadows Gold Futurity and Prairie Meadows Gold Derby on the same day. And, with a seat on the Championship card in Albuquerque, he’s racking up achievements that are no easy feat.
“I got a great opportunity and I’ve been going really good,” he said. “I’m going to keep trying harder and achieve bigger goals.”
84 SPEEDHORSE November 2021