Rookie Jockey Jaime Torres Was Dragged Through the Mud Weeks Before Bagging $5 Million Purse at Preakness Stakes

May 19, 2024 | 4:30 PM EDT

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The adage nothing worth having comes easy is a hard rule that applies to almost any situation. It strikes a chord with Jaime Torres, an amateur in horse racing who took home $5 million at the 2024 Preakness Stakes. The Puerto Rican jockey decided to become a rider in 2019 while watching the sport on television. And now, just two years since Torres began his career as a jockey, he won one of the races in the prestigious Triple Crown series on Seize the Grey.

Here comes the hard part. Despite attempts to replace Torres with a more senior horse rider, training great D. Wayne Lukas expressed his eye for the jewel up for the task. The narrative has conflicting impressions of Lukas being brutally honest and offering his thoughts of the bright future star.

Wayne Lukas reflects on guiding Jaime Torres to Preakness Success

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An influential figure in horse racing history, D. Wayne Lukas, 88, talked about turning down requests to replace jockey Jaime Torres before the Pimlico Classic. Jaime Torres, 25, rode his first winner in September 2022, despite being the best apprentice in New York in 2023. He had no previous experience of the Triple Crown races.

But Lukas told the Thoroughbred Racing, “He [Jaime Torres, jockey] rode a few horses for me at Churchill and rode a few just general horses, nothing real special. I thought he had a lot of talent and I loved working with him, but I really feel good about taking him to this level.”

“Just a couple of weeks ago, he rode one not so pretty,” Lukas reminisced of his grueling training sessions with Torres. “I followed him all the way through the tunnel, all the way up the steps to the jocks’ room, and I chewed him out.” “If you’re going to ride like that, you’ll be back in Puerto Rico picking oranges,” he shared, lashing out at the champion jockey.

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It hit Torres hard, to acknowledge Lucas, while he further took credit to help him regain stability and confidence. It was Lukas’ seventh Preakness victory and 15th in a Triple Crown race, thus making it an incredibly significant moment. Lukas is the oldest trainer in history to win a Triple Crown race, having first done it with Codex in 1980.

D. Wayne Lucas’s horse racing legacy

Lukas has achieved his finest set of achievements in decades this year, after rewriting the American record book for stakes wins and profits in the 1980s and 1990s. The Hall of Fame trainer remarked, “The thing is, there is a lot of camaraderie and it’s fun to be here(at Preakness Stakes).” Lukas arrived at Pimlico for the three days of racing with seven horses, a reflection of the increased depth of his stable overall.

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“I believe I can speak for Bob Baffert because I’m the only one behind him and I’ve already warned him,” remarked Lucas still wearing his competitive shoes at 88. The Preakness Stakes victory by Jaime Torres is a monument to his own success and Lukas’ unwavering conviction in developing fresh talent, proving once more that nothing worthwhile comes easily.