Career Closeup: From War to the Winner’s Circle
By Melanie Huggett
Omar Moreno escaped the horrors of the Salvadoran civil war to become the top apprentice jockey in North America.
Omar Moreno sports an infectious smile. These days, the 25-year-old jockey certainly has a lot to smile about. With 144 wins in 2010, Moreno was named 2010’s top apprentice jockey at the Eclipse Awards, the premier awards of North America’s Thoroughbred racing industry. Winning by an impressive margin of 197 votes out of 216, Moreno also became only the fourth Canadian ever to take home the prize. In addition, Moreno claimed the Sovereign Award for best apprentice jockey in Canada in both 2009 and 2010.
But things were not always looking so sunny for the native of El Salvador. Born during the Central American country’s civil war, Moreno spent his early years running through the jungles with his grandmother, aunt, and Francisco, one of his brothers, trying to hide from the conflict.
“I saw a lot of war — a lot of killing,” Moreno told the Toronto Star. “We didn’t have much. We were trying to survive day by day… that was our normal life. You’re hungry. You go and try to find something to eat.”
At five, Moreno would paddle out in a canoe to help Francisco gather fruit from lily pads. He had to be careful not to tip the canoe as the ponds and swamps were full of crocodiles.
“If the canoe tipped over you had to make it back quick. Sometimes I would come back and say, ‘Auntie, you should have seen how many crocodiles there were today,’” Moreno said.
“For me things were normal,” continued Moreno. “I didn’t even know we were hiding out.”
Moreno’s mother was killed in the conflict, but Moreno didn’t find out until later; he was told she, his father, and his four older brothers would meet with them in Honduras.
Moreno and his family did eventually make it to Honduras, where they lived with a group of farmers and continued to hide in the jungle in a house that Moreno’s father built.
“My father — he was pretty smart, I’ll give him that — he would try to make a home out of every situation, but the war broke him up.
“We were all very young, but we all pulled our own weight,” said Moreno. “We survived by living off the land.
“It wasn’t very easy. We didn’t get to have our childhood.”
At seven, three churches sponsored Moreno and his family to move to Edmonton, Alberta. There his father began to have problems and Moreno and his brothers ended up being shuffled through foster homes.
“I’m sure it was the war that did it to him. It messed him up,” Moreno said.
Not knowing any English upon his arrival in Canada, Moreno was put in kindergarten, a year behind for his age. A boy from Chile helped translate for him in class until he became frustrated by Moreno asking too many questions.
Despite living only blocks from Northlands racetrack, Moreno didn’t know horse racing existed until much later in life. “I lived on 112th Street — five minutes from Northlands racetrack, a minute by car — but I didn’t know there was horse racing there,” said Moreno. “I knew they had an annual fair and I knew they had a track, but what it was used for I had no idea.”
Moreno found his first calling in boxing at Edmonton’s Cougar club. He was a three-time junior national champion and an Olympic hopeful before a shoulder injury forced him out of the ring.
But Dennis Ejack, a bloodstock agent from Red Deer, Alberta, and the vice president of Boxing Alberta at the time, saw something in Moreno. “I told Larry (Moreno’s boxing coach) that here were five brothers that had no reason to smile when they got up in the morning, but they did,” said Ejack. “All the Morenos could box. Omar was the smallest but you always had a feeling, the kid is a winner. He just had to be at the top.” Ejack thought Moreno, at 106 pounds and only just over 5 feet tall, was jockey material.
At the time, Moreno was working as a house painter and didn’t even know what a jockey was.
“The only horse I had ever been on was a Standardbred that was at one of the foster homes I was placed at,” said Moreno. “I asked if they could teach me how to ride and they said sure, but I guess they didn’t want me to get hurt and the horse and I just kind of walked around… it was mostly figure eight, English style. Again, mostly walking, so it was boring.”
In the fall of 2006, Ejack had Moreno check out the 15-week exercise rider and jockey program at Olds College in Olds, Alberta.
“I told Dennis I would give it a chance, but I didn’t know anything about it and I could barely afford to live,” said Moreno. “But Dennis told me he would help me if I would seriously dedicate myself. He told me to think about it. I thought about it and told him I would do whatever I had to do.”
Ejack paid for Moreno to take the riding lessons that were a requirement to enter Olds’ program, as well as for a house where he could live. He also arranged for Moreno to exercise horses in Florida in the winter.
“It was a feel good thing for me because I liked the kid,” said Ejack.
Moreno graduated from Olds College in early 2007 and started riding races in Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, and then Edmonton. He made an immediate impression on the racing community, winning his first ever race on August 10, 2008, a five and a half furlong claiming race at Evergreen Park in Grande Prairie aboard Fortress Mountain, a four-year-old dark bay filly.
His first A circuit win came at Northlands Park on Gorgeous Gabrysia, a 7-1 outsider, on July 1, 2009.
“I felt like I had the world in the palm of my hand,” said Moreno about the Canada Day race. “I kept looking over my shoulder. It was like, ‘I’m winning. I’m winning!’”
“You know, he started so raw (but) he worked hard. Everybody talks about his work ethic and I think because of his work ethic, he got a lot more opportunities,” Shirley McClellan, chair of Horse Racing Alberta, told the Red Deer Advocate.
“I always liked his attitude,” said John Heath, Moreno’s jockey agent while in Alberta. “Omar is a natural lightweight. I’m sure he will be 108 pounds for the rest of his life.”
In 2009, after winning 32 races in Alberta, Heath and trainers Kelly and Ron Grieves encouraged Moreno to go to Woodbine racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.
“I was hesitant to come to Woodbine at first because everyone was telling me how tough a riding colony it is to break into,” said Moreno. “My expectation was to try my best and if I didn’t’ work out, I could say I tried my best.
“But I was so relieved at the end of the year. It went better than I ever could have imagined.”
At Woodbine, Moreno hooked up with jockey agent Jack Lauzen and, despite Moreno’s nerves and relative inexperience, it didn’t take long to break into Woodbine. The apprentice jockey won five races in less than a month at the Ontario track. His first win at Woodbine was on Grey Whizz on November 6, 2009.
Moreno capped his 2009 racing season by winning the 2009 Sovereign Award for best apprentice jockey.
“He wants to be the best he can be and he’s willing to listen to anything you have to say,” said Lauzon, who is a retired jockey with an impressive list of wins himself. “He wants to get better.”
“I hate being second best at things. I’m a competitive person. I’m a sore loser,” admitted Moreno.
Moreno’s 2010 season proved that Moreno is continuing to learn and improve. In his last year as an apprentice jockey, Moreno earned more than $5.3 million in purse money and had 144 victories — four in stakes races — and 425 top-three finishes, putting him fifth in the jockey rankings at Woodbine. His first stakes win was aboard Invitation Only in the Simcoe Stakes on September 6, 2010.
“When I look back, I always tend to think about what I could have done to make it better, how I could have won more races,” said Moreno of his 2010 season.
“But I was thrilled with how things went. You need to remind yourself that you are going to lose more races than you are going to win. I tried to handle losing better. Overall, though, we had a good year and I was able to stay healthy.”
“For me, the one thing I’ve learned, especially last year, was patience,” continued Moreno. “When you learn not to think too much and do things on instinct, it helps you a lot. When I start to overthink things, it doesn’t help me. Now I’m more relaxed. I ride every race the same. I used to be nervous when I would ride in a stakes race, but not anymore.”
In January, Moreno was handed yet another honour in the racing world, the 2010 Eclipse Award for top apprentice jockey. Moreno is only the fourth Canadian to win the award, after Mickey Walls in 1991, Neil Poznansky in 1996, and Emma-Jayne Wilson in 2005.
“I’ll be honest, I’m a little speechless right now. I’m not sure what to say, but this is the happiest day of my life,” said Moreno with tears in his eyes during his acceptance speech on January 17, 2011. “To everybody who gave me the opportunity to be here tonight, I am very grateful from all of my heart.”
Omar Moreno also won the 2010 Sovereign Award for the top apprentice jockey in Canada on April 1, 2011.
“I consider myself very lucky that people believed me and gave me a chance to show what I could do,” said Moreno. “I’m very grateful for it all.”
Life is looking good for the El Salvador native. He proposed to his girlfriend, Beth Wygard, over Christmas, and the two are looking for a house together outside Toronto.
Moreno is also looking forward to the 2011 season. “I am definitely pumped up for the new season,” said Moreno. “It’s a new year and there are new challenges. But I feel I am ready. I can’t wait to get going again. I get to ride at a great racetrack. I tell everyone I meet how lucky I am to ride at Woodbine.”
With files from the Toronto Star, Edmonton Journal, Red Deer Advocate, and Woodbine Entertainment Group.
Photo Courtesy of the World Equestrian Games