Martin Garcia

With a "you can't make this up" type of life story, Martin Garcia has climbed to prominence at racing's highest level. After being abandoned by his teenage mother, Garcia was raised by his grandmother on a ranch in Mexico with plenty of horses. He moved to California when he was 18 in 2003 and found work as a cook in a Pleasanton deli. Garcia learned that the deli owner, Terri Terry, had a small stable of show horses and pestered her for an opportunity to ride. Terry was impressed with his ability to handle her big jumper bareback and recommended him to a friend, who was a former jockey.

That tout led Garcia to a job with trainer Vern Auten and the launch of a career as a jockey in 2005. His reputation was made when he tied Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze for a 2006 Bay Meadows title and then beat the Northern California kingpin by 15 wins at Golden Gate Fields. Garcia headed to the Southern California circuit and by 2009 had started riding for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. Garcia has collected a number of Grade 1 wins, including the 2010 Preakness on Lookin at Lucky, aboard Baffert-trained horses.

Garcia won the 2014 Breeders Cup Classic aboard front-running Bayern, another standout from the barn of Baffert, and was the regular exercise rider for 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. He finished third in the 2015 Kentucky Derby with Dortmund.

In 2016, Garcia picked up the mount on promising 3-year-old sprinter Drefong, another Baffert trainee, prior to the TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint at Santa Anita Park. The colt set a pressured pace and shook off a challenge from Grade 1 winner Masochistic to win the Sprint under a strong ride from Garcia.

Garcia waited eight years for his next win at the World Championships, but he earned it with another picture-perfect ride on the lead. Citizen Bull seized command at the start of the 2024 FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Presented by TAA and set a measured pace under Garcia with stablemates Gaming and Getaway Car tracking behind in second and third. The Into Mischief colt had plenty of run entering the stretch and pulled away from Gaming to win by open lengths and give Baffert his record-setting sixth win in the race and Garcia his fifth overall win at the Breeders’ Cup.