Jockey Scott Spieth and his Dream Team are Awesome Indeed!

Do you know we have one of the TOP jockeys in the country here in Tampa? Most likely you don't, quiet and unassuming, this reserved rider Scott Spieth, who is quite tall for a jockey, keeps a low profile! Recently celebrated at Tampa Bay Downs Spieth reached his 4500th career win mark on a Florida-bred filly trained by his fiancée, Aldana Gonzalez. Scott, currently the top Tampa Bay Downs rider in lifetime wins not only ranks in wins and earnings he is well respected by industry professionals and fans alike. Spieth has finished in the top 100 nationally in wins by jockeys every year for 11 years! Oh and the name of the 4-year old filly trained by his fiancée, the one he took to his 4500th win at Tampa Bay Downs, it was Awesome Indeed.

Scott Spieth at Delaware Park. Photo by HoofprintsInc.com.

Jockey Scott Spieth and his Dream Team are Awesome Indeed!

To put Scott Spieth's numbers in perspective, since January 2016 he has 191 starts, of those 17 have been firsts. During his career as a jockey Scott has 27,934 rides under his silks, 4500 wins, 4051 second place showings and 3790 third place finishes. Knowing this you begin to realize what an accomplishment 4500 wins truly is and how wonderful it is that it happened here at Tampa Bay Downs!

When Tampa Bay Downs finishes with live-racing May 8th Spieth will move on to Delaware. Last season Scott traveled to Cleveland, OH to race Thistledown while his fiancée moved on to train in Delaware. Commuting seven hours one way to spend time with Gonzalez turned out to be more difficult than imagined so Scott transferred to Delaware Park three-weeks into their racing season. Not an easy decision, it took some time to get up and going but thanks to his reputation he was able to get the rides he needed finishing with 46 victories before arriving at Tampa Bay Downs this past fall. The dream team of Spieth and Gonzalez now plan to make Tampa-Delaware a regular circuit.

Aldana Gonzalez’s began her trainer's career in 2006 following five years as assistant to renowned local trainer Joan Scott. Racing three times as a trainer for the first time in 2006 Gonzalez had one win. Her second came in 2008 in 19 starts. Five years later, on December 13th 2013 at Tampa Bay Downs, 4-year-old gelding Vacation Time and jockey Scott Spieth ran away from the field in the seventh race securing Aldana her third win. From there her career took off!

In the past three years Aldana Gonzalez has 52 wins and had a horse in the money 156 times in 390 starts. In a 2014 interview with RacingBiz Gonzalez said, “Joan Scott is such an outstanding horsewoman, and she is also an amazing businesswoman...It was a big gamble leaving the spot I had, but the knowledge I’d gained watching Joan and being around her gave me the confidence to take the chance.” With thoroughbreds like Dash and Dazzle and Cause for Victory we expect to see and hear much more from Aldana Gonzalez as her horses continue to win.

Aldana Gonzalez (Facebook)

Want to know when can I see the dream team race again? Scott is racing this weekend, though not on his fiancee's horses he will appear Saturday, April 15th as he competes in three claiming races. He is scheduled to ride Candy Waltz, in the first, this will be the second appearance for Candy Waltz at TBD, then again in the second aboard South By The Sea, followed by Boston’s Posse in the seventh race of the day. Plan to spend tax day at the races watching this quiet and unassuming jockey who for three decades has been steadily working to achieve a lifetime goal.

At age 49 and with years of experience Scott explained in an interview with RacingBiz how he came up through the ranks during a time when jockeys were trained differently. Scott explained, “We mucked stalls, rubbed horses, walked horses and did a number of other things around the barn long before getting on horses and riding in the afternoon. Along the way we picked up a lot of knowledge about the anatomy of a horse, the leg problems a horse and its trainer have to deal with, and how to recognize a weakness or problem by the way a horse traveled. In short we had a lot more hands-on experience to call upon compared to the young riders coming up these days.”

With 4500 wins Spieth is focused on grinding out that 5,000th win, a mark achieved by only 31 riders in history. Winning 100+ races in 25 of the last 26 years his chances are good! Scott believes he can achieve his goal sometime in the next three years thanks to 7-day-a-week racing in Delaware over the summer. He is in good shape physically and in a great place in his life, with 5 kids and his fiancée Aldana cheering him on he continues to do what he loves, win!

We look forward to seeing Scott notch career victory 5000, and hope it will be in the winner’s circle at Tampa Bay Downs! We win simply by having a consummate professionals like Scott Spieth and Aldana Gonzalez racing at Tampa Bay Downs, giving us two more reasons to play for a day at Tampa Bay Downs!