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Jockey Profiles<br />
Dean Butler<br />
Born: March 21, 1971<br />
Birthplace: Saratoga Springs, NY<br />
Residence: Oldsmar, FL<br />
Family: Daughters, Kayleigh and Kendall<br />
First Win: Rexson’s Express, Suffolk Downs, 1993<br />
Started Riding: 1992, Aqueduct<br />
Circuit:<br />
Tampa Bay Downs, Canterbury Park<br />
Emotions ran high in the winner’s circle on the afternoon of April 22 after Butler<br />
earned career victory No. 2,000 on Impromptu, a 4-year-old gelding owned by<br />
Empire Racing and trained by Bernell Rhone. On hand for the milestone were<br />
the Saratoga Springs’ native’s father, Ted, and his brother Dan, one of Dean’s<br />
seven older siblings. Butler had a typically strong season at the Oldsmar oval,<br />
hitting his best stride in the final month to finish seventh with 34 victories. Butler,<br />
who has won four track titles apiece at Philadelphia Park (now Parx Racing)<br />
and Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., and one at Atlantic City, led the<br />
Canterbury riding colony in purse earnings in 2014 and 2015, setting a track<br />
record in earnings the latter year with $1,719,247. Butler began his career in<br />
1992 at Aqueduct after learning the game from the ground up from Hall of Fame<br />
trainer Jack Van Berg, conditioner of the great Alysheba and Preakness winner<br />
Gate Dancer. After apprenticing under Van Berg on his Ghent, N.Y., farm and<br />
in southern California, Butler won his first race in 1993 at Suffolk, then moved<br />
to Philadelphia. One of Butler’s biggest scores came in the 2011 Remington<br />
Park Oaks aboard 25-1 shot Tourmaline for trainer Rhone. Butler and Rhone<br />
have proven a tough combination to beat at both Tampa Bay Downs and<br />
Canterbury. Butler rode the prominent gelding Poor But Honest, who finished<br />
second to the great Cigar and jockey Jerry Bailey in the 1995 Massachusetts<br />
Handicap. Poor But Honest and Butler won a pair of Grade III stakes that year<br />
and finished second in the Grade I Philip H. Iselin at Monmouth and the Grade<br />
I Meadowlands Cup. Butler enjoys spending time with his two girls, 9-year-old<br />
Kayleigh and 5-year-old Kendall.<br />
Samy Camacho<br />
Born: May 27, 1988<br />
Birthplace: Caracas, Venezuela<br />
Residence: Miami, FL<br />
Family: Wife, Kismar Torcat; son, Samir Andres<br />
First Win: Calder Race Course, 2012<br />
Started Riding: La Rinconada, Caracas<br />
Circuit: Tampa Bay Downs, Gulfstream Park<br />
Camacho hails from a race-riding family. His father, Samuel Camacho, Sr.,<br />
rode his entire career in Venezuela, scoring more than 900 victories. Younger<br />
brother Samuel Camacho, Jr., rides in New York. Samy rode 32 winners in<br />
south Florida and at Monmouth in New Jersey as an apprentice in 2012 before<br />
returning to Venezuela for more seasoning. His career took off at Tampa<br />
Bay Downs last season when he won the Hampton Inn & Suites Jockey of<br />
the Month Award during a period when he was commuting to Tampa Bay<br />
Downs from a morning job exercising horses at GoldMark Farm in Ocala. His<br />
momentum continued throughout the duration of the meeting, and he finished<br />
in 14th place with 20 victories. Several of his winners were trained by veteran<br />
Margaret Wetherington. Camacho returned to Tampa Bay Downs for the fourth<br />
annual Summer Festival of Racing and Music and won five races over two days<br />
to claim first place in the $5,000 Jockeys’ Challenge. “I like the fact he puts<br />
horses in good positions whether it’s going short or long, on dirt or turf,” said<br />
trainer Robert G. Smith. “He rides a very smart race, and he doesn’t have a<br />
problem coming out in the mornings and working hard.”<br />
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