Tampabay downs media guide 16-0273-JK2

Jockey Profile
Daniel Centeno
Born: December 18, 1971
Birthplace: Caracas, Venezuela
Residence: Tampa, FL
Family: Son, Daniel; daughter, Jazmyn
First Win: Big Jack, Venezuela, 1990
Started Riding: 1990 (Venezuela), 2003 (Ohio)
Circuit: Tampa Bay Downs, Monmouth Park, Laurel, Delaware Park
First and foremost, Centeno is a student of the sport. His attention to detail
— working horses each morning, studying past performances and watching
replays — has kept him atop the Tampa Bay Downs jockey colony for much
of the past 10 seasons. He rode 98 winners here last season to finish second
in the standings. Centeno was aboard two stakes winners: Hidden Treat in
the $100,000 Sandpiper Stakes and Morning Fire in the $100,000 Pasco.
In 2014, Centeno won the Grade II Tampa Bay Derby for the second time
aboard Ring Weekend for trainer H. Graham Motion. He had won the 2009
Tampa Bay Derby on Musket Man. During the summer of 2014, he notched
his 2,000th victory in the United States at Parx Racing on 4-year-old gelding
Forest Rim for owner George Strawbridge and trainer Jonathan Sheppard. At
Oldsmar the following season, he was aboard Catalina Red when the then-2-
year-old set the Tampa Bay Downs 7-furlong record of 1:21.40 in winning the
2014 Pasco Stakes. Centeno begins the current meeting with more than 2,300
career victories, including five graded-stakes scores. From 2006-10, Centeno
strung together four consecutive Oldsmar riding crowns while averaging 1.48
winners per performance. During the 2007-2008 meeting, he booted home a
record-setting 144 winners (since bettered), including six stakes victories. That
year he amassed $2,145,528 in purses, setting a track record. He won his fifth
Tampa Bay Downs riding title during the 2012-2013 meeting with 90 victories.
Centeno began race riding in Venezuela in 1990, assembling a successful
14-year career that eventually took him to the United States to stay in 2003 (he
had ridden briefly at Calder in 1996). Centeno cites retired jockeys Eibar Coa
and Ramon Dominguez as major influences. With his distinguished record,
professional approach and almost $45-million in purse earnings, Centeno
himself is a jockey worth emulating.
Keiber J. Coa
Born: October 30, 1992
Birthplace: Caracas, Venezuela
Residence: Davie, FL
Family: Father, Eibar Coa; mother, Kathy Sarabia; sisters, Kleibany and
Sienna
First Win: Five Star Cruise, Santa Anita, 2012
Started Riding: 2011, Gulfstream Park
Circuit: Tampa Bay Downs, Delaware Park
Coa reached a crossroads in February of 2011 when his father, Breeders’ Cup
Sprint-winning jockey Eibar Coa, was seriously injured in a riding accident at
Gulfstream Park. Keiber had just enrolled in the Laffit Pincay Jockey School in
Panama City, and the teenager suddenly had to fly home to be with his father.
Although the elder Coa elected to retire, Keiber made the decision to follow in
his father’s footsteps and devote himself to a career as a jockey. Now his father,
who has made nearly a full recovery from his injuries, supports Keiber in his
quest to forge his own trail toward success. Keiber grew up playing baseball
and basketball, but he began working intensely with his father on becoming a
jockey in 2010, the same year Eibar Coa won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill
Downs on Big Drama. Keiber earned his first stakes victory in July of 2015
at Delaware in the CRE Run Oaks Arabian Distaff on RB FRYNCH BROAD.
Keiber incurred a hairline fracture of his pelvis on the final day of that season’s
Delaware Park summer meeting when a horse reared and landed on him, but
he made a speedy recovery to be ready to compete at Tampa Bay Downs, epitomizing
his desire to succeed.
29