John Velázquez paid tribute to the late jockey Eddie Belmonte, who passed away on November 30 at the age of 83, and shared an emotional story about their master-jockey relationship. Belmonte, the son of jockey Francisco Belmonte, began his career in 1961 at the Hipódromo Las Casas de Santurce in Puerto Rico and made history by leading the victory statistics in Puerto Rico in 1964, alongside his father.
He was the first Puerto Rican jockey to win a Triple Crown race in the US, achieving this in 1970 by winning the Preakness Stakes with Personality. Velázquez credited Belmonte as the reason for the presence and dominance of Puerto Rican jockeys in US horse racing. Belmonte’s legacy continues to inspire young jockeys, with six of the last nine Eclipse Awards, which recognize the best jockey of each season in the US, being won by Puerto Ricans.
Currently, six Puerto Rican jockeys are among the top 20 money-producing jockeys in the 2026 US season, led by José Luis Ortiz.