Raul Mena

Born: June 16, 1992 | Birthplace: Santiago, Chile | Residence: Oldsmar, FL

First Win: Hyde House, 2010, Valparaiso Sporting, Chile | Started Riding: 2010, Valparaiso Sporting Circuit: Tampa Bay Downs, Delaware Park, mid-Atlantic, New York

Mena was optimistic about returning toward the end of the current meet after suffering a fractured left femur when he was unseated from his mount in a turf race on Dec. 7. Following the 2020-2021 Tampa Bay Downs meet and his customary venture to Delaware Park, Mena opted to swim in deeper waters last winter, moving his tack to Aqueduct in New York. While he didn’t set the Big Apple on fire, Mena won six times, proving to himself he could survive in a more competitive environment. He returns to Oldsmar eager to improve on his performance here from two seasons ago, when he rode 28 winners. Mena had a solid 2022 meet at Delaware, finishing sixth with 39 winners. He missed three weeks in October after having his appendix removed, then finished strong with three two-victory performances. Mena’s determination to be a jockey was tested less than two years into his career when his mount threw him to the ground in a race at Valparaiso Sporting in Chile. He incurred a broken collarbone, broken vertebrae and busted ribs, and seven months went by before he was cleared to return to riding. Mena was mentored early in his career by Chilean countryman Jose Santos, a Hall of Fame jockey who won the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness on Funny Cide. Mena stays on an even keel with support from his wife, exercise rider Jaqueline Cabral, and his agent, Yamil Mayo. In September of 2020, he scored a Grade I Arabian-bred victory aboard Dance With Me BW in the Buzz Brauninger Arabian Distaff at Delaware.