Contreras settling in at Horseshoe Indianapolis

Two-time Sovereign Award winner Luis Contreras has gotten a change in scenery this year. He is currently riding at Horseshoe Indianapolis and is among the top 10 jockeys this season.

Conteras has ridden all over North America, starting in his native Mexico at just 16 years of age and then California. But after being sent to Woodbine in Canada to ride for trainer Steve Asmussen in 2009 he made the track his main base for over a decade and a half.

He won Graded Stakes every year from 2009-2023 on top-class Canadian horses like Starship Jubilee, Pender Harbor, and Holy Helena. He’s far from unfamiliar with American tracks having a Grade 1 win in the United States on Dad’s Caps in the Carter Handicap, along with frequent visits to winter tracks during Woodbine’s off-season.

But this year he won’t return to Woodbine instead being based at Horseshoe Indianapolis during 2025. 

“This year I was in Kentucky all year, and somebody told me to try here in Indianapolis,” said Contreras. “I didn’t know anybody here. I just met an agent, it was Jeremy Acridge, I told him I would like to come here and try something different and stay here in the states this year.”

Since Contreras’ arrival, he has won 14 races and purses of more than $400,000 as one of the top 10 jockeys this season at Horseshoe Indianapolis. He takes the new scenery and diverse colony of jockeys with pride.

“In Canada, the jockeys are a little closer, you don’t have as many jockeys coming from different places,” noted Contreras. “I really like it here [America]. It's more competitive, you have riders coming from different places here in the states, it’s a challenge, different cultures, different jockeys. It’s always a challenge to ride with them. It brings me more energy, I feel stronger, more tough. I want to show them I can ride with them.”

Contreras plans to stay solely in the United States year-round for 2025. Transitioning to a new facility is never easy but one couldn’t ask for a smoother shift in his career. 

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