It wasn’t so long ago that jockey Madeline Rowland was about ready to put the tack away. Today she’s glad she didn’t.

Rowland, 22, was all smiles after she gave three-year-old Winning Trip precisely that in Laurel Park’s second race Saturday. The resulting victory was the 100^th of Rowland’s career.

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“I’m happy [about the milestone], but I haven’t really been stressing about it because, like, it’ll come,” Rowland said after winning for the first time in nearly a month.

“She’s a good rider. She does everything right,” said winning trainer Michael Gorham. “She knows where to position them, and she’s a pretty smart rider, and obviously the horses run for her.”

Today Rowland put Winning Trip in the hunt early, pressing the pace of the generally fainthearted Bernie the Star. It wasn’t precisely the plan, she said.

“He broke so sharp, I think, with the outside post, no dirt hitting him, feeling free,” Rowland said. “But he did get keen, and I didn’t want to be pressing a fast pace. That horse [Bernie the Star] that [Tais Lyapustina] was on is fast. So I was like, ‘Oh, I hope we’re not going too fast.’ But it all worked out.”

Winning Trip took command in upper stretch and for a moment looked clear, but favored Preacha Meyers soon loomed a threat, mounting a grinding rally. Winning Trip had just enough to hold on by a nose in 1:25.29 for seven furlongs on a fast main track.

“Perfect trip,” said Gorham. “Broke a little sharper than we really wanted, and tried to get him to settle. That was the plan, but he had enough to finish.”

Rowland’s first career start, in 2021, came aboard the Gorham-trained Joyce G, who finished seventh that day. But the pair only connected intermittently until this year, when Rowland began riding more regularly at Gorham’s home base of Delaware Park.

Over the last five months, the duo has combined to win with eight of 24 starters (33%), with an ROI of more than $4.20.

In between that first start and this recent streak, things weren’t quite so bright for Rowland. Despite her youth, her career has already had its peaks and valleys, from a 56-win year at Tampa Bay Downs in 2022 to just a dozen wins, from 190 starts, in 2024. It was tough to get mounts, and she said she struggled at times with her weight.

“The further along I went, I noticed I was getting depressed,” Rowland told Monmouth Park’s publicity department. “I think it’s important people know that about jockeys. It can happen to anyone.”

But longtime local trainer Lizzie Merryman, whom she described as her “horse mom,” intervened, encouraging her to stick with it. She did, but with a key difference.

“A lot of jockeys go through the ups and downs, even trainers, and you kind of have it, like, be your identity,” Rowland said. “At least I took being a jockey as my only identity. I took it so serious, which it is serious, but it’s almost not that serious. I think what I had to learn was just enjoy each trip, each journey, instead of worrying how it’s gonna go.”

Reestablishing her identity as more than a jockey was important. So, too, was finding someone to put her on horses; she’s been galloping in the mornings for the Gorham barn, as well as taking the occasional afternoon mount.

Her partnership with Gorham has provided Rowland with the lion’s share of her afternoon mounts, wins, and earnings in recent months. It’s also provided, in a sense, a lifeline.

“When you’re going through the motions of this sport, you really want people like Mike to come to you, to give you a shot, to just believe in you,” Rowland explained. “You can be low, but if there’s someone to put you on those horses, it brings you right back up.”