CT: Moises Santaella sitting on “go”
Narrowly trails Bocachica for wins lead among riders
Ted Black
April 17, 2026
Following a very successful season as an apprentice rider where he was among a host of talented newcomers at Charles Town, Moises Santaella is now about to embark on the journeyman portion of his career and at least one trainer has already announced his commitment to the talented rider.
Santaella, 20, arrived from Puerto Rico last fall amid a wave of talented apprentice jockeys that also included Juan Belisario, Warren Ebow, III, and Jhorma Cespedes. Belisaro, who won 49 races and earned nearly $1 million in 2025, and Cespedes, a 16-race winner, have both returned home to Venezuela.
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Santaella made a name for himself while riding for trainer Ronney Brown and has continued to earn his share of the spotlight.
In fact, through the first three months of the 2026 season, Santaella had accomplished the unthinkable and owned a slight lead over perennial leading rider Arnaldo Bocachica. Through the first three weeks of April, however, Bocachica has regained his normal spot atop the Charles Town jockey standings.
Still, Santaella, who won twice at Charles Town on Thursday for Ronney Brown, the 125th and 126th victories of his career, has displayed no signs of relinquishing his pursuit of the title.
Through April 16, Bocachica has 48 wins at the meet, while Santaella has 46. JD Acosta is third with 28 wins.
“We had a great year together in 2025, and I’m not changing a thing,” Brown said. “I think he rides just as well carrying 126 pounds as he did at 119. He gets the horses away from the gate, and you rarely see him get a horse in trouble on the turns. It’s tough for any rider to make the transition from apprentice to journeyman. Some of them just get lost in the shuffle once that happens. But I’m staying with the hot hand.”
Santaella’s agent Evan Lauro, who also handles journeyman jockey Denis Araujo’s book, was looking for another apprentice rider with potential after Cespedes returned to Venezuela. Lauro reached out to Willie Lozano, of the Escuela Vocacional Hípica riding school in Puerto Rican, for a live prospect.
“Last fall after we lost Belisario and Cespedes, I called Willie and asked him if he had any apprentice ready to make the move to the United States and ride for me at Charles Town,” Lauro said. “Within 48 hours he told me he had a kid [Moises Santaello) that he thought was ready to make the move. He had already started winning races in Puerto Rico and Willie thought he would do well on the bullring. One thing about Moises, he’s really good at getting them away from the gate.”
Santaella won nearly 50 races at Camarero, Puerto Rico’s racetrack, in 2025, and added 30 more victories at Charles Town.
When he arrived in the United States last fall, Santaella spoke very little English. In fact, given his gate-riding ability, Brown and Santaella’s fellow jockeys joked that his vocabulary may have been limited to one word: “Go!”
“When he first came here he could barely speak English,” Lauro said. “But he’s gotten much, much better… He’s probably better at answering questions with someone who can help him translate everything into English, but he’s gotten a lot better.”
“I know when he first started riding for me, he could barely speak any English,” Brown said. “But he learned ‘go’ right away, and he gets them away from the gate really well. I’m going to stick with him. There’s really no reason to change anything. Denis rides a lot for me and there’s one or two other bugs that I might put on one or two some nights, but Moises has won a lot of races for me since he’s arrived. I don’t envision changing a thing.”
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