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Evers/Eclipse Sportswire

A first glance at jockey Tiago Pereira’s resume and you find a victory in the Dubai World Cup and another win in the 2021 Pacific Classic. But for the most part the 47-year-old rider from Brazil has been flying under the radar since arriving in Southern California 10 years ago.

But that is all changing thanks in part to his agent Craig Stephen and a new attitude.

“I have more confidence now,” Pereira says. “I’m in the top three (of the jockey standings) and I’m so happy. The horses are running much better.”

He believes his confidence is transferring to the horses who are responding in a positive way. Through Sunday Pereira has seven wins, only one behind defending champ Juan Hernandez and two behind the current leader, Umberto Rispoli. At the recently concluded Santa Anita autumn meet Pereira notched 10 victories, good enough to tie for fourth in the standings with Hector Berrios.

But before all this newfound success, Pereira averaged about a handful of wins a meet at Del Mar over the past five years with the exception of the summer of 2020 when he posted 21 victories and the summer of 2023 when he had 15.

He came to Southern California in 2014 after a successful career riding in Brazil. Combine his number of victories in Brazil with the races he’s won in Singapore, Macau and Dubai and Pereira has more than 2,000 wins internationally.

Most new jockeys find it difficult breaking into the Southern California circuit but Pereira was no ordinary journeyman. Packing the experience he had in Brazil he did well, winning 49 races his first year and 68 the next riding at Santa Anita, Los Alamitos and Del Mar.

“It was hard,” Pereira remembers about his first year at Del Mar. “There was more competition because there were many good jockeys.”

Back in 2014 the leading rider was Rafael Bejarano followed by the likes of Kent Desormeaux, Victor Espinoza and Cory Nakatani, all Hall of Famers.

Pereira’s best year was 2018 when he won 86 races. He came close to surpassing that mark last year with 82 while racking-up his best year in the U.S. in terms of earnings with $4.7 million. Overall, Pereira has 719 wins and over $34.1 million in earnings in North America.

The highlight of Pereira’s career came before he ever stepped foot on the grounds at Del Mar. It was his victory in the 2010 Dubai World Cup on Glória de Campeão.

“I won the first Dubai World Cup run at Meydan,” Pereira notes. “Before it was run at Nad Al Sheba. The horse was from Brazil though I never rode him in Brazil. The first time I rode him was in China (in the Singapore Airlines International Cup) and I won. I then rode him in the Arlington Million and I finished seventh. After 30-days of working him in France we went to Dubai.”

Eleven years later, Pereira climbed aboard Tripoli for the first time and won. That was an allowance race at Santa Anita. He would win another allowance test and then run second to Express Train in the San Diego Handicap (G2) before guiding the son of Kitten’s Joy to victory in the 2021 Pacific Classic.

“I rode for John Sadler,” Pereira recalls. “The horse rode good for me in the San Diego, I finished a good second. Then in the Pacific Classic I won. I liked the horse.”

Pereira is hoping this latest success on the track is a sign of good things to come in 2025.

“Hopefully the trend is one that will give me more shots, more opportunities to ride good horses,” Pereira says.