• He became the youngest winning jockey in a Breeders' Cup race when, at age 18, rode Invasor to victory over Bernardini in the Classic at Churchill Downs.
• Earlier that year he won the 2006 Belmont Stakes with Jazil after dead-heating with him for fourth in the Kentucky Derby. They also were second in the Wood Memorial.
• Besides Jazil and Invasor, other top mounts this year have included, Angara (G1 Diana H), Go Deputy (G2 Bowling Green H), Bel Air Beauty (G2 Alcibiades), Like Now (G3 Gotham, Fred "Cappy" Capossela),Chief Officer (New York Breeders' Futurity), Classic Pack (Cab Calloway) and Win With a Wink (Joseph A. Gimma).
• At 14, he left ninth grade and attended jockey school.
• He won his first race when he was 15 on Soy Soberano Papaat at Hippodromo Presidente Remon.
• He earned the nickname "Ice Boy" because of the fearless way he rode.
• He came to the U.S. on Dec. 26, 2003, with family friend Samuel Jimenez, a lawyer who trains as a hobby, and started his career at Aqueduct.
• His first graded-stakes victory came aboard Like Now in the Gotham and his first Grade 1 came in the Belmont Stakes.

Other: His first agent as well as his roommate was fellow Panamanian Jose Rivera, a cousin of New York Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera. Retired jockey Randy Romero took over Jara's book last February ... His grandfather Hugo Jara was a jockey and trainer; his father, Jorge Jara, is a trainer; he also has uncles who were jockeys. His siblings did not follow their father into racing ... One sister is a psychologist and one is in college; he has one brother, who is an architect.