Manoel R. Cruz      Birthdate: May 20, 1970      Birthplace: Ninas Gerais, Brazil      Residence: Miami, FL      Family: wife, Sirlene...Sons, Victor Manoel and Brian

2007 Gulfstream Record

 Career:

• Popular journeyman continued a five-year string of appearances among Gulfstream’s leading jockeys, ranking eighth in 2007.

• Has finished among Gulfstream’s Top 15 riders each year since 2003.

• Stakes wins during Gulfstream 2007 came with Storm in May in the Sunshine Millions Dash and with Istan in the Artax Handicap on the Florida Derby Day program. The year before he scored one of his biggest career victories with Splendid Blended in the Shirley Jones.

• He was the leading rider at the 2006 Calder meet with over 197 wins and in excess of $4 million in earnings. It was the second straight summer he won 197 times at Calder, the second-best in the track’s 35-year history behind Eddie Castro’s 214 in 2006.

• He was also the leading rider in 2002 at Tampa Bay Downs and won numerous riding titles and notched over 1,200 victories at Hipodromo Cidade Jardim in Sao Paulo, Brazil before coming to the United States in 2000.

  Other: Grew up in Brazil riding jumpers on the farm where his father is the assistant trainer for a show and racehorse operation. Rode his first race when he was 15. He graduated at age 16 from jockey school, a requirement for all apprentice riders in Brazil.