Iowa-trained Tyler’s Tribe has made daylight victories par for the course at Prairie Meadows. Now he’s headed for the big time in Kentucky – alongside his ambitious young rider, as Jon Lees reports
USA: After wrapping up the Prairie Meadows jockeys’ title with 81 winners, Kylee Jordan set off on a nine-hour drive to Keeneland on a mission to become one of the lead characters in one of the underdog stories of the 2022 Breeders’ Cup.
The 20-year-old, part way through only her second year in the saddle, is heading to Lexington not just to continue her astonishing start to her career, but also her association with Tyler’s Tribe, the unbeaten Iowa two-year-old set to contest one of the juvenile prizes at the November 4-5 championships.
Tyler’s Tribe, a gelded son of Sharp Azteca trained and part-owned by Tim Martin, has won over $300,000 in completing a five-for-five win streak at Prairie Meadows by an aggregate margin of 59¾ lengths.
He earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure, one of the highest by a two-year-old this year, for his penultimate win by 15 lengths in the Prairie Meadows Freshman Stakes in August, and signed off his home campaign with an easy seven-length victory in the Iowa Cradle Stakes on the final day of the meet.
Jordan has been the lucky passenger each time. “I can’t believe this is happening to me,” she says. “It’s been really good. It’s so unreal, honestly. Tyler’s Tribe is just an awesome horse.
“We are taking him over to Keeneland and will work him over the track, and see how he likes it, but right now the Breeders’ Cup is the plan. They don’t know if they will go for the Turf Sprint or the Juvenile on dirt going long; they haven’t decided yet.”
Jordan, from Fredericksburg, Iowa, grew up on the backstretch, helping father Todd run the family stable of a half-dozen Thoroughbreds. She didn’t start riding as a jockey until May last year, riding her first winner at Will Rogers Downs in Oklahoma.
“My dad trains horses, so me and my sister Taelyn have always been at the track,” she explains. “I didn’t really want to be a jockey but everything started falling into place and it sort of happened and I just went with it. It’s been going really good.”
‘Really good’ is a bit of an understatement. Jordan rode 31 winners last year and during 2022 she is the winningmost female jockey in North America with 132 successes, a figure which ranks her 28th by wins among all jockeys.
She divided her time between Will Rogers Downs and Oaklawn Park in Arkansas early in the year before moving to Prairie Meadows for the summer.
“During Oaklawn I was going to Will Rogers in Oklahoma, which is a smaller track,” she says. “They are about four hours apart so I was driving back and forth between those two tracks.”
She topped the standings at Will Rogers with 44 wins. “I had a lot of success in Will Rogers – a lot of people were willing to help me out,” she says. “Oaklawn was a bit tougher because you have bigger trainers and really good jocks there.”
Back at Prairie Meadows the young jockey had a prolific campaign, losing her bug (riding out her claim) in September with Martin one of her main supporters. The association led her to Tyler’s Tribe.
“I really got lucky, honestly,” says Jordan. “I’d been riding horses for Tim Martin, who had been putting me up since I started last year. He’s always been there to help me out by giving me rides.
“He was talking with my agent and said he thought he had a pretty nice two-year-old. So I went over there and I was working and breezing him, getting him ready and then he named me on him and we’ve been successful ever since.”
She goes on: “I knew he was good from the start. In his first race he drew the ten hole which was outside and when he broke out of the gates he went fast. I tried keeping him with the other horses to get some experience but he just pulled away in the stretch. He doesn’t feel like he’s going fast but he just has a huge stride. He’s amazing to ride.”
Martin, who also part owns Tyler’s Tribe with Tom Lepic, has stayed loyal to Jordan as the gelding has risen through the grades. “I did worry about him changing riders for a more experienced rider,” admits Jordan. “It’s understandable. But I’m very grateful that they are giving me the opportunity to stay on him and continue riding him.”
Jordan has never ridden at Keeneland but should get an early taste of race riding there before the Breeders’ Cup with Martin, one of two Iowa trainers sending a team of ten to the Kentucky track, promising mounts. At the same time she will be on the lookout for more business.
“I am going to go with the flow and whatever happens, happens and we’ll see where it takes me,” says Jordan. “After Keeneland I am going to go back to Oaklawn and see how things go from there.
“I don’t know what the key has been to my success but I’ve been around horses my entire life and I feel like I’ve been able to get along with a lot of horses. That’s probably the biggest thing for me, being able to understand the horses.
“I’m excited to be riding at the Breeders’ Cup. As of right now, I’m not nervous. I’m excited to ride on a bigger track with the bigger jockeys. I’m excited to see the outcome.”
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