Tyler Gaffalione Named Jockey of the Week After Three Gulfstream Stakes Wins

Tyler Gaffalione was voted Jockey of the Week by the Jockeys’ Guild for Jan. 20–26 after a standout weekend at Gulfstream Park in which he rode three stakes winners, including two graded victories, on the blockbuster Pegasus World Cup 13-race program which included 10 stakes races, the panel of racing experts voted Gaffalione Jockey of the Week for January 20-26. The sweep on the Pegasus World Cup card elevated Gaffalione’s profile and left immediate questions about the identities and grades of the two other stakes winners credited on the Jan. 25 program.

The clearest example came in the Gr. III La Prevoyante, where Gaffalione guided Forever After All, a six-year-old trained by Brendan Walsh, from post position 10 in a field of 12 fillies and mares four years-old and up. Gaffalione settled the six-year-old inside and off the pace near the back of the field, swung Forever After All to the outside at the top of the stretch, and posted a nose victory over Chop Chop and Irad Ortiz, Jr. in 2:26.06 for the mile and one-half turf test. “I didn't want to make it that close, but I just had to wait a little bit longer than I would have like to," said Gaffalione. "As soon as I got out, she found another gear.”

Equibase and the unedited press release cited Gaffalione’s three stakes victories on the Jan. 25 Pegasus World Cup card and characterized two of those wins as graded, but neither provided full race charts or the names of the other two winners in the releases supplied. FanDuel Racing’s social post added that Gaffalione “won 7 races this past week, including 3 graded stakes,” a weekly total that may extend beyond the single-day Pegasus tally. That gap in published box-score detail leaves the exact mix of graded turf wins on Jan. 25 open to confirmation from official Gulfstream charts.

Gaffalione also carried notable mounts on the Pegasus card, listed in the release as Burning Glory for Eclipse Award trainer Bill Mott in the Gr. III Holy Bull and Stunner for two-time Eclipse Award trainer Brad Cox in the Gr. III Forward Gal, reinforcing his winter riding base at Gulfstream Park. The Jockeys’ Guild, which recognizes its members through the weekly honor and represents more than 1,050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys, awarded Gaffalione this week against a competitive field that included Rafael Bejarano, who won the Gr. III Southwest; Irad Ortiz, Jr., with two graded stakes wins including the Gr. I Pegasus World Cup; Flavien Prat, with two stakes wins at Oaklawn; and Edgard Zayas, who won the Gr. II Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

Gaffalione’s Gulfstream surge links to a career rooted in South Florida. Born Sept. 12, 1994 in Davie, Florida and the son of former jockey Steve Gaffalione, he rode his first winner at Gulfstream Park on Sept. 7, 2014, earned the 2015 Eclipse Award as U.S. Champion Apprentice Jockey, recorded a five-win Gulfstream card on May 3, 2015 and a seven-win card on July 4, 2017 tying Jerry Bailey’s mark, and captured the 2019 Preakness aboard War of Will. The January honors underscore how winter circuit performance at Gulfstream can reshape early-season turf narratives, lift jockey market value, and focus attention on trainers such as Brendan Walsh, Bill Mott, and Brad Cox whose horses populate marquee cards. Full confirmation of the two other stakes credited to Gaffalione on Jan. 25 will clarify whether this was a turf sweep or a mixed-surface breakout, but the La Prevoyante win and the Guild vote already strengthened Gaffalione’s case as one of North America’s leading winter riders.