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Tyler Gaffalione received the 2015 Eclipse Award trophy as the country’s leading apprentice rider at the racetrack where he earned his first riding title. At just 20 years old become the leading rider at Gulfstream Park’s 2015 spring/summer meet.
Gaffalione, the son of retired Florida-based jockey Steve Gaffalione who won 800+ races during a 20-year career, embarked on his own riding career at Gulfstream Park. It was during Gaffalione’s tenure as an apprentice in 2015 that trainer Mark Casse became one of his earliest supporters, supplying him with consistent mounts at the Hallandale track. The Hall of Fame trainer provided Gaffalione with his first grade 1 win aboard Salty in the 2018 Grade 1 La Troienne Stakes Presented by Twinspires.com along with his first Triple Crown victory a year later with War of Will in the Preakness Stakes.
“I can’t even put it into words (what Mark has meant) to my career, Mark has been so influential,” Gaffalione said. “He’s always been there for me and believed in me.”
Gaffalione had contemplated riding somewhere less competitive than at Gulfstream’s champion winter meet, but he knew he wouldn’t gain the same experience as he would riding against some of the East Coast’s best jockeys. Gaffalione had a 15% win rate for the year, which included four black-type stakes victories.
“It was the best thing I ever decided to do, was to stay here this winter,” Gaffalione said back in June. “I learned so much from guys like Javier [Castellano], John Velazquez, [Edgar) Prado, for sure—he’s been a big help—Joel Rosario, Julien Leparoux, Rajiv [Maragh]. They’re great riders, good guys, and when you ride with them, you learn some of their habits—what they’re going to do, when they do it, kind of like their tendencies. It really helped me out a lot.”
Gaffalione increased his yearly purse earnings every year from 2014 through 2018, when he amassed a career-best $12,687,324 in purse earnings and picked up the first two Grade 1 wins of his career. Gaffalione recorded the 1,000th winner of his career in the eighth race Dec. 30 at Gulfstream Park on Mission From Elle.
In 2019, Gaffalione enjoyed success on the Triple Crown trail with victories on War of Will in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes and Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford and a win in the Jeff Ruby Steaks on Somelikeithotbrown. He earned his first classic win on May 18 when he guided War of Will through an opening along the rail at Pimlico and he charged through to win the 144th edition of the Preakness Stakes.
Gaffalione in 2020 won four Grade 1 races, inclduing the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes aboard Echo Zulu as he continued to boost his year-to-year earnings with more than $15.6 million. He blew past that in 2021 with more than $19.2 million.
In 2022, Gaffalione ranked in the top five in purse earnings and by mid-December had surpassed $26 million to establish a new personal benchmark. He won multiple Grade 1 races with both Santin and Wonder Wheel, the latter gave him his first Breeders’ Cup win in his 36th try when he guided her to victory in the NetJets Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland. Gaffalione was not finished at the 2022 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland. He won another Breeders’ Cup race on Saturday’s card when Caravel upset the Turf Sprint and paid $87 to win. Gallalione also won a $195,000 allowance on the Breeders’ Cup Saturday undercard aboard Nakatomi for trainer Wesley Ward. He ended the year 2022 on the cusp of his 2,000th career victory as a jockey.
