On the evening of Thursday, February 28th, Justa Arroyo Flores, mother of 19 year old apprentice jockey Angel Arroyo, drowned after the ferry she was traveling on was struck by bad weather and capsized.

The small ferry boat was carrying ten people. Seven survived the accident.

Flores was on her way from their family home in Darien to Panama City to visit her sick daughter, who suffers from panic attacks. Arroyo is the third of Flores’ six children, along with his three sisters aged 24, 12, and 10 and two brothers aged 23 and 18.

Arroyo’s younger siblings remain in Panama with their father, who supports the family by working the farm on which they live.

When asked to describe his mother, Arroyo’s first reaction is to take his hand and mark a spot near his eyes commenting on her petite size. With a chuckle, he explains in Spanish that she is where he gets his height and build.

Flores was a good mother and a regular at church. Most of her time was spent as a house wife taking care of her family on the small farm where Arroyo grew up. This farm would also be the place where Arroyo began riding, laying the foundation for his career as a jockey.

While Flores was in no way connected to horses herself, she encouraged her son’s passion for riding and desire to become a jockey. She was also supportive of his decision to stop racing in Panama and move to the United States in order to take advantage of the riding opportunities here.

Arroyo has been riding in the United States for almost a year and has begun to make his mark at a number of tracks including Delaware, Monmouth, the Meadowlands, and this winter, Aqueduct.

The highlight of Arroyo’s career thus far has been winning three races in a row on the same mount for trainer Frank Costa at the Meadowlands. It was also there that Arroyo was named Jockey of the Week for the week of 10/31-11/03/07.

Aqueduct has been another successful endeavor for Arroyo. He has earned over $200,000 since the beginning of January and sits nineteenth on the track’s list of 2008 leading jockeys.

Arroyo took time off to return home to Panama to be with his family right after his mother’s passing. Now that he has returned he is ready to ride and says he is focused on what needs to be done on the track.

This spring, Arroyo plans to head back to Monmouth to ride. He says that his goal is to become one of the best jockeys there is.

Arroyo would be the next in a long line of winning Panamanian jockeys, many of which are in the Hall of Fame. Laffit Pincay Jr. was successful here in New York winning three strait Belmont Stakes Races in 1982 aboard Conquistador Cielo, 1983 on Caveat, and 1984 riding Swale. Pincay also won the 1984 Kentucky Derby and the 1986 Breeders Cup Classic among a number of other stakes wins.

Braulio Baeza, Manuel Ycaza, Heliodoro Gustines, and more recently Fernando Jara, Alex Solis, and Cornelio Velasquez are all jockeys from Panama with Grade I Stakes wins in New York as well. Arroyo notes that Velasquez is one of the jockeys that he looks up to.

Arroyo also adds that his goal to rank among these great jockeys is now even more important, due to the fact that he must be diligent and successful in order to help support and provide for his family back home.