Jockey was groomed for success at early age

There’s no denying the dedication of Joseph Talamo III, who as a child got up at 3:30 a.m. to clean stalls and walk horses.

Then he sat in front of a television at home, watching races, holding a whip and lashing furniture as if he were in a stretch drive.

“Ever since I was 7 or 8, all I put my mind to was being a jockey,” he said.

On Easter Sunday, while classmates at Archbishop Shaw High in Marrero, La., were on spring break, the 17-year-old Talamo was rallying Try To Fly from near last in a 6 1/2 -furlong sprint to a half-length victory in the $75,000 San Pedro Stakes at Santa Anita.

“In a stakes races like that, he could have panicked,” trainer Doug O’Neill said. “But he was very relaxed and did the right thing.”

Rave reviews are nothing new for Talamo, who led the New Orleans Fair Grounds in victories last month as an apprentice jockey and has brought his Cajun accent and strong work ethic to California to test himself against some of the best riders in the world.

He figures to receive plenty of opportunities during Hollywood Park’s 63-day spring-summer meet that begins today.

The boyish looking Talamo has blue eyes, brown hair, stands 5 feet 1 and weighs in at 108 pounds. He was brought to Southern California by jockey agent Ron Ebanks, who used to represent Patrick Valenzuela.

After learning about Talamo from a friend, Ebanks went to watch him at the Fair Grounds and came away impressed.

“He doesn’t get rattled,” Ebanks said. “He rode the turf like an older rider.”

Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel used Talamo at the Fair Grounds and gave him a strong endorsement.

“He’s a very good jockey,” Frankel said. “He just has a very calm demeanor on a horse. He didn’t get excited, which is what you want. He got a lot of run out of the horses.”

He won 15 races at Santa Anita after arriving on March 29.

No one has needed to tell Talamo about making sacrifices. While attending Archbishop Shaw, Talamo left Friday night parties early because he had to exercise horses the next morning. He tried to explain to classmates what he was doing.

“A bunch of them didn’t believe me,” he said. “This is being a professional athlete, like a football player.”

He was supposed to be a junior at Archbishop Shaw this school year but withdrew and enrolled in an Internet study program so he could become a full-time jockey.

On Easter Sunday, his parents, Joseph Jr. and Joy, were watching the San Pedro Stakes on their home computer when Talamo split horses and guided Try To Fly to that dramatic come-from-behind victory.

“Me and his mother were screaming,” Joseph Jr. said. “We’re really proud of him.”

Talamo comes from the same state that produced Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye, whom he met growing up.

“I saw Eddie D. and my eyes got big,” Talamo said. “He always seemed to get his horse in a good position and always saved him for the end.”

Coming from behind is becoming Talamo’s trademark too.

“Don’t get me wrong -- I won a bunch of races on the lead,” he said. “But it’s fun to come flying by.”

On Thanksgiving, Talamo won at the Fair Grounds in the first race after the track had been shut down for more than a year because of damage from Hurricane Katrina.

“It was bad,” he said of the devastation. “It looked like all the sand from the racetrack was put in the parking lot. Insulation was everywhere. Broken glass was everywhere.”

Then racing returned, after $16 million in repairs, and Talamo couldn’t have been more pumped.

“It was unbelievable,” he said. “It was like winning a stakes race.”

Long-time Louisiana trainer Connie Tassistro has been a family friend, confidant and advisor.

“He told me, ‘If you want to be great, you have to work from the bottom up,’ ” Talamo said.

And that’s what he has done, from mucking stalls to walking horses, from grooming horses to exercising them.

His father speaks fondly of those early days when his son was ruining the family furniture with a whip.

“We were laughing,” he said. “If people only knew.”

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

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The facts

A glance at the 63-day meet at Hollywood Park:

* The meet: Sunday’s $1.31-million program of 10 stakes races for California-breds on Gold Rush Day will be the first big day of racing. Other major dates include Memorial Day Festival on May 28, Hollywood Gold Cup day June 30, the CashCall Mile night July 6, and American Oaks day July 7.

* Dates: Today through July 15 (63 days). Racing regularly Wednesday through Sunday; special racing on Mondays, May 28 and July 2, and Tuesday, May 1.

* Post times: 1:20 p.m. with these exceptions: 7 p.m. on Fridays except May 4; 12:30 p.m. on Sunday; noon on May 5, June 9 and July 7.

* Other significant races: $250,000 Jim Murray Memorial Handicap, May 12; $300,000 Shoemaker Breeders’ Cup Mile, May 28; $300,000 Gamely Breeders’ Cup Stakes, May 28; $300,000 Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap, June 9; $350,000 Swaps’ Breeders Cup Stakes, July 14.