INGLEWOOD -- Around the racetrack, they are called "bug boys," but not for their love of insects.

These jockeys get their names because the Daily Racing Form used to print a "bug" -- or asterisk -- next to the weight assignments of apprentices. The more asterisks, the less experience and winners an apprentice had.

They are the rookies of thoroughbred horse racing. But unlike other professional sports, where rookies can be brought along slowly to learn the ropes, there is only a certain amount of time an apprentice jockey -- or bug -- has an advantage over the veterans.

That advantage is the amount of weight an apprentice carries.

Up until a jockey's fifth winner, a horse will carry 10 pounds less than the assigned weight given by the racing secretary for that race. After winner No. 5 and up until winner No. 40, an apprentice's mount carries 7 pounds less. From winner No. 40 until one year after the rider's fifth winner, the allowance is 5 pounds.

At the end of that one year, it's back in with the journeymen and no breaks.

Only five apprentice jockeys in the long and storied history of Del Mar have ever led a meet in winners. The last came in 1973 when Steve Valdez had 61 victories.

When the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club opens its doors for its annual 43-day meet on Wednesday, at least one apprentice jockey -- Martin Garcia -- is given a good chance to top the riding standings and three others -- Juan Ochoa, Saul Arias and newcomer Billy Antongeorgi -- are expected to make big waves where the turf meets the surf.

Garcia, a 21-year-old Wunderkind from Northern California, will finish third in the Hollywood Park jockey standings when the meet ends today. And he missed the first couple weeks while dethroning Russell Baze as the top jockey in Northern California.

Veteran trainers such as Mike Harrington and John Sadler have jumped on the bandwagon with both feet.

"The top three apprentice riders here now (Garcia, Ochoa and Arias) are a very strong group," Harrington said. "Usually we have one strong apprentice, and that's about it. It turns out three very good apprentices showed up at the same time.

"The biggest reason to use an apprentice is the weight allowance, although in my own mind I've never been able to figure out how much of a difference the weight allowance makes. I just read an article the other day, and it said at 6 furlongs, a five-pound allowance equals a length. That makes sense to me."

Sadler likes the weight off for another reason: the ages of the horses.

"Our circuit doesn't have the inventory of horses any more, so they have started carding all of the races for 3-year-olds and up, instead of having the 3-year-old run with their own kind," Sadler said. "You have to use the apprentice because it makes for a huge advantage.

"The older horses will be in at 124 pounds and you can get the 3-year-old in at 114. That means you use the apprentice. They raised the weight scale for jockeys so you might as well get the weight break with the apprentice. It can be as much as a 14- or 15-pound difference."

That can be the difference between winning and losing.

Oceanside resident Jeffrey Bloom is the vice president of West Coast Operations for West Point Thoroughbreds. He is also a former jockey who rode his first race at Del Mar in 1982 and did the majority of his apprenticeship on the tough New York circuit.

Now, Bloom doesn't name a lot of apprentices to ride his horses, but that doesn't mean he isn't opposed to it.

"My job is to get the right match of jockey with horse with the advice of the trainer," Bloom said. "But there are two benefits to riding an apprentice: obviously the weight -- and I'm not opposed to taking advantage of that -- the other is with an apprentice you have the ability to get innocence. You get a little less thinking -- a loose appliance. It's an intangible benefit."

Harrington said apprentice riders might not be afraid to ride tough-to-handle animals, where the journeyman rider just doesn't want the headaches.

"There are certain horses that don't travel the way you would like them to or nervous in the post parade, and journeymen riders don't like that," Harrington said. "You put apprentices aboard because they are going to be more compliant than a journeyman might. The journeymen are great riders, but they can have a bit of an attitude at times.

"Most apprentices are so happy to have a mount if a horse acts stupid, they (the apprentices) just go on with it."

Susan McBride, Ochoa's agent, agrees.

"You see a lot of the older (jockeys) standing up and not pushing their mounts to the end," she said, "but that's not what these guys do. Garcia, Arias and Juan ride hard to the wire, and I think that's why people ride them."

Gracias, Martin

Garcia's story is like a fairy tale in a sport where $1,000 yearling purchase can win the Kentucky Derby.

The native of Veracruz, Mexico, was working at a deli in Pleasanton. The deli owner, Terri Terry, had a show jumper, and Garcia asked if he could ride it. Terry was so impressed by Garcia's ride -- with nothing but a handful of mane and bareback -- that she contacted former jockey Mark Hanna, who got him a job in the stable area at Pleasanton.

"I had horses growing up, but never rode," Garcia said. "Somebody asked me if I wanted to become a jockey. That was my dream. I like the horses. I'm so happy to do something like that."

After six months of exercise riding, Hanna hooked up Garcia with jockey agent Rogelio Olguin. The rest is history.

"Mark told me there's this little kid who looks good on horses and you have to book mounts for him," said Olguin, a former jockey. "He has to be a natural because you just don't see riders like him every day.

"When he got his first mount, he made some mistakes. Then when he got on his second horse, he surprised me because he didn't look like he did before or make the same mistakes."

Garcia's legend grew on the Northern California circuit race by race.

He tied riding legend Baze for the lead at the 31-day Bay Meadows meet. Baze had previously won 51 of 52 meets, losing only when he was injured. Garcia then beat Baze by 15 winners at Golden Gate Fields before coming south.

"I told Martin we have to stay until we beat Baze because that will open things up at every other place," Olguin said. "John Sadler called me and said, 'Bring this kid down.' And it's worked out for the best."

Still Garcia was a little apprehensive.

"I was worried when I came here because it was a different track, different people, different jockeys and different trainers," he said.

Sadler promised Garcia would be his No. 1 stable rider.

"What he did in Northern California was remarkable," Sadler said. "I sent horses up to Northern California, and when I couldn't get Russell, they put Martin up. He won like four or five races for me. I watched on television and was very impressed.

"He has a jockey's body. He's small but strong. Martin was built to be a jockey. He's a lot like Victor Espinoza. Martin's strength is that he is a natural. He hasn't been riding long, but the horses like him and run for him. He's a very strong finisher."

That seems to be Garcia's best quality: strength.

"The first night he rode down here, he rode a horse for Jack Van Berg," Harrington said. "He looked like he was beat at the quarter pole, and he just picked him up and carried him across (the finish line). He's a very strong for an apprentice."

Garcia is modest.

"I can say I'm strong, but it's better when other people say it," the 21-year-old said. "Some people say, 'I am the best,' but I feel good when trainers say something good about me. The trainers look at a lot of things. So I'm happy when a trainer says something good."

And how good will Garcia feel if he wins a Del Mar riding title?

"I can't say if I have a shot to be the leading rider because you never know what can happen," Garcia said. "I want to be the leading rider, but sometimes you just can't do it. When I go there I want to do the best I can."

Bloom seems to think he will have a shot.

"He seems to be an apprentice that has a lot of savvy," Bloom said. "He has a lot of control out there.

"When I see a young rider, I like to see them learning every day. Do they know how to get position, understand pace and switch their sticks? In a short amount of time, Garcia has shown he's got those skills."

Losing the bug

There seems to be little doubt that when Garcia loses his weight allowance in November, he will continue to be a force of whatever circuit he decides to ride.

Will that be the same for Ochoa and Arias?

"The thing I do know is that a lot of apprentices win a lot of races with the weight allowance and when they lose it, a lot of them don't do as nearly as well," Harrington said. "Whether that's the trainer's perception and they quit putting them on or what, I don't know."

Ochoa will lose his bug Aug. 6, and McBride has been working diligently to keep getting him mounts as a journeyman.

"We seem to get more rides at Hollywood Park," she said. "Del Mar will be different, but, hopefully, we'll keep it rolling when he loses the bug. I've had a lot of barns tell me they won't drop him. You're always going to lose some business when you lose the bug, but there are certain people that just try to get the weight off and I try not to ride for them. I want to be with trainers who are going to help me when he loses the bug.

"I get a lot of compliments on how much ground he saves. He likes to stay on the rail and get position. A lot of jockeys are either speed riders or come-from-behind guys, and Juan doesn't have a label. He does love the rail and doesn't go wide too often. Juan is such a hard worker, and people know that."

Arias will lose his bug in November, which will be a sad time for his backers.

Arias rode back-to-back winners on Feb. 20 at Santa Anita that paid $81.60 and $183.20. His average winner at the meet paid more $45. Not bad for a $2 investment.

Arias has a reputation for doing well on closers, much like retired Hall of Famer Eddie Delahoussaye.

"That's what (trainer) Doug O'Neill calls him," said Vic Lipton, Arias' agent, "the new Eddie D. He has the potential to be that type of rider.

"A lot of bug riders get on a lot of speed horses, but Saul just sits chilly and relaxes. He has all the qualities of a good rider. He's quiet and well-mannered. He just needs experience and seasoning like all apprentices need."

Lipton knows a little about the game. He's known as the "Bug Man" for bringing up such apprentices as Alex Bisono, Brice Blanc and the late J.C. Gonzalez.

Helping hand

Antongeorgi was born to be a jockey. His mother and father were both jockeys.

He was born in Long Island, N.Y., and lived in Kentucky the first nine years of his life.

When his parents moved to the Scripps Ranch area, he rode show horses for nine years at the Del Mar Show Park and similar venues. Then he started galloping horses at Rancho Paseana in Rancho Santa Fe.

That was it -- he was set on being a jockey.

He worked last summer as an exercise rider at Del Mar and rode his first race at Hollywood Park in December. He has four wins and will move up the apprentice ladder once the others lose their bugs.

"I always had it in the back of my mind to be a jockey," the 19-year-old Antongeorgi said. "I was always around the racetrack. I know my dad went through some hard times when he lost his bug, but once I started working horses, I was hooked.

"I love it. It's my life and passion. Sure there are some hard times, but when you win it makes it all worth it."

Antongeorgi has received plenty of help along the way, but no more so than from current rider Alex Solis.

"He has really helped me out," Antongeorgi said. "I run a lot with him around the track. Then in the afternoons, after I ride a race, he will watch the video with me. He'll tell me what I did good and what I can do better.

"It makes me feel real good when one of the best jockeys in the world has taken an interest in me. He's confident in me. He says I have potential if I keep working hard."

Bloom says the older generation helping the younger generation is a key at the race track.

"You have to remember jockeys are independent contractors," he said. "Whenever I approached anyone, every rider embraced me. Angel Cordero really helped me.

"It can be dangerous on the track and you have to have the younger riders understand the right way to do things. It's the only way to become a better rider. I even had a rider in a race one time tell me what to do because I was in trouble."

Despite taking wins away from veteran jockeys, Garcia said he hasn't felt any ill will in the jockey's room.

"I just try to get along with everyone," he said.

That includes fellow apprentices.

"We're all friendly in the jockey's room, but we're not what you would call real close," Antongeorgi said. "The bug is winning, so it's helping out all of us.

"The competition is the hardest part. It's tough to get better mounts with guys like Martin Garcia around. You just have to do what you can with the horses you get. If you bring in a long shot, you'll get better mounts. Competition is good."

Bloom has a bit of advice to be a successful apprentice bug boy.

"In this day and age, you have to take care of your business," he said. "You have to take responsibility, be professional and have a strong work ethic. You have to know how to keep the lines of communication open with your owners and trainers.

"You have to hone your skills. It's easy to think you know everything when you're winning races, but you never stop learning."

Contact staff writer Jeff Nahill at (760) 740-3550 or jnahill@nctimes.com. To comment, go to nctimes.com.

The five apprentice jockeys who have led the Del Mar meet in winners since 1937:

Year Name Winners

1973 Steve Valdez 61

1972 John Ramirez 36

1969 Rudy Rosales 65

1963 Miguel Yanez 59

1949 William Shoemaker 52

FACTS & FIGURES

+ WHAT: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's annual summer meet

+ WHERE: Del Mar Fairgrounds

+ WHEN: 43 days, Wednesday through Sept. 6; Wednesday through Monday basis, Tuesdays are dark

+ POST TIMES: 2 p.m. daily except for Four O'Clock Fridays (July 21 and 28, Aug. 4 and 11 at 4 p.m.; Aug. 18 and 25, Sept. 1 at 3:30 p.m.) and 1 p.m. Pacific Classic Day

+ SEATING: 14,304

+ ADMISSION PRICES: Stretch run and infield $6. Clubhouse $10. Free official program ($2 value) with all paid admissions.

+ PARKING: General $5, valet $20.

+ MEET HIGHLIGHTS: $1 million Grade 1 Pacific Classic, Aug. 20; Grade I John C.Mabee Handicap, Saturday; Grade I Eddie Read Handicap, Sunday; Grade I Bing Crosby Handicap, July 30; Grade I Del Mar Oaks, Aug. 19; Grade I Del Mar Debutante, Aug. 26; Grade II Del Mar Futurity, Sept. 7.

+ CONTACT INFORMATION: (858) 755-1141 or www.delmarracing.com