All of the indicators are there for jockey Charlie Marquez that he’s finally getting back to his form of 2021, when he was a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top apprentice.

Saturday’s victory aboard Air Recruit in the Oceanport Stakes was the latest sign and gave him three wins and a second in six stakes races at the current Monmouth Park meet, where the 23-year-old is sixth in the rider standings following Sunday’s card.

But the journey back has been an ordeal.

Coming to Monmouth Park for the first time in 2024 after finishing seventh in the standings at Tampa Bay Downs, Marquez only made it to the second weekend. On May 19 of that year, while riding Twirling Candy, the horse attempted to jump the rail, slamming Marquez to the turf.

Surgery was needed to repair four broken vertebrae, L1 through L4, and two other vertebrae were dislocated. The result was 15 months of recovery.

“It was hell, honestly – excuse the language,” he said. “It was rough. I had a good meet at Tampa. I came to Monmouth Park with a full head of steam and I had a strong gut feeling that I was going to take it to the next level. I felt it was my time.”

“Unfortunately the horse jumped the rail. So I ended staying at home with a broken back. It was rough. The first couple of months were especially difficult.”

It wasn’t until Aug. 20 of last year, almost exactly 15 months, that Marquez was able to return to riding.

But with just nine wins from 123 mounts in 2025 it was a lost year.

“It’s an up and down lifestyle,” he said. “I felt like I was really going to take off and do something. Then I got hurt.”

The arduous comeback is showing signs of being complete for the Columbia, Md., native, whose father, C.H. Marquez, won 3,184 races over a 35-year career before retiring in 2021.

Marquez, who started riding at 16, has 26 wins this year (15 at Monmouth Park), and appears headed to his best year since his bug boy days, when he 139 races.

“Coming back from an injury, people are going to think what they want,” he said. “All I can do is go out there and show them otherwise. I’m only 23, even though I have been around for a while. I feel like everything is ahead of me.

“I’ve matured since my injury. I’m almost grateful that I got hurt because it gave me time to mature and understand why I’m riding and how important it is to me and how much I missed it. I realize how much it is a part of me.”

His career goals are also all in front of him. He wants to be a leading rider again (he won the Laurel spring-summer riding title in 2021), wants to win a graded stakes and hopes to soon be riding in some of the classics.

He said he still consults regularly with his father, who now oversees Puerto Rico’s Vocacional Hipica Jockey School.

“He’s my coach,” Marquez said. “I always want to hear what he says about my riding. His big advice to me was to be consistent. You have to be there in the mornings and then show up in the afternoons and keep doing it. You have to put in the work.”

Marquez, who has 378 career wins, said “ideally, I’d like to finish in the top three at Monmouth this year and I think that’s within my reach. That would be another significant step for me.”