EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – When owners and trainers look at jockey Francisco Martinez now they no longer view him as a curiosity. Instead, they see a successful 33-year-old journeyman whose career arc continues to trend upward.

That wasn’t the case in 2024, when Martinez decided to pursue a career as a jockey, doing so as a 30-year-old apprentice.

“Honestly, age isn’t a factor anymore,” he said. “I started late. Usually bug boys are 18 or 19 and I started at 30. I thought it might be a problem at first. But the better you do the more people notice no matter what your age is.

“After you lose your bug it gets tougher. But doors have stayed open for me and I’m trying to take advantage of the opportunities.”

Coming off a solid showing at Monmouth Park over the summer – he was eighth in the rider standings – and currently tied for third in standings at Parx, Martinez will make his seasonal debut at the Monmouth at Meadowlands meet on Friday when he is listed to ride in five of the six races.

He had a good reason for missing the opening weekend of the boutique meet in North Jersey, too.

On Friday, he rode eight races at Parx. On Pennsylvania Derby day last Saturday he rode in 10 races, including the first two graded stakes of his career.

His horses didn’t hit the board in either the Grade 1 Cotillion or the Grade 2 Gallant Bob, but Martinez said the experience was invaluable.

“It was awesome,” said the Boston native. “They were great opportunities to have and to have done it. They were tough races but just participating and being with those kind of riders, the best of the best, meant a lot. It was a great learning experience.”

Of Martinez’s five mounts on Friday’s Monmouth at Meadowlands all-turf card, three are for trainer Mike Dini.

The two teamed up to win a pair of stakes races over the summer at Monmouth Park – the Spruce Fir with Summer’s Comin and the Joey P with Gold Trust. Martinez won the third stakes race of his brief career on Aug. 19 aboard Margie’s Fun Son at Parx for Ron Abrams, one of his go-to trainers at that track.

“My horses are winning a lot for him,” said Dini. “Maybe he gets them to relax or maybe he just has a better feel for them. I don’t know. But from the time he started riding for me he won races so I have kept using him.”

Martinez is scheduled to ride Bet on Beth in the first race, Gold Stamp in the fifth and Khetam in the sixth for Dini on Friday.

“Mike has been a big help for me. I call him my godfather,” said Martinez. “I ride a lot for him so to win those two stakes for him at Monmouth Park meant a lot. You want to win even more for people who have helped you as much as Mike has helped me in my career.”

After riding in amateur races in 2022 and 2023 as he toyed with the idea of turning pro, Martinez won 107 races as an apprentice in 2024. That total dropped to 72 last year largely because of five broken ribs suffered in a spill at Parx that sidelined him for more than three months.

This year he has 77 wins.

His late career start was due mostly because he was still figuring out what to do for a living, having grown up just outside defunct Suffolk Park and tagging along as a youngster with his father, a long-time assistant to Mike Aro on the old New England circuit.

Now he has set even higher goals for himself as an established rider.

“Winning a graded stakes race is the next goal,” he said. “I’m also thinking about moving my tack, maybe to New York. I need to talk to my agent (Richard Englander) about what’s next. Right now I’m doing really well at Parx, so we’ll see.”