HALLANDALE BEACH - Jockey Cristian Torres broke through on his first day as a journeyman rider on Friday, scoring aboard Lord Adare ($9) in Race 6 at Gulfstream Park.

    Without the benefit of the five-pound ‘bug’ with which he rode the vast majority of his 175 winners during an apprenticeship that ended Wednesday, Torres took an early lead aboard the Bob Hess Jr.-trained Lord Adare, who responded to late urging to prevail by neck in the six-furlong race for $8,000 claimers.

    “It feels great on my first day as a journeyman to break the ice,” the 22-year-old Puerto Rico native said. “I feel blessed. Bob Hess has always given me an opportunity. Everything worked out nice.”

    Torres went to high school in Orlando before returning to Puerto Rico to attend jockey’s school to learn to become an exercise rider. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island in September 2007, he returned to the U.S. to work for Mark Casse. He galloped horses for the newly-elected Hall of Fame trainer for 1 ½ years in Kentucky, New York and Florida before embarking on his career as a jockey.

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