Urizar Velazquez: Pimlico Backstretch Employee for 2019

Urizar "Uri" Velazquez, who assists trainer Brandon McFarlane with his shedrow, has been selected the MTHA Backstretch Employee of the Year at Pimlico Race Course for 2019.

Velazquez, a 27-year-old native of Mexico, began working with Thoroughbreds for Mark Casse in Ocala, Fla., as a teenager and landed his first exercise-riding job with top consignor Eddie Woods in Ocala. He later worked as an exercise rider for Sagamore Farm and then trainer Dane Kobiskie in Maryland.