Jockey Samuel Marin is winning races in bunches this month at Tampa Bay Downs, and it has carried him to the top of the standings 12 days into the 89-day meet. Over the six cards at Tampa from Dec. 6-18, Marin won 13 races from 39 mounts, highlighted by a four-win performance Wednesday – the second four-win day of his North American riding career. The recent run gives Marin 17 wins at the meet, one more than Tampa’s perennial leading rider Samy Camacho, who, after a 14-for-41 start, has gone 2 for 37 since Dec. 6. Marin’s wins have come for 15 different trainers, including Jon Arnett and Juan Avila, for whom Marin has ridden two winners apiece, as well as Brian Lynch, for whom he won the Sandpiper Stakes aboard Mrs Worldwide. “It’s great to ride for everybody,” Marin said a few hours before Friday’s Tampa card where he was scheduled to ride five mounts. “I really appreciate that Brian Lynch let us ride [Mrs Worldwide], she is a really nice filly. I appreciate that people are looking at us and giving us the right horses to ride.” Marin, 23, has been building momentum since he recovered from a broken collarbone that sidelined him for the final five weeks of the 2023-24 Tampa meet, where he finished as the third-leading rider. His 40 wins at Monmouth Park were third best, and he won the short Meadowlands meet with 10 winners. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Marin is represented by agent Mike Moran, who also represents Camacho. Moran picked up Marin at the Monmouth meet and has been impressed with the young jockey’s approach. “We just clicked, everything took off,” Moran said. “He’s into it so much, he watches replays, he does his homework, he wants to win every race, he thinks he can win them all.” Marin, who began riding in the United States in July 2022 after doing his apprenticeship in Venezuela, feels he has made the most improvement riding on turf, a surface that was not used in his native country. He is 5 for 29 on turf at Tampa so far this meet. “When I got here I was kind of lost because we have no grass races in our country,” Marin said. “When I started, everything was new for me. I feel like I’ve been doing better.” Mike Dini, for whom Marin won a turf allowance race with Fully Authorized on Dec. 13, told Tampa Bay publicity that Marin is “getting better all the time. He tries hard all the time, that’s the biggest thing. And he likes to stay inside if he can. “He comes to the barn with a good attitude, and he seems to watch races. He knows something about your horses, even if he hasn’t ridden them before.” Hopesndreams tries Tampa turf Hopesndreams had a productive 2023-24 Tampa meet on dirt, winning 4 of 7 starts with a second and a third. Tuesday, Hopesndreams returns to Tampa, but this time she will run on turf in a second-level/optional $32,000 claiming race scheduled for five furlongs. Dini transferred Hopesndreams to the turf over the summer, and the filly ran respectably well in a trio of sprints, including a victory in a first-level allowance July 27 at Monmouth. After an eighth-place finish routing at Saratoga, Hopesndreams finished third in a starter allowance at Delaware Park and was second, beaten a half-length, in an optional $40,000 claimer over Presque Isle’s synthetic surface. That was on Oct. 3, so Hopesndreams comes into this off a near three-month layoff. Jesus Castanon, aboard for her success on dirt last winter at Tampa, rides Hopesndreams from post 8 in a field that drew 12 but is limited to eight runners. :: Subscribe to the DRF Post Time Email Newsletter: Get the news you need to play today's races!  Thelastbulletsmine, a 7-year-old mare, seeks her first win since December 2022, when she sprinted on Gulfstream Park’s Tapeta track. She has not been out since Feb. 14 when third in this condition going a mile at Gulfstream. Trained by Joe Orseno then, she goes out first time for trainer John Vinson on Tuesday. Talkin Tipsy won her maiden going five furlongs over Tampa’s turf back in June 2022. She was freshened by trainer James Gulick after recording three wins and two seconds over Gulfstream’s Tapeta track in five starts from June 8 through Oct. 18. Fulminate, Musical Design, Speightful Sis, and Moana’s Power complete those who made the body of the race. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.