Gutierrez is building his career from the ashes of last year

A year ago, on January 7, 2025, Mario and Rebecca Gutierrez gathered their 8-year-old son Sebastian, two dogs, two cats and whatever they could get their hands on, then fled their home in the densely populated Los Angeles suburb of Altadena, California, as the Eaton Fire raged around them.

Before the nightmare was over, Gutierrez’s home was one of 9,000 buildings lost. It took 24 days for the fire to be fully contained, after destroying 14,000 hectares and claiming 19 lives. Across the city, the Palisades Fire took a similar toll: some 6,800 structures, 23,000 acres, a dozen deaths.

This is how the year started.

A year later, the Gutierrez family established its roots in Louisville, Kentucky. Two-time Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mario Gutierrez spent the spring, summer and fall riding regional tracks while Rebecca, an interior designer, set up a new home for the family and Sebastian made new friends.

Now Dad is away in Florida, taking part in the Gulfstream Park meet, where Gutierrez has three wins, two seconds and three thirds in 17 mountains through the first nine days of the new year.

“My plan was to stay in Kentucky,” Gutierrez said this week. “People started noticing me and giving me more opportunities, especially the last few months of meeting at Churchill Downs.”

Then trainer Brian Lynch threw a tantalizing wrench into the plan, suggesting Gutierrez should follow the stable to South Florida. The rider weighed his options, assured Gulfstream agent Jordan Berman and hit the road.

“I did a complete U-turn,” Gutierrez said. “I know it was a big ask for my family. And yes, it was a little scary, especially after what happened a year ago. But I believe in my skills, I dig in and I do the work. Good things can come after that.”

“Sometimes I feel like we need a little push in life,” Gutierrez said. “You might not think so at the time, but I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason. People might think burning down your house might be a bit tough, but you never know what life has in store.”

More than anything, Gutierrez, 39, was eager to prove he is more than a one-stable jockey. After successful stints in Mexico City and Vancouver, British Columbia, the native of El Higo, a small town in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, moved to Southern California in 2011 and landed a choice role in Doug O’Neill’s barn, riding for owner Paul Reddam. A year later, Gutierrez won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes (G1) with Reddam’s I’ll have another one .

In 2015, Guiterrez won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) with Reddam’s Nyquist and then parlayed that into a second victory in the Kentucky Derby the following spring. It had been 118 years since a jockey had won on his first two Derby mounts. Gutierrez continued to drive primarily for Reddam, to the extent that his activities outside of his primary duties began to dry up in recent years.

“I’ve always been a hard worker but I don’t think people noticed that because I stayed with the same outfit as me for the longest part of my career,” he said. “I really wanted to show that I’m no stranger to hard work. Anyway, it wasn’t like I was a hot commodity, so it feels a bit like starting over.”

Lynch has dropped by, as promised, with a collection of live Gulfstream mounts.

“I didn’t know him before we were introduced last April,” Gutierrez said. “I’ve been around this sport for a long time now to be able to notice certain things that only what I consider great coaches do, and he’s certainly one of them.”

The Lynch-Gutierrez combination is doing well with the Munnings filly Sister Troienne owned by Woodslane Racing. Sister Troienne has won four of five starts, including the $155,000 Ginger Brew Stakes Jan. 3 at a mile on firm Gulfstream grass. Sister Troienne was heavily favored, but even if the odds were stacked, she was a slam dunk as Lynch trained Ginger Brew to win four minor stakes, including the 2008 Calder Oaks, and finish second in the 2008 Queen’s Plate Stakes at Woodbine.

“I started working her in Ellis Park,” Gutierrez said of Sister Troienne. “We rode her there the first time on the dirt, then came back and won on the grass. She hasn’t been beaten since. I just think she’s the kind of filly I’m great at working with, and I don’t think I’ve asked the best of her yet.”

Staying close to Lynch is a good idea. In recent years he has had early success with young horses such as Owen Almighty , Oscar performance And Classic causeway .

“In our sport, you are always one morning away from stepping on a horse that could change your life,” Gutierrez said. “So I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of having a two-year-old this year that will make me excited for the future. Right now it’s probably the happiest I’ve ever been in my career.”

What a difference a year makes. As sunny as he sounds, Gutierrez doesn’t minimize the trauma of losing a home to a natural disaster of monumental proportions.

“We felt very humbled by what happened,” he said. “My entire block was wiped out, maybe 500 houses in my area. We cleaned up what was left and I plan to rebuild. We hope to start construction mid-year, once we get through all the paperwork for the permits. I think we’ll keep it as it was, with maybe a few additions. But I’m sure my wife will come up with something nice.”

So much for the house. What about the family, especially young Sebastian?

“For many people, after such a tragedy, it is difficult to look at the positives,” Gutierrez said. “I thank God for giving us such a strong little boy who can deal with what we were going through. As soon as we moved and put him in school, he started making good friends. I think about the three of us, he is the one who loves Kentucky the most. He comes home from school, does his homework and then plays with his friends in a neighborhood that is very safe. They go from house to house, come to our house. He has made a beautiful transition.

“It was a little harder for Rebecca,” he said. ‘But it’s getting better. We don’t want to move Sebastian again, so they will stay in Kentucky while I am in Florida, and I will visit them as much as possible.

“This week it was hard to let the day pass because January 7 is also the date we got married, ten years ago,” Gutierrez said, accompanied by a sardonic laugh. “Except for the first few years, we’ve always been terrible at remembering our anniversary. Every year it’s a joke between us about who will remember it first.

“We had to be apart this year because I was driving,” he added. “But I don’t think we’ll ever forget it.”