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Month: April 2022
‘I Appreciate Being Here’: Jockey Kevin Krigger Returns A Winner At Gulfstream
Jockey Kevin Krigger celebrated a victorious return to action following a two-year hiatus with a perfectly executed ride aboard Thenorthremembers ($43.40) in Thursday's opener at Gulfstream Park.
“I thank God for this moment. I've been through a lot this year – my mom passing and a whole lot of things,” said Krigger, who had been living in his St. Croix, Virgin Islands homeland since winning on his last mount at Golden Gate Fields on March 29, 2020. “I'm here now and I appreciate being here.”
Krigger, who has ridden 1044 winners in the U.S., enjoyed a career highlight while riding Goldencents to victory in the 2013 Santa Anita Derby (G1) for trainer Doug O'Neill, earning his first mount in the Kentucky Derby (G1). Goldencents faded to 17th after being forwardly placed in the Derby.
In his first race back Thursday, the 38-year-old jockey showed no rust in the 1 1/16-mile $20,000 claiming race on turf, while rating Thenorthremembers off the pace before sending the Rasharn Creque-trained outsider between horses in the stretch on his way to victory by three-quarters of a length.
“I try to give a perfect ride any time I get a chance to ride. Sometimes, you get one chance. When you get that one chance, you have to capitalize on it,” said Krigger, a long-time friend of countryman Creque. “Me and Rasharn go way back. Thank God, I could come here and get the win.”
Krigger is planning to ride during the Spring/Summer Meet at Gulfstream Park, where he last rode in 2014.
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Robin Goodfellow’s racing tips: Best bets for Friday, April 22
Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow delivers his tips for Friday's meetings at Doncaster, Southwell, Perth and Sandown.
View From The Eighth Pole: New York Trainer Suspension A Farcical Catch-22
I broke one of the cardinal rules of humankind recently in the wake of a suspension of trainer Wayne Potts, who seems to be well on his way to becoming Peck's bad boy of horse racing with his multiple visits to the penalty box.
I made an assumption.
In recent years, Potts has been excluded by the Maryland Jockey Club tracks, suspended 20 days in New York for violating claiming rules, suspended 15 days in New Jersey for a medication violation, then suspended again in the Garden State – this time for 30 days – for failing to obey the regulatory veterinarian's order to have a horse loaded onto the horse ambulance after a race.
Earlier this year, the New York Racing Association told Potts he would be denied stalls at its racetracks and, most recently, he was suspended 45 days in New York when a non-FDA approved drug was found in his tack room.
New York stewards had to split his 45-day ban so it wouldn't run concurrently with his latest New Jersey violation. The two suspensions combined run from April 10-June 23.
The New York ruling against Potts indicates that his horses won't be allowed to race in the state during the suspension if they are trained by one of his employees. The ruling states:
“Ordered that during your period of suspension, you shall not directly nor indirectly participate in New York State pari-mutuel horse racing. You are denied the privileges and use of the grounds for all racetracks in New York State. You are forbidden to participate in any share of purses or other payments. Every horse is denied the privileges of the grounds and shall not participate in pari-mutuel racing in New York State, that is (a) owned or trained by you, or by individuals who serves (sic) as your agent or employee during your suspension; or (b) for which you during your suspension are directly or indirectly with training, including any arrangements to care for, train, enter, race, invoice, collect fees or other payments, manage funds, employ or insure workers, provide advice or other information or otherwise assist with any aspect of the training of such horses.”
I assumed that word salad ruling meant horses in the Potts barn could not simply be turned over to Bonnie Lucas, his assistant, and have the stable – which migrated to a New Jersey training center – continue racing operations in New York and elsewhere. Lucas, incidentally, was also suspended 30 days in New Jersey for her role in ignoring the order from the regulatory veterinarian to have the Potts horse taken off the track by ambulance. Her suspension runs from May 7 through June 5.
That was my mistake. I assumed, and you know what they say about people who assume (if you don't, watch the video below from one of my favorite TV shows of the 1970s).
Fortunately, our coverage did not state that Lucas could not saddle the Potts horses during his New York suspension. But I did assume that would be the case.
You can imagine my surprise when Lucas sent out the former Potts runner, Catch the Smoke, for an April 10 victory at Aqueduct. She made it 2-for-2 six days later, winning with another former Potts runner, Yah Huh, in a maiden claiming race at the Big A.
Paulick Report asked for clarification from the New York State Gaming Commission on the ruling and we received a terse reply from spokesman Brad Maione stating: “Bonnie Lucas currently holds a trainer's license.”
“So does that override her status as an employee of a suspended trainer?” we asked.
“She holds a license,” Maione replied.
It's not really clear what purpose the aforementioned language in the Potts ruling serves if the former assistant becomes the current trainer.
It strikes me as a farcical “Catch-22” gag, except instead being produced from a book or movie, this is from a New York state regulatory agency.
The Catch-22 in this case is that while Potts is under suspension, he doesn't have an assistant trainer or employees because … how can he? He isn't training. Lucas, his “former” assistant trainer, isn't working for him, so as long as she has a trainer's license she is training on her own and is not his employee or assistant. Therefore, there is no violation of this provision in the ruling prohibiting a trainer's employee from training horses while the trainer is under suspension.
Get it? I sure don't, but I'm never going to assume anything about a New York stewards ruling again.
That's my view from the eighth pole.
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