August, 2023 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Jockey Perry Ouzts Officially North America’s Fifth All-Time Winningest Rider

Ageless jockey Perry Ouzts officially became North America's fifth all-time winningest rider on Tuesday at Belterra Park, when he piloted Lanalikeschoochoos to victory in the afternoon's seventh race for trainer Larry Smith. It was the 7,397th victory of Ouzts' career, breaking a tie with retired jockey David Gall (7,396 career wins).

Ouzts, 69, began his riding career in 1973, the year Secretariat won the Triple Crown, scoring his first victory in March of that year at defunct Beulah Park near Columbus, Ohio. He won 11 riding titles at Beulah and 18 at River Downs, the Cincinnati track that's been replaced by Belterra.

“I'm gonna ride this train 'til they throw me off,” Ouzts said in the Hennegan Brothers documentary “Ironman.”

The winningest rider in North American Thoroughbred racing history is Russell Baze (retired) at 12,842 wins. He is followed by Laffit Pincay, Jr. (9,530), William Shoemaker (8,833), and Pat Day (8,803).

Ouzts is the winningest active rider in North American racing, and is one of three among the 10 winningest riders to not be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The others are Gall (who rode at Fairmount Park in Illinois) and Pino (who rode primarily in the Mid-Atlantic).

The remainder of the top 10 is as follows: David Gall (7,396); Chris McCarron (7,141); Edgar Prado (7,119); Angel Cordero Jr. (7,057); and Mario Pino (7,001).

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Forte Retains Top Spot In Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings; Proxy Joins Top 10

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's 3-year-old Forte held onto the No. 1 position for the second straight week in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings, while the first five spots in the poll remained the same. The Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings are a weekly rating of the top 10 horses in contention for the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), which will be run Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.

Forte, recent winner of the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) for trainer Todd Pletcher, received 294 votes, including 19 first place votes. C Two Racing Stable and Antonio Pagnano's 4-year-old White Abarrio, dominant winner of the Whitney Stakes (G1), is in second place with 226 votes.

Pin Oak Stud LLC's Geaux Rocket Ride, winner of the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1), is third with 222 votes. Mage, who won the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), is fourth with 211 votes, and Blue Rose Farm's Arcangelo, the Belmont Stakes (G1) winner, is fifth with 193 votes.

Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman's Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes (G1) winner Defunded is sixth with 109 votes. Lucky Seven Stable's Rattle N Roll, runner-up in the Stephen Foster Stakes (G1), is seventh with 106 votes.

Jeff Drown's 4-year-old Zandon, who finished second in the Whitney, ranks eighth with 71 votes. Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector, who earlier this season won the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes presented by Baccarat (G1), is ninth with 66 votes.

Joining the top 10 for the first time is Godolphin's 5-year-old Proxy, winner of the Oaklawn Handicap (G2) and the July 22 Monmouth Cup Stakes (G3). Trained by Mike Stidham, Proxy is 10^th with 56 votes.

The Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings are determined by a panel of leading Thoroughbred racing media, horseplayers, and members of the Breeders' Cup Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel. Rankings will be announced each week through Oct. 10. A list of voting members can be found here.

In the Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings, each voter rates horses on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system in descending order.

Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings – Aug. 15, 2023*

Rank	Horse	Votes	First-Place Votes	Previous Week
1	Forte	294	19	1
2	White Abarrio	226	1	2
3	Geaux Rocket Ride	222	3	3
4	Mage	211	1	4
5	Arcangelo	193	1	5
6	Defunded	109	2	7
7	Rattle N Roll	106	3	8
8	Zandon	71	0	9
9	Art Collector	66	0	10
10	Proxy	56	0	11

Horses also receiving first-place votes this week were Ushba Tesoro (JPN) (2) and King of Steel (1).

*Note – The Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings have no bearing on qualification or selection into the Breeders' Cup Classic.

The 2023 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, which will be run at 1 1/4 miles on the main track at Santa Anita, is limited to 14 starters. The race will be broadcast live on NBC and Peacock.

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GISW and BC Runner-Up Smooth Like Strait to War Horse Place

Grade I winner Smooth Like Straight (Midnight Lute–Smooth as Usual, by Flower Alley), retired sound from racing in March, will stand in 2024 at War Horse Place near Lexington, where his fee will be $3,500 live foal. Blood-Horse was the first with the story.

A Cannon Thoroughbreds, LLC homebred trained by Michael McCarthy, Smooth Like Strait campaigned for five seasons and won five graded events, including the 2021 GI Shoemaker Mile S, the 2020 GII Twilight Derby, and the 2020 GII Mathis Brothers Mile S. He was also runner-up to Space Blues (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the 2021 Breeders' Cup Mile and placed in six other Grade I races. The 6-year-old retires with a record of 26-7-9-3 and earnings of $1,813,863.