Earlier in January, jockey Aubrie Green moved her tack back to Fair Grounds from Tampa Bay Downs. She made her first mount a winning one on Friday Jan. 13. Soon after she returned to the winner's circle on Friday Jan. 20. Nine mounts in, she is 2-1-1, and her horses have been outrunning their odds.
First it was Powderhorn Racing's Zion, winning at 17-1 for trainer Nathan Hatcher on Jan. 13.
“I wasn't even supposed to ride the horse,” Green said. “Nathan (Hatcher) told me (Zion) hadn't been breaking well. He said, 'I want to put you on because I know you can break this horse hard and get him out of the gates.'”
That's exactly what Green did, breaking in third and maintaining that spot throughout to put Zion in position to run down Available Star and Coach Kenny in the stretch.
It was a similar story on Friday, Jan. 20, when Green took the reins of Fifteen Love Back for trainer Cesar Govea. She turned a horse who had been double-digit lengths back through the opening calls of both previous races at Fair Grounds into a well-positioned stalker, no more than four lengths behind through the early calls. Fifteen Love Back won at 12-1.
Riding professionally since 2015 and in the jockey colony at Fair Grounds since 2017, Green has impressed local connections and quickly became a fan favorite. In 2021-2022 she finished 11th in the jockey standings with 25 wins in 232 mounts, earning $717,275.
At Tampa, she rode two winners in 32 mounts but had six seconds and three thirds.
“Tampa was alright, a little slow,” Green said. “There were some really good riders, a big colony.
“My agent there, she wasn't on the grounds. So I decided to head back to (Fair Grounds). I'm sure I'll be riding for 'Bunky' (trainer Corale Richards) and Andrea Ali. I just talked with Shane Wilson and he said he would get with me. I'm just going to be hustling, getting on for everybody I can.”
Green's agent is the 1998 Fair Grounds' Hall of Fame inductee, Ronald Ardoin. Spanning a career where he won six riding titles at Fair Grounds, the retired jockey Ardoin won 5,226 races.
One of the Idaho-native's highest profile mounts on the Louisiana circuit came aboard Pound for Pound. Green won both the 2019 Louisiana Champions Day Classic and the 2021 Star Guitar Stakes aboard the Andrea Ali-trained horse who had over a half-million in career earnings.
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