Umberto Rispoli spent most of a week at Kentucky Downs last year in order to ride only two races that wound up five days apart. But even as he jogged around the 1 5/16-mile undulating turf course to keep his weight down, he knew he wanted to come back this year.
Rispoli finished 10th in his first start at Kentucky Downs, the Dueling Grounds Oaks, then five days later made the trip from California worth it financially by winning the $400,000 Music City Stakes aboard Lighthouse. The Music City was part of a card that moved from a Sunday to the following Tuesday because of torrential rain.
But Rispoli — who has ridden all over the world including being a champion rider in his native Italy and a Group 1 winner in Hong Kong — had already made up his mind that he wanted to return to the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs, the richest six days of racing in America and among the most lucrative in the world.
The FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs runs this coming Sunday, Labor Day Monday and Sept. 8, 9, 11 and 12. First post is 12:20 p.m. Central.
Rispoli admits he wasn't happy when some of his anticipated mounts for Kentucky Downs fell through.
“But it was going to be an experience for me, anyway,” he said. “Because I'd never been to Kentucky Downs and I know it's a class track and had a scenery like some of the tracks we have in Europe. So I was excited about it. I just saw some of their races on TV. I didn't know much about the track. I ran around the track to lose some weight, and it was a good time to check out the track. But definitely when you come home with a stakes in your pocket after five days, it was worth it and it was a good experience.
“I hope this time to have more races to ride and more horses with chances…. The agent is going to be very important there. There's a lot of money. They're going to be overfilled in every race probably. But I'm very excited to come back there. This time I hope to bring home some other big winners.”
Veteran jockey agent Scott McClellan said he's got Rispoli riding at Kentucky Downs for the final four days after their Del Mar base closes on Labor Day. His stakes business is expected to include Argentine-bred Belmont Gold Cup runner-up Fantasioso for trainer Ignacio Correas in the $1 million Calumet Turf Cup (G2) and Constantia for John Sadler in the $600,000 The Mint Ladies Sprint.
Rispoli is in his second full year of riding year-round in America. In that short period of time, he has stamped himself among the top few jockeys based in southern California. Rispoli currently ranks 14th in North American purse earnings for 2021 at more than $7 million, including his first and second Grade 1 victories in the United States aboard Smooth Like Strait in the Shoemaker Mile and Rock Your World in the RUNHAPPY Santa Anita Derby.
The jockey says he had no expectations coming into Kentucky Downs last year. The course catches a lot of people by surprise with its undulations, kidney shape and dog-legged stretch rather than American racing's standard flat oval.
“I just knew it was an up-and-down racecourse, which isn't common in the United States,” he said, adding of his close friend and fellow rider Flavien Prat, with whom Rispoli traveled from California last year: “We landed and go to visit the track right away. He turns into the street for the racetrack, and I said, 'Where are we going?' He said, 'This is the track.' I said, 'You're kidding! Well, it's going to be fun.'
“I wasn't disappointed at all. I was laughing. I said, 'OK, it looks like home.' In France sometimes you're driving for hours and you look on the side of the highway and you find the rails and you think, 'Wow, I can't believe there's a racetrack here.' So I wasn't that shocked. But it was funny to approach the track, just watching and seeing it for the first time.”
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