It has been a summer to remember for trainer Jamie Ness and jockey Jaime Rodriguez, who both reached career milestones and teamed up for the second time this year to lead the Laurel Park standings.
Laurel wrapped up its 33-day summer meet Sunday with Ness winning the training title, 27-22, over Brittany Russell, and Rodriguez outdistancing five-pound apprentice Axel Concepcion, 39-29, to finish as leading rider.
Ness and Rodriguez put an exclamation point on their meet with a Sunday hat trick – Madison Avenue Racing Stable Inc. and Jagger Inc.'s Liberty Star ($4.20) in Race 5, Double B Racing Stables' My Boy Colton ($7.20) in Race 6 and Morris Kernan Jr. and Jagger Inc.'s Borracho ($5.40) in Race 8. They also led Laurel's calendar year-opening winter stand.
Ness, 48, ranked second to Russell in purse earnings while winning his seventh training title in Maryland by recording at least one winner on 19 days and six with two or more. He also had three winners July 16 including Sing Scat, his 4,000th career victory, with Rodriguez aboard.
“We've been on a pretty good roll this summer,” said Ness, who also tops the trainer standings in wins at both Delaware Park and Parx. “It's hard to win on one front, but to win on three is really hard. We spread it out pretty equally. We've got good horses and we've got a good operation here in the Mid-Atlantic. We've got horses at all three tracks, and we've got Fair Hill and I've got my farm. We fine-tuned the infrastructure to the Mid-Atlantic region, and it seems to be getting a little bit better every year.”
Ness won at least one race at Laurel, Delaware, or Parx for 20 consecutive calendar days between June 30 and July 19. He ran third in a pair of Laurel stakes, the Deputed Testamony with Ournationonparade and Miss Disco with Rowsie's Express.
Ness is coming off a 2022 season where his horses earned a career-best $10.3 million in purses to go along with 326 wins, the fourth time he has topped the 300 mark including a personal best 395 in 2012. He ranked third in North America in wins in 2022 and 2021 (311) and fifth in 2020 (224). So far this year he has 202 wins and nearly $6.8 million in purses earned.
“Last year was our best, money-wise, and I didn't think we could surpass that,” Ness said. “We're ahead of schedule for this year. It's on to the next.”
Ness' Jagger Inc. – named for his late dog – and Kernan finished as the meet's leading owners with 10 wins. Jagger also won five races with Madison Avenue Racing and another four as sole owner.
“That's another part of my business. I own a percentage of most of my horses. I like that and my owners like that, and it works well for us,” Ness said. “If I'm vested in the horse, then they feel more comfortable being vested in the horse. I've got some really good partners and they're really good people and it's been working out for us.”
A South Dakota native that began his racing career in the media relations department at Canterbury Park in Minnesota, where he won his first race in August 1999. Now with 4,033 wins, he also earned No. 2,000 at Laurel with Caylee's Song Nov. 28, 2013.
“Maryland's been great to us. We've got a farm in Chesapeake City where we breed. We have 16 or 20 broodmares now, so we're vested heavily in the Maryland breeding program,” Ness said. “Most of our broodmares are horses that I trained and that's nice because I was able to retire them and keep them around. We're tweaking every year and we feel like we're getting better every year.”
Rodriguez, 32, also won on 19 of 33 days during Laurel's summer meet, 10 of them with two or more, including four June 25 and three June 23, July 3, 14, 16 and 22 and Aug. 12 in addition to Sunday. He was tops with more than $1.3 million in purse earnings, with 23 of his wins coming for Ness from 62 starters.
It is the second Maryland meet title for Rodriguez following Laurel's winter stand. Represented by agent John Weilbacher, he is also the two-time defending champion at Delaware where he currently has a two-win edge over Daniel Centeno.
Rodriguez placed in eight Laurel stakes this summer, running second in the Big Dreyfus on Atomic Blonde, Find (Crabs N Beer), Bald Eagle Derby (Ari Gold), Jameela (Spun Glass) and Concern (Coffeewithchris). He also ran third in the Caesar's Wish (Intrepid Daydream), Deputed Testamony (Ournationonparade) and Star de Naskra (Coffeewithchris).
“It's been awesome, amazing. We're having a great year,” Rodriguez said. “Thank God, he keeps me healthy, and my agent and everybody for giving me a chance, Ness and all the trainers and owners. To be the leading rider at two tracks, that's impressive.”
A native of Puerto Rico that tied a Laurel record with seven winners on a single card March 17, Rodriguez is in his second go-around in Maryland. After attending the famed Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school, he earned his first domestic victory May 5, 2010 on East to Eden at Belmont Park. He rode primarily at Aqueduct and Belmont before relocating to Finger Lakes in 2012, dominating the standings. Rodriguez also spent time at Mahoning Valley before moving his tack to the Mid-Atlantic in 2020.
Rodriguez enjoyed his best season ever in 2022, with career highs in wins (243) and purse earnings ($7.5 million) from 982 mounts, ranking seventh among North American riders in victories. He has 147 wins and more than $5 million in purses earned this year, with his milestone 2,000th winner coming June 15 at Delaware aboard Strugar.
Following the Maryland State Fair Meet in Timonium which opens Aug. 25, the Maryland Jockey Club will resume live racing with its boutique nine-day fall stand at Pimlico Race Course beginning Sept. 8.
The post Ness, Rodriguez Take Respective Trainer, Jockey Titles At Laurel Summer Meet appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
