Paula Bacon was thrilled to go along for the ride as her jockey, Antonio Gallardo, pursued a title this past summer in his first season at Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va.
As the chase progressed, with Gallardo also maintaining his customary business at Presque Isle Downs in Erie Pa., Bacon marveled at his ability to stay focused and strong while riding six days a week and making the 7-to-8-hour round trip two days a week for eight consecutive weeks.
“His work ethic is just amazing. Antonio has the will of a lion,” the veteran agent said after being informed of Gallardo's selection as the Boot Barn Jockey of the Month. “He's a guy who just wants to push and push and push and push. That schedule is something you'd expect a 24-year-old jockey to do.”
The 36-year-old product of Jerez de la Frontera in Cadiz, Spain rode 34 winners at Colonial Downs, six more than runner-up Mychel Sanchez. Gallardo finished second at Presque Isle Downs (a track where he has won four titles) with 85 winners, trailing only Bacon “stablemate” Pablo Morales.
During the Colonial Downs meet, which ran from July 13-Sept. 9, Gallardo mostly rode Presque Isle Downs races Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Bacon picked him up outside the jockeys' room Wednesday night for the haul to Colonial.
“He would drive the first 4 hours, then I'd drive the next 4 while he slept,” Bacon said. “Then he'd get up to work a couple of horses at 6 a.m. Thursday at Colonial.”
Following Saturday's Colonial cards, they returned to Presque Isle Sunday to refresh as much as possible for the next three days of racing there.
“It was taxing, but he didn't complain once,” Bacon. “It takes a special kind of drive to do that. And winning the title at Colonial, to walk in there without any business from the East Coast and walk out leading jockey – it was a real testament to his ability to make things happen.”
Gallardo is second in the Tampa Bay Downs standings with eight winners, trailing only runaway leader Samy Camacho with 20.
Tampa Bay Downs fans fortunate enough to observe Gallardo's climb from a struggling jockey who won less than 9 percent of his starts in the United States from 2009-2012 to a polished, dependable jockey capable of competing on all stages, are delighted to keep cheering him on.
His expressions and his body language fuel his backers' passion and bespeak his competitive fire, which helped him in winning five Oldsmar riding titles and setting the track's single-season mark in 2014-2015 with 147 winners.
“I'm always looking to do better. All the time, I always think that way,” said Gallardo, who won today's ninth race on the turf on 2-year-old filly With Feeling for owners Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Steven Rocco and trainer Kevin Rice. “I'm not the kind of jockey who, if I'm doing good, wants to just stay that way. I'm always (hungry).”
With 2,489 career winners stateside, Gallardo is approaching a significant milestone. But 2,500 won't quell his ambition. And although his goals are as to be expected –win as many races as he can, possibly challenge for another Oldsmar title, stay healthy – he will also seek to extend his current streak of riding at least one graded-stakes winner to nine years in a row in 2024.
His lone graded victory in 2023 came on 3-year-old filly Mission of Joy for trainer H. Graham Motion in the Grade 3 Florida Oaks on the turf here in March.
“Trainers give me good opportunities, but I don't have as many as some jockeys,” he said. “When you get those opportunities, you have to do everything right.”
That's why they call it the big leagues – a fitting backdrop for Gallardo's skill and artistry.
The post ‘Will Of A Lion’: Antonio Gallardo Was Successful With Grueling Schedule In 2023 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Saturday's card at Aqueduct Racetrack will feature a Pick 6 carryover of $32,471 after the multi-race wager went unsolved on Friday's eight-race program.
The $1 Pick 6 returned $1,081 to bettors who selected 5-of-6 winners correctly.
Friday's sequence began in Race 3 with the Junior Alvarado-piloted Nova Rags [No. 3, $6.30*] taking a six-furlong optional claimer for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. In Race 4, Manny Franco engineered a winning trip aboard the Christophe Clement-trained Voleuse [No. 8, $3.70*] in a seven-furlong maiden claimer.
Race 5 saw the largest upset in the sequence as apprentice rider Elijah Greenidge guided Prince of Joy [No. 6, $129.50] to victory in a one-mile $12,500 claiming tilt for conditioner Ricardo Legall, giving Greenidge his first career Big A victory.
Rayya Valentine [No. 4, $12.80] followed in Race 6 with a fourth-out graduation in a one-mile maiden with Hall of Famer Javier Castellano in the irons for trainer Chad Summers. In Race 7, Mott scored his second win on the card with the Jose Lezcano-piloted Elysian Meadows [No. 9, $9.80] in a six-furlong optional claimer for New York-breds.
With the carryover already ensured, Clover Street [No. 6, $26.80] captured Race 8, a seven-furlong allowance for New York-bred fillies and mares, with Trevor McCarthy up for trainer Mark Hennig.
Saturday's Pick 6 begins in Race 5 and features the $500,000 NYSSS Fifth Avenue in Race 8 and the $500,000 Great White Way in Race 9. First post on the 10-race card is 11:50 a.m. Eastern.
America's Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the fall meet at Aqueduct Racetrack on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule.
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Trainer Michael Maker has no worries about Saturday's wet-weather forecast at Gulfstream Park, where he will saddle Value Engineering for a title defense in the $100,000 H. Allen Jerkens Handicap.
Maker will go into the two-mile stakes for 3-year-olds and up with confidence that Michael Hui and Phil Forte's Value Engineering will show up whether the race named in memory of the beloved Hall of Fame trainer is run on Tapeta or turf, as scheduled.
“He did OK on [Tapeta] last time,” Maker said.
Value Engineering did a lot better than OK when he captured last year's Jerkens after it was transferred to Gulfstream's all-weather surface from turf. Making his first start for his current connections after being bought for $35,000 at the 2022 Keeneland November sale, the son of Lemon Drop Kid made his all-weather debut in the Jerkens, rallying from off the pace to score by three-quarters of a length.
The prospect of running again over Gulfstream's all-weather course seems highly likely due to weather. He prepped for the Jerkens over Turfway Park's Tapeta track Nov. 30, finishing seventh in a mile optional claiming allowance in his first race since finishing off the board the May 13 Man o' War at Belmont.
“Last time, he had a horrible post and I think the mile was too short for him,” Maker said. “But we wanted the race to prepare for this one.”
Value Engineering showed his versatility last season at Gulfstream not only by winning the Jerkens on Tapeta but in his subsequent turf starts, a second-place finish in the McKnight (G3) and a victory in the Mac Diarmida (G2).
Jose Ortiz, who hasn't ridden Value Engineering since his Mac Diarmida score, will be reunited with the 7-year-old gelding.
Hometown favorite Tyler Gaffalione is scheduled to ride for the first time during the Championship Meet Saturday, when he is named to ride Graham Motion-trained Swore in the Jerkens among his seven scheduled mounts. The Davie FL native, who won his first race in 2014 at Gulfstream, has become a dominant force in Kentucky, where he has won four titles between Keeneland and Churchill Downs this year.
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