Albin Jimenez | Horse Racing Free Tips

Introduced Best In Incredible Revenge At Monmouth

It took a little longer than he might have preferred but trainer Jorge Duarte, Jr. has finally figured out the key to bringing out the best in Introduced, his talented 5-year-old mare.

Kept calm in pre-race for the second straight start, Introduced surged to a three-quarter length victory in Saturday's $100,000 Incredible Revenge Stakes at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., adding a grass stakes victory to the stakes win she earned in the slop in the Smart N Fancy at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., a year ago.

Kept just off the early speed duel between Running Memories and Miss Auramet, the race favorite, Introduced rallied past both in mid-stretch to post her second straight victory on the grass and eighth overall from 19 career starts.

In recent losses, Duarte has said Introduced often lost races before they were even run because of how high-strung and nervous she can get. But a new routine of having a pony accompany her to the paddock has seemed to keep the Maryland-bred daughter of El Padrino from getting overly worked up.

“I think we did a good job keeping her calm before the race,” said Duarte, who won both grass sprints on the card and is now 9-for-20 at the meet. “That has always been the biggest battle with her. She helped us because she didn't get too fired up. She was better pre-race today.

“We did the same thing as we did last race (a nose victory over Miss Auramet in an allowance at Monmouth on July 23) with the paddock routine and bringing her over with the pony and she was fine. I felt good when I put the tack on her. Everything was smooth. She has really been running big lately. I'm very pleased with her right now.”

Introduced's winning time for the 5½ furlongs over a firm turf course was 1:02.50.

Running Memories, who set the early fractions of :22.20 and :44.51, held on for second, one length ahead of Miss Auramet.

Owned by Colts Neck Stables and ridden by Albin Jimenez, Introduced paid $10.60 to win.

“My first time riding her, though I breezed her a couple of times. She's a nice filly,” said Jimenez. “I got a beautiful trip right behind the speed. Jorge told me there would be speed inside of her so just break and see where she is and take it from there. It could not have worked out any better. I had a nice, beautiful position. She's a very nice filly. I can tell that after riding her one time.”

Introduced now has five wins from 15 career grass starts. The $60,000 winner's share boosted her career earnings to $384,801.

Racing resumes at Monmouth Park on Sunday, with the $100,000 Jersey Shore Stakes headlining an 11-race card. The popular Jersey Shore Food Truck Festival will also wrap up its second day then.

First race post time is 12:15 p.m. Parking and admission are free.

The post Introduced Best In Incredible Revenge At Monmouth appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Chasing Artie Gets Another Stakes Win In My Frenchman

Chances are Chasing Artie won't be available in a $15,000 claimer again any time soon.

The Wesley Ward-trained gelding, dropped into a $15,000 maiden claimer to start the year, improved to 3-for-3 in turf sprints and notched his second stakes win in four months, using a ground-saving trip to score a neck victory in Sunday's $75,000 My Frenchman Stakes at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J.

Ridden by Albin Jimenez, who was filling in for injured scheduled rider Hector Diaz Jr., Chasing Artie sat off the flanks of the pace-setting Momos and then sped through an opening along the rail coming out of the turn in the 5½-furlong turf dash.

He surged past Momos and then held off three late-runners to record his third victory in six career starts. Momos held for second, a length ahead of Arzak.

The winning time was 1:03.87 over a turf course listed as yielding. There were no early fractions recorded because of the “about” distance with the rail set at 12 feet.

“It was a good surprise to pick up this mount,” said Jimenez. “I was at home and I got a call from my agent who said 'you're riding Wesley Ward's horse in the feature race.' I said 'great. Let's get the money.'

“I was in great position chasing the speed. Wesley told me to break and just sit there. He said if I could get outside and find a lane it would be better. But I got a beautiful trip on the rail and it opened up for me coming out of the turn.”

Sent off as the favorite in the field of seven 3-year-olds, Chasing Artie returned $4.60 to win. The son of We Miss Artie-Frisky Kitten by Kitten's Joy boosted his career earnings to $143,027 for owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey.

On April 2, he won the Palisades Turf Sprint at Keeneland. After racing just once at 2 and finishing seventh in a Maiden Special Weight race at Gulfstream, Ward dropped Chasing Artie into a $15,000 maiden claimer at Turfway to start his 2021 campaign. He finished second in that 6 ½-furlong race, beaten a neck. He has won three of four since then.

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Jose Santos Revolutionizing Jockey Agent’s Role

Jose Santos became famous for winning races as a jockey. His son wants to become famous for winning races as a jockey agent.

The winning formula for Jose “Joe” Santos Jr. is to try and revolutionize the profession through strength in numbers, eventually creating a corporate-like business model.

Santos, 26, represents five riders at four tracks. The bulky roster briefly reached six earlier this year and included two for most of the Oaklawn meet in David Cabrera, its second-leading rider in 2018 who is headed toward another runner-up finish in 2021, and Ken Tohill, a veteran approaching 4,000 career victories. Tohill won nine races in Hot Springs before recently departing for Prairie Meadows in Iowa. Santos also books mounts for Miguel Mena and Albin Jimenez at Churchill Downs in Kentucky, Reylu Gutierrez at Lone Star Park in Texas and Freddy Manrrique at Will Rogers Downs in Oklahoma.

“I would say it's abnormal to have a jockey on four or five different circuits,” Santos said.

Under Arkansas rules, agents can represent as many as two journeymen and one apprentice rider during the Oaklawn meeting. Some Oaklawn-based agents do have riders in multiple jurisdictions, with Bobby Dean, for example, representing two-time local champion Terry Thompson and newcomer Elvin Gonzalez this year in Hot Springs and Glenn Corbett at Turf Paradise in Arizona.

But five riders in four states?

“My deal is I worked at Turf Paradise for 15 years,” said Dean, an agent since the fall of 1997. “I mean, I know everybody. I had Glenn Corbett all those years. It's not like I'm down there with a kid somebody might not know. I'm down there with a guy that's been there, so I'm barely skirting the line. (Santos) is sharp enough to do it. But I'm old school. I'm still here early. I guess as the long as the jocks keep going for it, it will be good.”

Santos, whose father retired with more than 4,000 victories and was a 2007 inductee into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, said he has been eying a mass-representation/multi-jurisdiction concept for some time, adding COVID-19 restrictions “kind of forced it,” with everything moving online last spring.

“I wanted to start an agency, myself,” Santos said. “The only way to do that is to prove that is I can do it on my own at first. Once I get enough traction and business going, I think it's been heading in the right direction, we can expand it from there and get some people hired on eventually.”

Santos began his career as an agent in December 2013, initially representing Aldo Canchano, then Didiel Osorio in February 2014. Santos had Cabrera, Israel Rodriguez and apprentice Luis Fuentes to open the 2019 Oaklawn meeting before landing the nationally prominent Mena that spring. Santos essentially flew solo with Mena for approximately a year before adding Declan Carroll in April 2020, reuniting with Cabrera in May 2020, picking up Jimenez in November, Gutierrez and Tohill around New Year's Day and Manrrique for the Will Rogers meet that began in late March. Santos and Mena rekindled their business relationship in April. Santos no longer represents Tohill and Carroll, leaving the agent to juggle just five riders in late April.

“Santos, he's sharp,” Dean said. “If anybody can handle it, it's Santos.”

Santos spent much of early 2020 in Hot Springs (his girlfriend, youthful stakes-winning owner Carson McCord, is a resident), but agents were unable to beat the backside at tracks like Oaklawn, and later Churchill Downs, because of COVID-19 restrictions that barred them from the barn area. The racing office became off limits, too. Armed with a computer, condition books and cell phone, Santos began conducting business from home, entering by phone and watching post position draws through Zoom conference calls, again related to COVID-19 restrictions.

“This is kind of been a goal for a while,” said Santos, who also has represented Eclipse Award-winning apprentice Tyler Baze. “Just didn't know how to make it work. I kind of always thought the only way that it was going to be able to work was to hire other people on, do the charting, and have them do all the ground work. Like I said, with COVID happening, it worked out to where I was able to do it.”

So far, so good.

Santos' riding roster has collected more than 120 victories and $5 million in purse money this year. Agents normally receive around 25 to 30 percent of a jockey's total earnings.

“You work hard when you're young to not have to when you're older, right?” Santos said. “Ultimately, the goal would be to own an agency at some point in my life and have other agents work for me and just get a percent off of that, based off tying up the connections, to where I don't have to do any of this bookwork anymore. But that's years, years, years down the line.”

Santos was profiled by Fox Sports recently.

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Two Indiana Grand Jockeys Transported to Hospital After Spill

Three jockeys, Agustin Gomez, Albin Jimenez and Joe Ramos, were involved in a racing incident just after the start of the fourth race at Indiana Grand Wednesday, June 17. As a result, Jimenez and Gomez were each transported to IU Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis with non-life-threatening injuries for further evaluation. Ramos walked back to the jockey’s quarters following inspection by on-track medical personnel.

Lichita, ridden by Agustin Gomez, fell after clipping heels along the inside rail, unseating Gomez. The incident caused a chain reaction with Ramos being unseated from Five Pics Please and Jimenez being unseated aboard Prettyhappy. Both Five Pics Please and Prettyhappy galloped out. Lichita walked onto the horse transport and was taken to the receiving barn for further care and inspection by track veterinarians.

The Indiana Horse Racing Commission Board of Stewards will continue to review the incident.

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