Tag: Connections

Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: From Quarter Horses To Thoroughbreds, 17-Year-Old Herrera Is Off And Running

Several months ago, agent Derek Lawson told his new apprentice jockey he'd had a great idea for a double: the All-American Futurity and the Kentucky Derby, the premier races for Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds, respectively.

“At that time it was just blowing smoke, but now it doesn't seem as far-fetched,” Lawson said.

Diego Herrera, just 17 years old, was originally booked to ride 13 horses on Sunday, Jan. 2. He began the afternoon with the first turf win of his career at Santa Anita Park, taking a starter allowance race aboard Phil D'Amato trainee Solo Animo.

He ended the evening by picking up a 14th mount just 30 minutes prior to the Grade 1 Charger Bar Handicap at Los Alamitos. The apprentice easily guided Juan Aleman trainee Kiss Thru Fire to a half-length victory, earning the first graded stakes win of his career.

“It was pretty cool,” Herrera acknowledged. 

Though his official riding career began in 2021, Herrera has been involved in match racing since he was as young as 11. Prior to that, he and his pony “Sparky” would dream up match races on the beach near the family home in Inglewood, Calif. 

“I'd pretend that somebody else was running against me, I'd run him about 10 yards, then stop him and turn him back and do it again,” Herrera remembered. “He was the sweetest pony ever, just let me do whatever with him, and he was pretty fast, too!”

Diego Herrera and “Sparky” (photo provided)

That's not to say that Sparky didn't enter his fair share of match races, too, some right along the river bed where Herrera had learned to ride.

“Match racing is a part of the Mexican culture,” Herrera explained. “ Wherever we can race a horse against a horse, we do it!”

Diego Herrera and Sparky win a match race (photo provided)

If he wasn't riding Sparky, a young Herrera was practicing his form atop a bale of hay, or following his father around on jobs with his landscaping business with the hope that they'd be able to stop at the racetrack on their way home.

“I never wanted to be home,” he said. “When I was four years old, I'd hear my dad wake up and go to put on my little boots and want to go to work with him.”

Herrera's father, from Agua Caliente in Mexico, worked cattle aboard horses on his family farm, and since moving to the U.S. has owned racing Quarter Horses for years. When his son was old enough, the family traveled as far away as Washington and Colorado so that he could ride in the match races.

Since school was important to Herrera's mother, he committed to finishing his high school diploma at the charter school of Lennox Academy. The arrival of the pandemic in early 2020 made it a bit easier for Herrera to get a job on the racetrack in the mornings, then head home to complete his online studies.

“My parents both busted their bum to give me a better life,” said Herrera. “I knew I needed to respect that.”

Continuing his education even while working at the track and riding as many as two tracks in one day, Herrera earned his diploma last month. 

Meanwhile, his racetrack education had continued at Los Alamitos under the tutelage of the Andrade family, first as a hotwalker and a groom, and eventually as an exercise rider. Oscar Andrade Sr. was once a rising superstar in the Quarter Horse jockey ranks, setting a record that still stands when he rode seven winners during a single night at Los Alamitos on June 5, 2001.

Sadly, tragedy struck just months later when Andrade Sr. was paralyzed from the chest down in a racing accident. His wife, Elena, began training in 2004, and they've remained major players in the Quarter Horse industry in Southern California. 

“I owe a lot to them,” Herrera said. “They taught me that you never stop learning in this business, and that every horse is different every single day. They taught me the discipline, and that you have to be open to learn new things and never stop learning.”

April Ward, longtime assistant to Hall of Fame (Thoroughbred) trainer Bob Wheeler, has been with Herrera from the beginning of his professional career and books all his Quarter Horse mounts. However, Los Alamitos racing director Scott Craigmyle suggested the young jockey try Thoroughbreds, as well, and introduced Herrera to agent Vince DeGregory, a legend in his own right. The pair began making the rounds at Santa Anita Park.

“I just fell in love with the place,” Herrera said.

DeGregory helped Herrera get his first mount on Thoroughbreds, and though Herrera is now represented by Lawson, he'll never forget the influence of the older horseman. DeGregory's resume includes jockeys like Angel Cordero Jr., Chris McCarron, Laffit Pincay Jr., Bill Shoemaker, Alex Solis, Jacinto Vasquez and Jorge Velasquez, in addition to Victor Espinoza, Darrel McHargue and Joel Rosario.

“He told me never to put myself below these other riders,” said Herrera. “We all go out and do the same thing, and we're all in the same game, so I should always be confident in myself.”

Herrera quickly learned how much he enjoyed the strategy that is such a crucial part of the Thoroughbred game.

“In Quarter Horse races you get a clean break and you go on with it,” he explained. “The Thoroughbreds are so different, with different strategies and techniques, so I think that's one of the big reasons I like it so much. I get the same adrenaline rush going 300 yards as I do turning into the stretch in the longer races.”

In 2021, Herrera rode 44 Thoroughbred winners from 376 starters, as well as 25 Quarter Horse winners from 198 mounts, according to Equibase. He plans to keep up with both breeds for the time being, letting Ward work out the scheduling with Lawson.

“Most people are surprised when I tell them he's only 17 years old,” Lawson said. “His work ethic is impeccable, and the fact that he pays attention to what he's told when working the horses in the morning and in the afternoon is impressive. It's refreshing to see that kind of development in somebody so young.”

“I just want to keep doing what I'm doing, become a better and smarter rider, then hopefully after the bug is gone (in April) I can stay at Santa Anita and continue to be successful,” said Herrera. “I have to be on my A-game, and make sure my mentality is right every time I walk out of the jock's room. I may ride a lot of longshots, but I try to be very confident in my horse and in everyone behind the scenes.”

Diego Herrera rides Solo Animo to victory in a starter allowance race at Santa Anita on Jan. 2, 2022

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: ‘I Was Born For This’

John Hiraldo began learning how to ride horses just three short years ago, but today the 20-year-old is a leading candidate for the Eclipse Award as North America's outstanding apprentice jockey of 2021. 

The Puerto Rican-born Hiraldo had always wanted to be a jockey like his father, cousin, and uncle, but his mother took a firm stand on him finishing school and trying other sports before he committed to a life on the racetrack. 

“My mom tried to keep me in school and other sports; she tried her best for me to do something different,” Hiraldo said. “I'd always tell her, 'Mom, I was born for this.' 

“Now that I'm riding full-time, she's honestly my biggest fan! She records all the races, and she tells me, 'I watch 'em all, scared, I can't just sit back and not watch.' The only time she closes her eyes is when I'm at the top of the stretch and I hook up with another rider, because she doesn't want me to lose that battle to the wire!”

Hiraldo came to the U.S. mainland in 2018 to begin riding, spending time in Maryland learning how to exercise racehorses and in South Carolina, breaking babies at the Elloree Training Center. When Hiraldo returned to Maryland, he got a job working for trainer Brittany Russell. She and her husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, were instrumental in Hiraldo's continuing education.

“Thanks to her I started breezing horses, working horses out of the gate, and got my gate card,” Hiraldo relayed. “My agent asked Brittany if I was ready in November, and she said, 'Not quite yet.' When Sheldon said I was good, that's when she kind of fired me! The next day I just started walking around with my agent. I was booked to ride my first horse on Friday, and then I picked up a mount on that Thursday. 

“It was nerve-wracking, and I was definitely anxious, because honestly it was the day I was most waiting for in my life. That first race was different; I never thought I would experience something like that [being nervous]. But when I broke, it was like the most relaxing moment of my life. I was like, 'Okay, I'm here.' That was the moment I was waiting for. When I crossed the wire, I said, 'I wanna do this for the rest of my life.'”

From his first mount on Dec. 10, 2020, it took until New Year's Eve for Hiraldo to make his way to the winner's circle. As is so often the case on the racetrack, that day didn't pan out the way he'd planned it.

“All week I was looking forward to that day, because I was riding a 1-9 shot in the third race and everyone kept telling me she couldn't lose,” said Hiraldo. “Then she stumbled out of the gate, I lost my irons, and we ran third. I was so frustrated, beating myself up and wondering if I was even any good at this. I wanted to just go home, because my last horse was a 30-1 shot.”

Hiraldo bounced back and overcame the frustration to swing his leg over that longshot, and the young jockey is so glad he did.

“He comes out running, so I broke and I just sat off the lead,” he remembered. “I waited, waited, waited, then I asked him and he just took off. Without me knowing what the key to winning is, I just did it. It was patience.”

Flat Rate gives John Hiraldo his first career win at odds of 33-1

Flat Rate paid $69.80 to win, giving Hiraldo the first winner of his career.

“It's something very special, unbelievable really. I can't believe it,” Hiraldo told the Maryland Jockey Club media office from the winner's circle. “I'm very happy. I have to thank God for always watching over me and all the other riders. I'm just very happy. I've worked so hard for this moment and I've dreamed about it since I was a little kid. It's something very special for me.”

Over the ensuing year, Hiraldo worked hard to find as many mounts as possible, riding at up to three tracks in a single day. 

In one week, for example, he rode at Parx on Monday and Tuesday; at Colonial on Wednesday; at Delaware Park and Charles Town on Thursday; at Laurel, Delaware, and Charles Town on Friday; at Delaware and Penn National on Saturday; and at Laurel on Sunday.

He has gotten a lot of advice from his cousin, Angel Cruz (an Eclipse Award finalist for outstanding apprentice in 2014), and his uncle, Luis Batista, as well as some of the other riders on the Midatlantic circuit, like Xavier Perez and Victor Carrasco.

“I got a lot of experience, and it helped me to mature more in the game,” said Hiraldo. “Riding different surfaces against good jocks helped me to learn to ride over a lot of different racetracks.”

He celebrated his first stakes win on Oct. 13, winning the Clay Creek Stakes at Delaware Park aboard Red Hot Mess. The filly is trained by Hiraldo's girlfriend, Chelsey Moysey, for whom the win was also a first in stakes company.

“That was pretty cool,” Hiraldo said. “First for both.”

Hiraldo won 81 races in 2021, riding across the Midatlantic region for most of the year and at Oaklawn Park during the month of December. His major competitor for an Eclipse Award appears to be California-based Jessica Pyfer with 56 victories; her earnings of $2.7 million bested Hiraldo's $2.1 million.

While it's only been three years since he first got into the irons, and the race for the Eclipse is over (voting closes on Jan. 10), Hiraldo is just getting started. He'll keep his “bug,” the weight allowance granted to apprentice riders, through April, and hopes that his alliance with Oaklawn-based agent Jay Fedor will lead to a productive meet. So far, he's ridden five winners from 39 starters at the Hot Springs, Ark., track.

“I just want to make a name for myself here,” Hiraldo said. “The dream is to be in New York or Kentucky, so I've got to keep riding a lot of races, learning, and trying to win!”

Chelsey Moysey and John Hiraldo after their stakes win at Delaware Park

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: From Show Jumpers To Racehorses, Hall Of Famer Knows How To Spot A Good One

The path to a career as a Thoroughbred trainer can take many forms.

For some, it starts with a love of racing—perhaps a parent who imparts their passion for the game onto their child from an early age. For others, it might start with a job on the backstretch, working as a hot walker or a groom—if you work long enough, you can usually find a mentor willing to detail the finer points of the sport.

But for trainers like Rodney Jenkins, the desire to race is an expression of a larger career trajectory that began in the show ring and ends at the racetrack.

“I always liked racing when I was younger but since I rode show horses, I was just a little too heavy to ride a racehorse,” joked Jenkins. “But I love racehorses, they're beautiful animals and to be honest, that's why I went back to training.”

As modestly as he mentions his show jumping career, Jenkins was anything but the typical rider on the competitive circuit. Born in Middleburg, Va., Jenkins first began riding with his father, Enis, an avid huntsman and active with several fox hunting groups.

Jenkins' first professional foray into show jumping came when he was 17. While showing remained his central focus, he dabbled in racehorse training on the side.

Beginning in the late 1960s, Jenkins established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the show ring. His most famous mount was Idle Dice, a former Thoroughbred racehorse whose second career would more than eclipse his modest record on the track.

Together, the pair would win the Grands Prix at New York, Devon, Detroit, and Cleveland; the President's Cup in 1971 and 1972; and the Grand Prix Horse of the Year in 1977, among many other accolades. Idle Dice was the first horse inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1987.

The most decorated rider in the history of U.S. show jumping, Jenkins himself was inducted into the Show Jumping Hall of Fame in 1999. In total, he won a record 70 Grand Prix-level competitions before retiring in 1989.

When he show jumping career came to an end, Jenkins decided it was time to pivot his career back to racing. In 1991, he struck out on his own, training primarily in the Mid-Atlantic area where he remains today.

“I started training steeplechasers first and the only reason I really did that was because they were jumpers,” said Jenkins. “I really enjoyed it but as far as the business goes, I knew that racing on the flat was where the business was. There is so much more opportunity to do that.

“While I was doing steeplechase, I was running a few horses on the flat at the same time. After a while, I got a couple more horses running on the track, so I just began to gravitate away and do only that.”

For Jenkins, the challenge of training racehorses comes in the observation. While he admires their natural speed and athleticism, he admits that working with show jumpers was an easier transition for his skills as a horseman.

“For me it was a little bit different moving only to racing because show horses, when you ride, they will show you what kind of ability they have,” said Jenkins. “With racehorses, you have to go a lot by breeding and really pay attention to the way they move. Show horses were always easier because I could jump them myself, and I felt like I knew what it took for a horse to be a good show horse.”

Thirty years after he made the decision to train Thoroughbreds full time, 77-year-old Jenkins remains as enamored with the horses and the game as ever. Based out of Laurel Park, he has logged 927 victories from 4,573 starts to date with just over $24 million in purse earnings.

Currently, Jenkins has 17 horses in training in his barn, but continues to shop the sales for his clients each year, buying yearlings and breaking 2-year-olds—many of them Maryland-breds—ahead of starting them on the track.

Among his current contingent is his most successful trainee, Cordmaker, who most recently captured the Richard W. Small Stakes on Nov. 27 at Laurel Park. With $734,640 in purses and an 11-4-7 record from 33 starts, the 6-year-old son of Curlin has more than proven himself to Jenkins.

“It's been a thrill to see him do well,” said Jenkins. “He was a slow comer, but he's really turned it around and turned into a really nice horse. We haven't thought about what he'll do in 2022 yet. We have a race (Robert T. Manfuso Stakes) coming up next Sunday at Laurel Park, so we will run him there and then see what happens after that. We have quite a bit to look forward to.”

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Younger McGaughey ‘Has A Real Passion’ For The Horses

Less than two full years after striking out on his own, trainer Reeve McGaughey is keeping the family name alive and well by sending his first graded stakes winner across the wire at Aqueduct Racetrack.

A homebred for Gainesway Stable (Antony Beck) and Andrew Rosen, 3-year-old Bees and Honey (by Union Rags) sailed clear of her rivals by 2 3/4 lengths in the Comely Stakes (G3) on Nov. 26. The victory—while not entirely unexpected by McGaughey—helped end the month on a high note for the young trainer whose budding stable is already revving up for more in 2022.

“Going into the race everyone was pretty confident because she was doing well,” said McGaughey. “We had a good feeling that she would like the distance and the racetrack. The way the race shaped up it looked like we had a chance to get black type on her and we would see what happened from there.

“It was fun, but it was almost a little bit of a relief. I certainly enjoyed it. Hopefully, there will be more wins behind it, but it was really nice to get that one.”

From an early age, there was never any real doubt that McGaughey would choose a career that led him too far from the backside. The son of Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey and the nephew of Charlie LoPresti, who trained two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan, McGaughey's life has always been inextricably tied to Thoroughbred racing.

“He is my nephew, but in the years he worked for me I don't think I had anybody that worked as hard in the barn as he did,” said LoPresti, for whom McGaughey worked as an assistant for five years. “He has a real passion for it. All the help respected him so much because he is the first one to jump in and helped. He's an incredible horseman and I was proud for him to be with me. He was like my right and left arms to tell the truth.”

After leaving LoPresti, McGaughey worked in his father Shug's barn until 2020. His decision to strike out on his own came within months of the announcement that LoPresti would retire from racing after almost 30 years—a move that would prove fortuitous for both uncle and nephew.

“It worked out well when I retired that he wanted to go out on his own, so he took most of everything that was in my barn,” said LoPresti. “The horses went, and the help went too because they respected him so much.

“His dad being a Hall of Fame trainer gave him a lot of advice, but I think the advice I had for him was to not get too big and to really concentrate on the horses. But I didn't need to tell him that. He's a hands-on horseman. That's the way he is and the way he's always been. It was a perfect fit and we're so proud of what he's accomplished.”

McGaughey's first win came July 25, 2020, when Nathan Detroit (Union Rags) broke his maiden on debut at Ellis Park. The horse was bred and owned by Joe Allen, a client of his father.

“A good portion of my clients are ones I knew from working with my dad who have also been clients of his, but I also work for a fair amount of people I didn't have a previous relationship with until I started out,” said McGaughey, who continues to build out his stable. “A couple people I work the sales for and a few just send me the horses that they have. It's a mix.”

These days, McGaughey has 25 horses in his barn split between Kentucky and Florida. Ten of those horses currently reside at Tampa Bay Downs with his assistant, while the other 15 remain at Keeneland with him. His statistics through Dec. 17 stand at 24-23-23 from 172 starts with $1,188.054 in earnings.

While Bees and Honey might be his only stakes winner to date, McGaughey feels he has plenty of promising runners to keep him busy on and off the track in the coming months. While he's happy to revel in his recent success, he has no plans to rest on his laurels.

“We have a nice 3-year-old filly who will turn 4 named Texas Shuffle (War Front). We've also got a 3-year-old turning 4 named Charles Chrome (California Chrome), he's stakes-placed and he's coming back off a freshening this winter. He's just now starting back. We also have a few young ones that haven't run yet that we're just getting going with, but they look like they'll have talent.”

“He (Reeve) knows how hard the game is. It has its ups and downs,” said LoPresti. “He's had some tough times and now he's having good times but that is the way the business is. He knows the game because he's been around it since he was a little boy, so he knows how it all works.”

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