Freddy Manrrique | Horse Racing Free Tips

Rowdy Rascal Best In Don C. McNeill Stakes At Remington Park

Rowdy Rascal was full of run Friday night, winning the $75,000 Don C. McNeill Stakes but his owners said that wasn't what he was full of when he was a foal.

“When he was two days old, he was all over his stall and his mother was beside herself,” said owner Theresa Moore of JT Stables of Springdale, Ark. “My dad saw him and said, 'Man, he's a rowdy rascal!' And there you have it.”

Even now, winning the Don McNeill and the $100,000 Oklahoma Classics Juvenile at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., trainer Boyd “Jobe” Caster says he isn't anywhere near his peak ability because of his rowdiness.

“If he ever takes racing seriously, no telling what he will be able to do,” said Caster. “He is what he is. This is still a game to him. He's so immature. But he should be a nice 3-year-old. He is what he is.”

What he is is a multiple stakes winner and jockey Freddy Manrrique and Caster put him in the category of a possible $400,000 Springboard Mile candidate at the end of the meet, Dec. 17.

“Mr. Caster thinks he is the best 2-year-old at Remington Park,” said Manrrique. “We work hard every morning. I was confident, but he is just a baby. I have to let him know I'm there if he needs me (during the race). He was getting out a little so I had to remind him.”

Rowdy Rascal, a juvenile gelding by Den's Legacy, out of the Affirmatif mare Dancing Diva, earned $45,000 for the victory and is showing the same kind of bloodlines his dam (mother) had.

“We campaigned the mom and she was a champion sprinter in Oklahoma,” said Moore. “We bred her to Den's Legacy to try to get more distance and he's showing it was a good idea.”

Rowdy Rascal covered the one mile in 1:40.38 over the fast track after sitting mid-pack throughout the first half-mile. He came flying on the outside at the top of the lane and gained a one-length lead quickly that turned into three lengths at the wire. He went off as the 7-5 betting favorite and paid $4.80 to win, $3 to place, and $2.40 to show.

Rowdy Rascal improved his record to six starts, three wins, and one second for a bankroll of $132,859. Showing his adolescent side, he didn't win the first race of his career until his fourth attempt, on Sept. 18 this meet at Remington Park. He has won three in a row, including that maiden victory, increasing his speed and endurance with each race. He ran second to Cuatro Madres in a maiden event here on Aug. 28, but Friday night, Rowdy Rascal beat that horse by three lengths. Cuatro Madres (2-1) got up for second, 4-1/4 lengths in front of third-place finisher Beckett's Luckyday (10-1).

The fractions for the race were :24.10 for the first quarter-mile, :48.97 for the half-mile, 1:14.34 for three-quarters of a mile, and 1:27.17 for seven-eighths of a mile.

The score for Rowdy Rascal gives his connections their first triumph in the Don McNeill Stakes. The race is named in honor of the late Don McNeill. The owner and breeder who was so prominent in Oklahoma-bred racing, represented by many talented horses including top Oklahoma-breds Clever Trevor and Mr. Ross, as well as 2011 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Caleb's Posse. McNeill passed in 2015.

Remington Park racing concludes this week with a Saturday night card of nine races. First post time is 7:07 pm Central.

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Rowdy Rascal Rallies Late To Take Oklahoma Classic Juvenile At Remington

Rowdy Rascal saved his best effort until the very end of the six-furlong $100,000 Oklahoma Classics Juvenile, presented by The Chickasaw Nation at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., getting up to victory in the final two strides to win by a head.

Owned by JT Stables of Springdale, Ark., and trained by Boyd “Jobe” Caster, Rowdy Rascal rallied under the ride of Freddy Manrrique. He made the Juvenile his second consecutive win, adding the stakes triumph to his maiden-breaking performance on Sept. 18.

Charming Oakie jumped out to the lead in the 13-horse Juvenile and deep into the stretch, appeared to be ready to collect a trophy. After fractions of :22.26 for a quarter-mile and :45:72 for the half-mile, Charming Oakie had a three-length advantage in mid-stretch. Only Rowdy Rascal had enough left to make a charge down the middle of the stretch, consuming massive real estate in the final yards to achieve success, hitting the finish in 1:12.18 over the fast track. Cuatro Madres was third another length back.

Away at 7-2 odds, Rowdy Rascal paid $9.60 to win, $5.60 to place, and $3.20 to show. Charming Oakie (28-1) returned $20.60 to place and $8 to show. Cuatro Madres, the beaten wagering favorite at 9-5 odds, paid $3.20 to show.

The remaining order of finish in the Juvenile was Legionary (4th), Inca Empire (5th), Hopgun (6th), Joe Bill (7th), Just Becauseway (8th), Evan's Envy (9th), Rainbow Gold (10th), Dancing Devil (11th), Blueskiesandangels (12th), and Heza Freak (13th).

Rowdy Rascal won his second race from five career attempts and picked up $60,000 for the effort to move his bankroll to $95,059. A gelded son of Den's Legacy from the Affirmatif mare Dancing Diva, Rowdy Rascal was bred in Oklahoma by Harmony Stable.

The win in the Juvenile was the first in the race for all of the connections of Rowdy Rascal.

The Oklahoma Classics is a $1,000,000 series of stakes races devoted to Oklahoma-bred Thoroughbreds.

Remington Park racing continues Saturday, Oct. 16 with the first race at 7:07 pm Central.

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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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