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Hall Of Famer Gary Stevens Back At Oaklawn As Jockey’s Agent

In addition to Calvin Borel, there's now another Hall of Fame jockey roaming Oaklawn's barn area.

Gary Stevens, who permanently retired from riding in 2018, returned to Hot Springs Dec. 1 to begin laying the groundwork for the 2021-2022 Oaklawn meeting as the agent for Southern California-based jockeys Geovanni Franco and Tiago Pereira.

Stevens, 58, said he represented Corey Nakatani “during one of my retirements” and most recently had the book of Hot Springs native Drayden Van Dyke.

“So, not new at it,” Stevens said.

Stevens rode 46 career winners at Oaklawn, the first coming in the $500,000 Arkansas Derby (G1) in 1985 aboard Tank's Prospect for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Stevens' last major Oaklawn victory came in the $400,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) in 2018 aboard Sassy Sienna for trainer Brad Cox. Stevens retired for a third and final time later in 2018 because of a neck injury. He represented Van Dyke earlier this year and continued to work as a racing analyst for Fox Sports and the New York Racing Association.

Now, he'll be wearing two hats (agent and analyst) the next few months in Hot Springs.

“Tiago and I had been thinking about getting together for a long time,” Stevens said Dec. 3, opening day of Oaklawn's meet. “He was wanting to make a change, get out of California. I got a phone call from here at Oaklawn that they were running kind of short of riders, that some of the guys who normally rode here decided to stay in Kentucky. Geovanni, I know he had some real good success here in 2017, won some stakes and rode for the right people. Geovanni was wanting to make a new start. Just a good opportunity to come out here with two guys that can really ride and are hard workers.”

Franco, who missed opening weekend to ride in Puerto Rico, is named on five horses Friday, Day 4 of Oaklawn's scheduled 66-day live meeting that ends May 8. Stevens said Pereira is taking care of “some personal stuff” in his native Brazil and will arrive in Hot Springs Dec. 26. He will begin accepting mounts Dec. 31, Stevens said.

Franco rode regularly in 2016 and 2017 at Oaklawn, amassing 61 victories, including four stakes, and $2,573,621 in purse earnings. He rode 16 winners in his 2016 debut and 45 in 2017 to tie for third in the standings.

Franco capped his 2017 meeting by guiding Inside Straight ($41.40) to an upset victory in the $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses for trainer Robertino Diodoro. Franco won three other stakes races in 2017 at Oaklawn – $125,000 King Cotton for older sprinters aboard Storm Advisory for Diodoro, $125,000 Gazebo aboard for 3-year-old sprinters aboard Rockshaw for trainer Ron Moquett of Hot Springs and the $150,000 Purple Martin for 3-year-old female sprinters aboard Golden Mischief for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.

A native of Mexico, Franco relocated to Southern California shortly after the 2017 Oaklawn meeting ended. He won the $400,000 Beholder Mile Stakes (G1) for fillies and mares aboard Secret Spice for trainer Richard Baltas in 2019 at Santa Anita and finished second aboard Lieutenant Dan for trainer Steve Miyadi in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1) Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

Pereira won the $10 million Dubai World Cup (G1) in 2010 aboard Gloria de Campeao. He also won the $1 million Pacific Classic (G1) Aug. 21 at Del Mar aboard Tripoli for trainer John Sadler.

Stevens and the still-active Borel were members of the 2018 Oaklawn riding colony. Stevens rode 26 winners to finish sixth in the standings. Stevens said he's tentatively scheduled to work for Fox throughout the expanded 2021-2022 Oaklawn meeting, adding Franco and Pereira also plan to stay until the end.

“We'll be here until they chase us out,” Stevens said.

Stevens won more than 5,000 races in his career, including nine Triple Crown events. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1997 and won an Eclipse Award in 1998 as the country's most outstanding jockey. Injuries led to his three retirements.

Stevens' son, T.C. was an exercise rider for Diodoro at the 2020 Oaklawn meeting.

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Hall Of Famer John Velazquez Will Ride Full-Time At Santa Anita This Winter

For the first time in his illustrious 32-year career, Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez will ride full-time this winter at Santa Anita, beginning with the track's opening day, Sunday, Dec. 26.

A 50-year-old native of Puerto Rico, “Johnny V.” as he's affectionately known, is Thoroughbred racing's all-time leading money winning jockey, with career purse earnings of more than $446 million from 6,357 wins. A winner of four Kentucky Derbies, including this year's running with Medina Spirit, Velazquez has won 17 Breeders' Cup races, including the 2020 Breeders' Cup Classic with Authentic.

A dominant force on the East Coast for many years, Velazquez, who broke his maiden in Puerto Rico on Jan. 3, 1990, began riding full-time in New York later that year and was soon befriended by legendary Puerto Rican Hall of Famer Angel Cordero, Jr., who served as an invaluable mentor as Velazquez sought to immerse himself in American culture.

When Cordero retired from the saddle, he became Velazquez's agent in 1998. The results were instantaneous and they were remarkable, as Velazquez, who rode “first-call” for top trainer Todd Pletcher, would go on to become Saratoga's all-time leading jockey and become America's leading rider by money-won in 2004 and 2005, winning Eclipse Award Champion Jockey honors in both years as well.

Although he enjoyed tremendous success with Cordero, Velazquez shifted gears in late 2019, as he hired superstar agent Ron Anderson, who at the time was working for Joel Rosario, whom he continues to represent.

“We're looking to winter out there instead of going to Florida, we're looking for some sort of change,” said Anderson, himself a Southern California native. “Johnny's at a point, we're looking for good horses, graded stakes and the like…He'll be in and out (of town) a little bit, but something different. I think he's very excited about being there. His wife Leona went out and got a place over the weekend.

“He'll be riding for everybody, Bob Baffert, Doug O'Neill, Richie Baltas, Dick Mandella, everybody. I'll piece that together as we go. The first condition book came out (Monday) and I've already got a few guys that are knocking on the door.”

Far beyond his tremendous success as a rider, John Velazquez, who also serves as Chairman of the Board of the National Jockeys' Guild and as a board member of the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, is revered by jockeys and horsemen nationwide for his unwavering commitment to his fellow riders and the betterment of the sport in general.

“He's one of the greatest guys ever,” said Anderson. “What he does for the Jockeys' Guild and all the time he puts in, the meetings and following up with individual riders through a lot of situations…He's just different. He's really, really a special person at the end of the day. He's positive, he's classy, he's considerate, he's kind to everybody.

“As a rider, his numbers and his records speak for themselves. He's the number one leading rider of all-time. You'll see, he's just a special person.”

Anderson also noted that although Velazquez will be based at Santa Anita through the month of March, he will also be flying out of town to ride in major stakes such as the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park Jan. 29 and other races nationally and internationally as well.

Velazquez, a winner of Santa Anita's 2009 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, also notched a significant milestone at Santa Anita, when he passed retired Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey with his 661st graded stakes winner aboard the Baffert-trained Bast in the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes here on Sept. 27, 2019—making him racing's all-time leading graded stakes winning jockey.

Velazquez will be joining a star-studded riding colony headed by the likes of Flavien Prat, Juan Hernandez, Umberto Rispoli, Joe Bravo, Abel Cedillo and fellow Hall of Famers Kent Desormeaux, Victor Espinoza and Mike Smith.

First post time for an 11-race card on Santa Anita's Winter/Spring Meet opening day, Dec. 26, is at 11 a.m. For additional information, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

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Horse Racing Love Story: Hall Of Fame Jockey Celebrates Golden Anniversary At Woodbine

It's a horse racing love story going on 50 years.

When they sit down to lunch with their children, grandchildren and other family at the Woodbine Club this Saturday, Hall of Fame jockey Robin Platts and his wife, Deb, will take a moment to look beyond the racetrack, the toteboard and pristine Toronto oval infield, to gaze upon the expansive Toronto oval backstretch.

“I asked to Deb to marry me on the backstretch back in 1971,” recalled Robin, a four-time Queen's Plate-winning jockey who was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1997. “I can still remember that moment. She said yes right away. And now here we are, 50 years later, celebrating our wedding anniversary at the place where it all started.”

They both know Woodbine well.

Born in Leicester, England, on April 27, 1949, Robin, who came to Canada when he was eight, chased his dream of a life in the irons riding his first winner, 42-1 shot Lily, at Greenwood Racetrack in Toronto's east end on November 18, 1966.

Deb Bruce, the daughter of Thoroughbred trainer Robert Bruce, was part of the local racing scene too, often helping her father at his barn while her mother Fredie worked as a messenger bettor in the grandstand.

Robin and Deb's relationship began courtesy of a question from Doug Anderson, a jockey valet who went by “Cricket.”

Was it love at first sight?

“I guess it was for her,” said Robin with a laugh. “I knew her dad way before I knew Deb. I knew her as Bobby Bruce's daughter… she was 13 when I first met her. I would say hello to her. One day at Greenwood, this was in 1971, I found out that Deb needed a ride home. Cricket asked me if I could give her a lift and I said, 'Sure, no problem at all.' We started going out that spring.”

Deb had her eye on Robin well before that car ride.

“I spent a lot of time on the backstretch when I was young. When I was a little older, I started going to the races more and I'd see the jockeys. There was just something about Robin that I liked, so I had a bit of a crush on him. I would say hi to him at the track whenever I saw him. When he took me home that day it just kind of went along from there.”

Their first date included another car ride, a romantic dinner and the gift of music.

“We went out on his birthday, April 27, and he brought me a couple of albums,” recalled Deb. “One of them was The 5th Dimension and the other, I think, was Creedence Clearwater Revival. Needless to say, he brought me a present. We continued on and one day he brought me to his house to meet his family. I remember I walked in and there was one black and white photo of Robin in Gardiner Farms' silks. He was standing on a set of stairs in the photo, without his helmet on, and I just loved it. I have it here with me now.”

By the time the two were engaged on September 13, 1971, Robin had already risen up the ranks of a Woodbine riding colony featuring some of the sport's biggest names, a list that included Sandy Hawley and the late Avelino Gomez.

Robin's career, one that included those four Queen's Plates – tying him with Hawley and Gomez as the most by a rider – yielded 3,245 wins, with his mounts nearly topping the $40-million mark. The recipient of the 1979 Sovereign Award as Canada's Outstanding Jockey, he won the coveted Avelino Gomez Memorial Award in 1992 for contributions to the sport in Canada.

His Plate triumphs came with Victoria Song in 1972, Amber Herod in 1974, Sound Reason in 1977 and Key to the Moon in 1984. Stakes stars included Overskate, Izvestia, Frost King, Norcliffe, Carotene, Runaway Groom and champions Charley Barley, Play The King, Grey Classic and Thunder Puddles.

In an eight-year span, from 1976 to 1983, Robin was the leading stakes-winning rider on seven occasions. He was the leading race winner at two Woodbine meets and five times led all jockeys at Greenwood during the track's spring meets.

But he was far from just a local standout.

Robin represented Canada in numerous international competitions, riding in South Africa, Bahrain, Japan, and across Europe.

Deb was always along for the ride.

“Everywhere I went, she went with me. I think that was a big thing for us. Being a rider is a very demanding life and to have Deb along with me, to get to enjoy those experiences together, was a really good thing for both of us.”

Deb and the couple's three boys were fixtures at Woodbine on weekends.

“When Robin couldn't be home on Saturday or Sunday to play with them or spend time with them, I told the boys, 'This is your father's job, so we can go there to watch him.' They got see him in action. I tried to go everyone weekend to support Robin and the kids would get to see them.”

Those remembrances, among countless others, will be talked about on Saturday at Woodbine when more than a dozen people, including their sons, Rob, Director of Broadcast with Woodbine, Kris, Manager of Broadcast Operations with the company, and Jeff, who worked at the racetrack for years, gather for the golden anniversary celebrations.

“Three kids, five grandchildren… it really is amazing,” offered Robin. “I quit riding when I was 50, galloped until I was 60 and hotwalked until I was 70. And here I am now, at 72, married for 50 years. It's been a great ride on and off the racetrack for me. I've had a pretty good life and I have a lot of great memories at Woodbine. It's a place where so many great things happened for me.”

It's a sentiment shared by Deb.

“To have our family with us, to be able to share this day with them, it's going to be really special,” she said with an unmistakable emotional tone. “We'll be back at the place where we met, where Robin asked me to marry him and where we all have an attachment to.”

The perfect setting for a half-century of racetrack romance that's still running strong.

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Hall Of Fame Jockey Mike Smith Makes Rare Appearance At Laurel Park This Saturday

His Hall of Fame career has taken jockey Mike Smith quite literally around the world. His next stop – and first in more than 14 ½ years – brings the affable 56-year-old to Laurel Park.

Based in California since 2000, Smith will be in town Saturday with three mounts on the $200,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) program led by Grade 1 winner Roadster in the $100,000 Polynesian for 3-year-olds and up.

Smith is also named on 4-year-old filly So Darn Hot in the $100,000 Twixt for females 3 and up, like the Polynesian contested at one mile, and 2-year-old filly Tiger to Remember, a second-time starter that is third on the also-eligible list in Race 7, a one-mile maiden special weight scheduled for the Bowl Game turf course.

According to Equibase statistics, it will be Smith's first time at Laurel since winning the Barbara Fritchie Breeders' Cup Handicap (G2) Feb. 17, 2007. A career winner of 5,623 races and more than $336 million in purse earnings, Smith owns a 32-6-6-4 lifetime record at Laurel with $823,190 in purses earned.

“The first time I ever rode at Laurel I won the [1990] Barbara Fritchie on a filly named Amy Be Good for [trainer] Timmy Kelly. That was probably the first time I ever went to Laurel,” Smith said. “It was a long time ago. I'm looking forward to seeing it. I haven't been there in so many years, it's crazy. I'm glad to be heading back.”

Smith is no stranger to Maryland, having ridden in the Preakness Stakes (G1) at historic Pimlico Race Course 19 times since 1984 with two wins – Prairie Bayou (1993) and Triple Crown champion Justify (2008). He has also run second twice and third four times, and in May finished ninth aboard Concert Tour.

“It's always great to get to Maryland,” Smith said. “I wish I had more time. I'm actually going to land, go right to the track, ride and [head] right back out again. I always love to stay and hang out and have some dinner there if I can and get some crabcakes. I always have a good time.”

In addition to Laurel, Smith is looking forward to his reunion with Speedway Stables' Roadster. The 5-year-old son of Quality Road has had Smith up for six of his 13 starts with three wins, two seconds and a third, highlighted by a half-length triumph in the 2019 Santa Anita Derby (G1) that earned him a trip to the Kentucky Derby (G1), where he ran 11th.

An impressive debut winner under Smith in July 2018, Roadster ran third in the Del Mar Futurity (G1) in his only other start at 2. Smith and Roadster were also second in the 2019 Affirmed (G3) and third in the San Carlos (G3) last March at Santa Anita in their most recent start together.

“I've had a lot of back success with Roadster. He's on his comeback trail, so I'm really excited about riding him,” Smith said. “We expected more out of him than what he's shown, because the ability's there. He's shown it in some of his races and he's shown it in the morning, we just haven't been able to get him to do it on a consistent basis.

“He's had his little setbacks and that's kind of been his problem, these minor little setbacks that put him back just a little bit,” he added. “With time off now and making his comeback we're going to see if we can get out of him what we know is in there.”

Bred by Stone Farm and purchased as a yearling for $525,000 by Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner of Speedway, Roadster will be making just his fifth start in the last three years and first since a fourth in the April 30 Alysheba (G2).

Trained for most of his career by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, he came back after more than a year between races to run fourth in the March 20 New Orleans Handicap (G2) for Mike Stidham, based at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md. He ran the Alysheba for Baffert before returning to Stidham's care.

“First time I rode this colt, man, I thought a whole lot of him. I certainly thought he was a Derby horse, and he made it to the Derby,” Smith said. “He won the Santa Anita Derby but after that he kind of went backwards on us. Since then he's shown some spark but I know what's in there. I know what I felt before in the past.

“I'm just happy to get back on him and see if we can get him back to where I know he's supposed to be, and that's one of the top older horses in the country. He's that kind of horse,” he added. “He's shown us that already, so it's not like we're looking for something we haven't seen. It's just a matter of if we can get him back on track.”

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Known as 'Big Money Mike' for his success in big races as part of a quality over quantity approach to riding the past several years, Smith has 18 wins from 132 mounts in 2021. Ten of those wins have come in graded-stakes including the Just a Game (G1) with Althiqa and Del Mar Futurity (G1) with Pinehurst. He also won the San Felipe (G2) and Sham (G3) with Life Is Good, Summertime Oaks (G2) and Delaware Oaks (G3) with Crazy Beautiful and Santa Maria (G2) and Santa Margarita (G2) with As Time Goes By.

“I'm doing well, man. I feel great. I keep myself in amazing shape. I started out the year extremely well and then they all kind of went by the wayside. They either were retired or got hurt or something happened,” Smith said. “So, were trying to rebuild. I've got a couple really good young 2-year-olds so I'm excited about those. And now, with Roadster coming back. Hopefully I stay on Life Is Good, as well. If I can get all those back, we're back strong again.”

The 30th running of the six-furlong De Francis for 3-year-olds and up highlights Saturday's 11-race program, featuring defending champion Laki and recent Saratoga stakes winner Wondrwherecraigis, both based at Laurel, as well as Grade 1-placed Jalen Journey trying to give Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen his fourth sprint stakes victory in Maryland this year.

Also on the card is the $100,000 Weather Vane for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting six furlongs led by multiple stakes winner Hello Beautiful. All four stakes are part of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship (MATCH) Series.

First race post time is 12:40 p.m.

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