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‘Old-School Guy’ Jose Ferrer Enjoying The Hot Hand At Monmouth Park

Jockey Jose Ferrer will often dust off one of his favorite expressions to make sense of having booted home an improbable longshot, as was the case in last Saturday's Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park, when he won with Informative at odds of 79-1.

One is that the horses can't read the tote board.

The other is that you can't win by staying in the jockeys' room.

These days, he may want to add one more to his list: Age is just a number.

The 57-year-old Ferrer heads into Monmouth Park's Friday twilight card as the track's leading rider after 10 days of the 53-day meet, with 16 winners from 56 mounts (a 29 percent clip). He combined for seven winners last Saturday and Sunday at Monmouth.

“It's been fantastic lately. It's an unbelievable feeling,” said Ferrer, who has ridden 4,575 winners in a career that began in 1982. “You get those times where everything goes right for you, when everything seems to click.

“That's where I feel I am now.”

Ferrer, who won his only Monmouth Park riding title in 2018, sees no reason his early success can't continue through the end of the meet. Overall, he has hit the board with 32 of his 56 mounts.

It's not as if he is riding a majority of favorites either. Nearly half (seven) of his winners so far have paid $12 or more and three have returned $30 or more, topped by the $161.60 win price that Informative produced.

Informative's victory skews the numbers a bit, of course, but Ferrer's average win price at the Monmouth meet is $20.60.

“I've had good stretches where I've won three or four in a day and then came back and won three or four the next day,” he said. “But to win the Salvator Mile, a Grade 3, with such a long shot and to win three other races on the card, two with longshots, and then three the next day … that's a pretty good stretch.”

Ferrer is able to excel at an age when most jockeys are nearing the end of their careers in large part because of his fitness regimen.

It's almost at the point where he is obsessed with working out. He says he is in the best shape of his life.

“I lift a lot of weights. I try to work out and lift twice a day,” he said. “I'll lift before I go to the track and on off days. I ride a bike whenever I can, too. Monday through Thursday I ride a couple of miles with my wife and (two) kids. I know I have to work twice as hard as the younger guys do. You have to put in the work.

“A lot of younger guys spend their time on social media. I'm old school. I don't have time for that. I need to work out and stay fit to stay competitive every day I go out there to ride. I have learned you have to work if you want good things to happen. They don't just happen because you want them to.”

Ferrer also enjoys the role of elder statesman that he has in the jockeys' room at Monmouth, always willing to pass along his accrued knowledge with an inquisitive young rider. In 2018 he won the prestigious George Woolf Award, which has been presented annually since 1950 to a jockey who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct on and off the racetrack.

“It's a blessing to keep riding this long and at my age,” said Ferrer. “I like that some of the younger guys come to me for my knowledge. I am always there to help if I can. Older riders helped me when I was coming up. So I feel like I should share my knowledge and experience.”

Ferrer, who hails from Santruce, Puerto Rico, has also made a seamless transition to New Jersey's strict no crop rule – an adjustment that would seem to be easier for younger riders not as set in their ways.

But the opposite is true, says Ferrer.

“It goes back to being an old-school guy when you would mostly hand ride in the 1980s and 1990s,” he said. “That's when you depended more on pushing a horse with the reins. So it's almost back to the 1980s for me and how I was brought up riding. The stick back then was the weakest link in your riding. I was always hand riding. You didn't use the whip until you absolutely had to use it.

“So this is my foundation. I came up hand riding.”

He also came up winning – something he is still doing, all these years later.

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Maryland Horse Breeders Association Announces New Directors

The Maryland Horse Breeders Association membership has selected two incumbent members, a 2019 presidential appointee and two new members to the 2021 Board of Directors.

Dictated by MHBA bylaws, the annually held election fills five open seats on the board. Those elected will serve for the next three years. Michael J. Harrison DVM, a presidential appointee to the board in 2009 to 2010 who has since served from 2011 to 2016 and as the president of the board from 2018 to 2020, and Christy Holden, a board member for the past three years, are this year's incumbents.

George Adams – The owner and manager of Housatonic Bloodstock, Adams was a presidential appointee to the MHBA board in 2019. A resident of Baltimore City, Adams is an attorney who had been project manager for Country Life Farm and now serves as the director of stallions and breeding for Wasabi Ventures Stables. A member of the MHBA Social Media and Marketing committee from 2017 to 2018, and the MHBA Legislative committee in 2019, Adams is fully invested in the industry with a few of his own breeding and young stock, along with partnerships in nearly 60 horses and interests in a handful of Maryland and Kentucky stallions. He hopes to “continue to strengthen the breeder and owner bonus programs for Maryland-breds [beyond the exciting new Developer category], to incentivize more breeders to foal in Maryland and invest in young Maryland-bred stock, and to support the young quality stallions standing in the state.”

Michael J. Harrison DVM – A practicing equine veterinarian who has owned and operated his family's Willowdale Farm in Butler (Baltimore County) since 1983, Harrison has been elected to his fourth term on the board. Serving as president from 2018 to 2020, he is also chairman of the MHBA Legislative committee and member of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, American Veterinary Medical Association and American Association of Equine Practitioners. Harrison, who breeds, raises and races his own Thoroughbred stock, believes “the Maryland Thoroughbred breeding industry is the critical foundation supporting Maryland racing, directly providing future racing prospects and validating the entire Thoroughbred industry for the positive impact it creates through job generation and the preservation of open spaces, while supporting agricultural related business, and by ultimately enhancing and improving the quality of life in Maryland.”

Christy Holden – The general manager of Country Life and Merryland Farms, where she has worked since 2004, Holden will serve her second term on the board after first being elected in 2018. With a bachelor's degree in business administration and previous experience in the insurance and fire protection industries, Holden's extensive skillset helps in her role of managing four stallions and overseeing nearly 125 broodmares, 100 young stock and 20 racehorses. A MHBA Annual Yearling Show veteran and 2020 finalist for the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Award for Leadership in Breeding, the Forest Hill (Harford County) resident hopes “to be a voice for farm managers and professionals in the industry who make a living on Maryland farms, and provide ideas for the long-term success and stability of breeding and racing in the state.”

Ann B. Jackson – Owner of Foxharbor Farm in White Hall (Baltimore County) since 1998 with background as a private investor, Jackson will serve her first three-year term on the board. Breeder of 2015 Maryland Hunt Cup winner Raven's Choice, along with stakes winners such as Taco Supream and Artful Splatter, she is a member of the National Steeplechase Association, a past board member of the Steeplechase Owners and Trainers Association and a board member/officer for the Ladew Topiary Gardens. Jackson plans to “promote the breeding of Maryland horses that will race in Maryland and promote second careers of Thoroughbreds after flat racing, as steeplechasers, event horses, show horses, foxhunters, trail horses, etc.”

Adair B. Stifel – Co-owner with her parents of Mantua Farm, which has been in the family since 1934, Stifel will serve on the board for the first time. A land conservation consultant who owns a small herd of broodmares, horses of racing age and young stock, Stifel is involved with the Valleys Planning Council, Maryland Environmental Trust and Land Preservation Trust. Highly dedicated to preserving Maryland's horse industry and green space around the state, Stifel strives to “honor, preserve and ensure the future of Maryland's horse industry by: 1) breeding and training Maryland-breds for first, second and third careers; 2) enhance the sport of steeplechase racing with Maryland-breds; 3) continuing to advocate for private land conservation as a means of supporting Maryland's horse farms.”

Of the five directors whose terms expired this year, David Wade and Kent Murray were ineligible to stand for reelection because of having served six consecutive years as a member of the MHBA Board. Those whose terms have not expired are Richard F. Blue Jr., Ellen M. Charles, Michael D. Golden DVM, Michael Horning, Louis Merryman, Sabrina Moore, A. Leonard Pineau VMD, William Reightler, Thomas J. Rooney and James B. Steele.

The complete elections results, along with Committee presentations and a presentation on the Maryland Horse Library and Education Center project, will be on the agenda at the MHBA Annual General Membership meeting, to be held Monday, June 21, starting at 12 p.m. at the MHBA offices in Reisterstown, Md.

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Canterbury: 11 Entrants Drawn For $150,000 Mystic Lake Derby On June 23

Canterbury Park's Northern Stars Racing Festival on June 23 has attracted several of the top trainers in the country as well as the Shakopee, Minn. racetrack's best local trainers in pursuit of $610,000 in purses spread across six stakes.

The tenth running of the $150,000 Mystic Lake Derby drew a field of 11 when entries were taken Wednesday. Represented in the one mile turf stake is trainer Brad Cox with 3-year-old T D Dance. Cox is the second leading trainer nationally in purses earned in 2021 with $13.6 million, recently winning the Belmont Stakes with Essential Quality and training Kentucky Derby second-place finisher Mandaloun.

Michael Maker, sixth in the nation in purses with $5.9 million, entered both Grade 3 winner Chess's Dream and Shady McGee. Maker won the Mystic Lake Derby in 2018 and 2019.

Bodenheimer has two turf wins, a maiden race at Canterbury in July of last year and the Indian Summer at Keeneland in October. Trained by Valorie Lund and ridden by Ruben Fuentes, Bodenheimer, who drew post 11, will try a route of ground for the first time in the Derby.

Ian Wilkes attempts to win the Mystic Lake Derby for the second time having trained Giant Payday to a win in 2017 for owner Robert Lothenbach of Wayzata, Minn. Chris Landeros rode then and will have the mount June 23 on Modern Science for Wilkes and Lothenbach.

Two of the sport's top jockeys will also compete. Florent Geroux, fifth in the nation in purses earned with $8.7 million, will ride three entries for Cox. Ricardo Santana, Jr., currently seventh in earnings, will ride four for Maker who has a lengthy history at Canterbury dating back to the 2008 Claiming Crown. Maker has won with 16 of 50 starters at Canterbury and earned $1.08 million in purses.

The $100,000 Curtis Sampson Oaks and the $100,000 Lady Canterbury Stakes each has a field of nine and are run at one mile on the turf. The $100,000 Dark Star Turf Sprint at five furlongs has eight. The $60,000 MTA Stallion Auction Stakes, at 6 1/2 furlongs on the main track, also has eight entrants.

Giant Payday, still owned by Lothenbach but now trained by Joel Berndt, will face the 2020 Mystic Lake Derby winner Summer Assault, trained by Michele Boyce, in the $100,000 Mystic Lake Mile along with defending champion Tut's Revenge who is ridden by Roimes Chirinos and trained by Clint Stuart.

Robertino Diodoro, three times the leading trainer at Canterbury and currently fifth in the nation in total wins with 116, has entries in the Mile and the Sprint. Diodoro is leading the current Canterbury meet with a record of 14 wins from 40 starts.

A night of stakes cannot go by without the involvement of Mac Robertson, 13-time training champion at Canterbury and leader in all-time purse earnings and wins. Robertson has entries in the Lady Canterbury, the Sprint and the Oaks.

The 10-race June 23 program begins at 5:10 p.m. CT. Canterbury offers an industry low 10 percent takeout on its non-jackpot $1 Pick Six and 50 cent Pick Five wagers with each concluding on the final race of the program.

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Bloodlines: Long-Term Stallion Success In Kentucky Is An Incredibly Small Target

In the great scheme of sport, becoming a stakes winner is a huge accomplishment, with only about three percent of the breed attaining that level of racing success. Only a fraction of one percent wins a graded or group race.

And from that tiny fraction, made even smaller by the virtual requirement of a G1 victory, comes the subset of colts who enter stud and breed on the next generation. For example, of the 18 stallions who covered their first book of mares in Kentucky in 2021 and stood for a fee of $10,000 or more, every one was a Grade 1 winner, and some of the half-dozen new covering sires priced below that fee were, as well.

Yet from that supremely elite group, how many can reasonably be expected to succeed?

Very few. Even with excellent racing records, good to exceptional pedigrees, good to excellent conformation, and very good books of mares to share their genetic potential, perhaps only a third of the entering crop will be in demand a decade later.

From a review of the stallions who entered stud 10 years ago in 2011, only five were at stud in Kentucky for a fee of $10,000 or higher (actually, the least expensive of these is Lookin at Lucky at $20,000). The five are leading sire Quality Road ($150,000), Munnings ($40,000), champion Blame ($30,000), Kantharos ($30,000), and champion Lookin at Lucky ($20,000).

From the numbers above, roughly two-tenths of a percent (1.8) of an annual foal crop of 10,000 colts would get a spot at stud in Kentucky, and maybe a third of those will continue to be sufficiently in demand to retain a spot at stud in the Bluegrass at a significant fee.

That is a steep hill to climb.

Among the stakes winners over the weekend, however, two showed up with close relationships to stallions who did not make the grade in Kentucky.

Winner of the Searching Stakes at Pimlico, Blame Debbie is by the aforementioned Blame, one of the success stories among the entering sire crop of 2011. By the good sire Arch, Blame was the champion older horse of 2010, when he won the G1 Whitney, Stephen Foster, and Breeders' Cup Classic. He is the sire of 31 stakes winners, including classic winner Senga and the additional G1 winners Nadal (Arkansas Derby) and Marley's Freedom (Ballerina). In addition to last weekend's stakes win, Blame Debbie won the G3 Dowager at Keeneland last year.

The broodmare sire of Blame Debbie, however, is Horse of the Year Invasor (Candy Stripes), and he is a horse who did not achieve the level of stallion success required to stay in Kentucky. An Argentine-bred who was unbeaten in Uruguay, then purchased by Shadwell and raced internationally, Invasor won 11 of his 12 starts, earning $7.8 million.

In addition, Invasor is by Candy Stripes, also the sire of the highly regarded stallion Candy Ride and from an elite Argentine family. Yet, even with a very good pedigree and an exceptional racing record both domestically and abroad, Invasor was unable to reproduce his own excellence in his foals and was returned to South American to stand at Haras Cuatro Piedras in Uruguay.

A similar instance to the 2006 Horse of the Year came with the 1997 Horse of the Year Favorite Trick (by Phone Trick), who entered stud in 1999 at Walmac.

A fast and early-maturing horse, Favorite Trick was unbeaten at two, when he won all eight of his starts, including the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and was elected Horse of the Year. He did not train on at that level of success at three and was retired to stud at four.

Overall, the dark brown horse failed to have the consistent success so important to maintain a permanent residence in Kentucky, and he was sent to stand at stud in Florida, then in New Mexico, where he died in 2006.

Even so, Favorite Trick is the sire of the second dam of Informative (Bodemeister), who won the G3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth on June 12. That second dam is the unraced So Spirited, a half-sister to the G1 winners Roman Ruler (Fusaichi Pegasus) and El Corredor (Mr. Greeley), and their dam, the Silver Deputy mare Silvery Swan, was one of the very best mares that Favorite Trick covered in his stallion career.

Silvery Swan produced three graded stakes winners, a fourth racer who was G1-placed, and a pair of daughters who have produced stakes horses. So Spirited didn't produce any, but her winning daughter Lucky Black (Hard Spun) is the dam of Informative. The colt's sire is G1 winner Bodemeister, who has 22 stakes winners from 848 foals of racing age, and he has been sold and exported to stand at Karacabey Stud in Turkey.

The economics of breeding racehorses and standing stallions makes the market intensely dynamic, as this synopsis has indicated, and yet horses by stallions that have been deemed no longer up to standard for the premium market in Kentucky still have viability and the potential to produce quality racers.

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