The change now allows the stewards to determine whether an applicant is qualified based on experience, background and knowledge.

TDN first reported on this restrictive practice in 2020, describing the then-current version of the rule as “arbitrary, insular and protectionist, ensuring that the path of many bright young people trying to get into the sport will be blocked, and that only insiders can play.”

The NYSGC also unanimously approved a second rule change that eliminates the need for jockeys to be weighed with muzzles, martingales and breastplates. Florida, Kentucky, California, and other states had long ago dropped weighing requirements related to that type of equipment.

A voided claim adjudication from the recent Saratoga Race Course meet was also on the Oct. 3 agenda.

Commissioner Peter Moschetti Jr. had been designated by the NYSGC to decide the matter and affirmed that the Aug. 24 decision by the Saratoga stewards to void the $25,000 claim of Lil Commissioner (Field Commission) from the eighth race would be upheld.

The appeal to try and get the claim to stand was brought by Lil Commissioner's then-owners, Sanford Goldfarb and Alan Khan (trainer Philip Antonacci). Lil Commissioner ran fifth, beaten 11 1/4 lengths that day. Neither the testimony at Monday's commission meeting nor the Equibase chart for the race state which owner and trainer had dropped the claim that was voided.

Executive director Robert Williams read into the record that Moschetti determined that the stewards had voided the claim “after personnel at the test barn dismissed Lil Commissioner in the mistaken belief that the horse had not been claimed. Commissioner Moschetti determined that although the appellants were not at fault, the stewards did not abuse their discretion in voiding the claim, since the horse had left the test barn before being examined by a state veterinarian as required…and had been briefly out of the presence of commission officials…”

Although it was not discussed at Monday's meeting, Lil Commissioner subsequently was entered and claimed for $16,000 at Aqueduct Racetrack Sept. 17. He was eased to last in that race, beaten 48 1/2 lengths. Trainer Antonio Arriaga dropped the claim slip on behalf of owner The Players Group.

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“There's no problem,” Cordero, 79, told the TDN. “He just wants to do better. I don't blame him. Everybody wants to be No. 1.”

The New York-based Franco won 252 and 221 races in 2018 and 2019, respectively, but his numbers dropped to 140 in 2020 (when New York racing was shut down for several months due to the pandemic) and 184 in 2021.

Cordero, himself a Hall of Fame rider, still represents apprentice rider Jose Gomez. The agent split with Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez in 2020.

Read more at the TDN.

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And Matos has this to say about Desormeaux, with whom he was reunited earlier this year: “He's riding just as well, maybe better, than he was when I had him and he won the two Kentucky Derbies.”

When athletes are having great success, the phrase “In the zone” is often applied. Desormeaux, 51, has won eight races in five days the most recent being the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby. He's “In the old zone” – in terms of age and with the same skill he displayed decades earlier en route to the Hall of Fame.

“Even though he's 51, he works out and keeps himself fit,” Matos said. “When I took him back (from a suspension incurred here last year), I could see that his attitude was good and he's just kept getting better.”

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“Tremendously excited about how his return has been received, lots of people looking for us in the mornings, and we've been very active in the mornings,” Migliore told DRF. “Excited to build upon the success he had last year before going to California and think that we'll be able to repeat if not expand that success this winter and beyond.”

McCarthy, who left New York partly because of a wagering rule that requires married jockeys to be coupled in the wagering, went 9-for-156 in Southern California, and missed the last 11 weeks due to an ankle surgery. McCarthy now plans to ride year-round in New York, and he and his wife, jockey Katie Davis, are expecting their first child in December.

Read more at the Daily Racing Form.

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With his brother-in-law lining up his mounts, Landeros is off to one of his best starts at a meet since he moved his tack from the southwest to Kentucky in 2014. Landeros has won 11 of 31 starts at the RUNHAPPY Meet at Ellis Park. The wins tie him with Florent Geroux for second, three behind Brian Hernandez. Landeros' 35-percent strike rate and 61 percent in the money top the standings among regulars.

Landeros is married to Wilkes' sister, Shelby, their parents being trainer Ian Wilkes and Tracey Wilkes, who is heavily involved with her husband's stable. Brodie was serving as one of his dad's assistants, including overseeing the Ellis Park division last summer, with an eye on some day training on his own. Ian had another idea in the interim.

“I thought Chris just needed to settle down,” the elder Wilkes said. “He'd switched agents a few times, and that starts to hurt you sometimes. And Brodie also, he needed to learn the other aspects of the game. Learn the condition book. Understand where other people are going with horses. And get to talk to people. Understand how to communicate. That's why I pushed hard for him to do it, whether it's something he does all his life or a short time. But I think he's picked it up quite quickly.”

Brodie asked his brother-in-law over dinner one night last fall about working for him. Landeros admits being hesitant at first, including wanting to be sure Brodie was looking long-term.

Also: “Because family, you don't want to mix the two,” he said. “But then again, I ride for Ian, who's my father-in-law. Ian and I have a really good work relationship where we can separate the two, business and family time.

“The thing about Brodie and I is that we are not only family but really good friends. He puts me in my place when I need it, and I help him along the way when he needs it. We've got a good relationship as far as work goes, and friendship on the side. We're kind of growing together, and it's been fun.”

Shelby says any change is a gamble but that she's not surprised at the resulting success.

“I know Brodie works hard, and I know Chris is the kind of person who isn't going to allow him to slack,” she said. “If Brodie had decided that Chris is too much, then he'd have just moved on. But, no, he stuck with it.”

The 33-year-old Landeros already has won more races (52 through Saturday) this year than all of last year (40), with its COVID restrictions and cancelations.

It was Brodie who suggested that Landeros, who had ridden at Gulfstream Park the prior few winters, stay in Kentucky to ride at Turfway Park. That helped them get into barns such as Mark Casse, Rodolphe Brisset and Wesley Ward. Though he doesn't race in Kentucky much of the year, New York-based Jonathan Thomas proved the source of many victories at Turfway Park. Landeros also has been riding for Chad Brown since spring.

“I know Chris loves Florida,” Brodie said. “He's competitive, riding against the best jockeys in the country over the winter there. But there's just not a lot of Kentucky guys there to build your spring up.”

Said Landeros: “I didn't have the best year last year, not only because of COVID but my own business. I needed to take a step back and rebuild. This year has been very promising. We got into some outfits that last year I couldn't get in.”

Landeros said the guidance coming from a close friend made it easier to take to heart.

“Because Brodie truly wants the best for me,” he said. “Sometimes you get tunnel vision. He sees another avenue that could be better for me later on. You'll get some guys who want to be your agent, and they just see dollar signs for that meet. Brodie, it wasn't about the dollar signs in the moment. It was building for the future.”

Landeros said “the sky is the limit” for Wilkes as an agent, that Brodie is learning in his own way how to be more aggressive. He says his brother-in-law also has taught him patience.

“I have all the patience in the world on a horse,” Landeros said. “But off a horse, I have no patience for anything. I'm learning. I'm adjusting.”

Wilkes calls Landeros “definitely one of the strongest jockeys out there.” That can include being strong-willed.

“He's so aggressive and wants things to happen now, now, now,” Wilkes said. “I understand he wants to win. I look at it that we're trying to build business. It's going to take time… The way we're riding, who we're riding for, it shows that we're getting the opportunities. And he makes the most of what he's getting.”

Win or lose, the family gets together whenever schedules permit, with the Landeroses' young sons Beckham and Rory delighting in their grandparents and vice versa.

Shelby Landeros said she never had any concerns about her husband teaming with her brother.

“No,” she said. “I was just happy I finally had his agent's number.”

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Bridgmohan had been riding the Kentucky circuit, while Gallardo was most recently based at Presque Isle.

“I think the caliber of riders here has just shot up,” Patton told DRF. “When you've won as many races as Shaun, I don't care who you are, you're pretty good, and he's been riding against the best. He's been second in the Kentucky Derby, and second in Breeders' Cup races. He's done it all.

“Antonio has been the second-leading rider in North America twice in wins. In the last seven years, he's been in the top six five times. I think they're both really good riders.”

Bridgmohan began his Canadian tenure on Sunday, while Gallardo's first mounts come on Thursday's card.

Read more at the Daily Racing Form.

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The native of Wilmington, Delaware, who celebrates his 27th birthday on May 16, was born into racing, following his father Michael McCarthy as a jockey, and made his bones in Maryland, leading several campaigns at Laurel and Pimlico.

Married to jockey Katie Davis, daughter of former top rider Robbie Davis, Trevor was fourth in the standings at Belmont Park through last Sunday, and after due diligence by both he and his new agent, an accord was reached.

If all works out well, McCarthy could follow in the footsteps of other jockeys who began their careers in Maryland before heading for greener pastures, among them Chris McCarron, Kent Desormeaux, Edgar Prado and Ramon Dominguez.

“I needed a rider and was not going to take one away from another agent here,” said Derek Lawson, who will represent McCarthy. “I recruited him. I started looking at riders who might fit out here, called him up, he made calls to trainers to learn about me and here we are.

“This is something he definitely wants to do,” continued Lawson, who got the pink slip from Flavien Prat in mid-February after playing a significant role in developing the 28-year-old Frenchman into a world-class presence.

“Trevor had a great winter at Aqueduct but he wanted to try something completely different, that being California, and he wanted to work with me,” Lawson said. “He will start riding here Memorial Day weekend (May 28 through 31).”

Lawson wasn't resting on his laurels or smelling the roses during his sudden and enforced absence from the game he loves.

“I wanted to bring in someone new and Trevor filled the bill. I like developing good, young talent.

“I recruited him the best way possible, tried to show him the advantages here, and even though it's heavy with competition at the top, otherwise he fits right in with everybody else.”

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They spend the rest of the year strong-arming 1,000-pound thoroughbreds into disappearing holes. They starve themselves. They don't make shortstop money. When they get hurt, ambulances are called. They are there in front of you at least four times a week, risking themselves at least eight times a day, in a game that only pays three finishers. At the end they catch hell from the drive-by bettors.

They are jockeys. Dr. Robert Kerlan famously called them the greatest athletes in sports. The Kentucky Derby is their day.

“I try to explain to people how gifted they are,” said Ron Anderson, the jockey agent. “They're the elite. It's like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. They weren't taught to do what they do, and they can't sit down and explain it to you.

“It's not an easy go. I had Jerry Bailey from 2000 to 2006. He was always very edgy. He wanted to win so bad. He retired and told me later that people didn't realize how hungry he was. For 20 years.”

Bailey now analyzes the races for NBC.

“The day after I retired, I planned it out with my son Justin,” Bailey said. “People asked me what I wanted and I said, 'Lunch.' That's what I missed the most, so I had a turkey pastrami at Two Jays in South Florida. It was awesome. So big, I couldn't even have dinner that night.”

Anderson talks of the “20 races with 20 different animals” in the Derby, and the “18 decisions” that Bailey had to make when he won with Grindstone in 1996.

“Every one of them was right,” Anderson said, “But sometimes you need a horse that's nimble and athletic enough to get in and out of situations, too.”

A jock also needs an agent who can play the probabilities, to find the right horse in the right race. That's where Anderson comes in. His jocks have won 15 Triple Crown races, including five Derbies, and 37 Breeders Cup events. On Saturday he'll have Joel Rosario on Rock Your World, and John Velazquez on Medina Spirit.

He had Bailey, Gary Stevens, Fernando Toro, Corey Nakatani, Chris Antley and Garrett Gomez and, until recently, Umberto Rispoli, who was riding Rock Your World.

Rosario was aiming for a Derby ride with Concert Tour, trained by Bob Baffert. But when Concert Tour ran poorly at the Arkansas Derby, Baffert steered him away from Louisville. That freed up Rosario for John Sadler, Rock Your World's trainer. Rosario and Sadler have teamed for 247 victories, 34 of them in graded stakes, and nearly $21 million. With Anderson as a conduit, Rosario is on Rock Your World Saturday and Rispoli is out, a decision that Sadler called “agonizing.”

“These are business situations,” Anderson said. “I remember what D. Wayne Lukas would tell riders who would win a race and want to get back on the horse: 'These are one-race contracts, my boy.' Harry Silbert was Willie Shoemaker's agent, and they worked for 36 years on a handshake.”

Agents only represent two jocks at a time. Velasquez had been the regular rider for Malathaat, the favorite in Friday's Kentucky Oaks for 3-year-old fillies. He was riding Medina Spirit for Baffert in the Santa Anita Derby (and losing to Rispoli and Rock Your World), so Rosario took over Malathaat and won the Ashland Stakes. When it came time for the Oaks, trainer Todd Pletcher reached back for Velasquez.

“Joel totally understood,” Anderson said.

It's a long way from Mt. San Antonio College, and Anderson's goal of attending UCLA law. But he was a racetrack regular, and agent Chick McClellan gave him Toro's account, and Toro became Anderson's racetrack professor.

“Ronnie is successful because he's smarter than anyone else,” Bailey said. “He's able to interpret the data from the numbers, speed numbers, patterns. If your agent is wrong, it can cost you a lot of money. Maybe $5,000 in an allowance race, but maybe a million in a big race.

“Some agents will say, what do you have for me? Ronnie has already done the homework and says, 'I want horses A, C and F in races 1, 6 and 9.'”

On Saturday Anderson will sit back and watch Rosario and Velazquez and the others become the biggest men in the world. On Sunday he'll bury himself in charts and numbers again.

All days means money to racetrack people, but Anderson knows and understands why one day matters more.

“You tell somebody you're in racing and the first thing they want to know is, did you win the Derby?” he said. “That's the one that lasts forever.”

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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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“Of course, I'm pulling for Godolphin and it's easy to pull for Luis because I work for him and he's such a great kid,” McLaughlin told Alicia Hughes of TVG's Horse Racing Insider this week. “Godolphin is a special story if they could win this race. It's a huge team and a great team here in America that basically I worked with for about 25 years, so it is special to think we're there and have a big chance. And it would be very special for Luis being that he won (the Derby) two years ago but didn't get to keep it (when Maximum Security was disqualified for interference). That was very difficult.”

McLaughlin stepped away from training horses full time 13 months ago, when Saez' agent Richard DePass retired. McLaughlin, now 60, struggled with the rising cost of business in his home base of New York, as well as workforce issues, and said the decision to leaving training for the jockey agent's role was an easy one.

As a trainer in the Kentucky Derby, McLaughlin's best finish was a fourth with Frosted in 2015. With Saez' mount on Essential Quality, this could be the year that both McLaughlin and the global racing operation Godolphin both get their first win in the Run for the Roses.

Read more at TVG's Horse Racing Insider.

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