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Velazquez Latest Hall Of Famer To Make Agent Anderson’s Job ‘Easy’

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez turned 50 on Nov. 24, but his talent on horseback and dealing with horsemen and the media hasn't diminished one iota due to his age.

Riding regularly now at Santa Anita after being based mainly in New York since 1990, the native of Puerto Rico is well atop the jockey standings after three racing days, with nine wins from 17 mounts, leading in purse earnings as well with $653,900.

It's no surprise to those in the know, particularly his agent, Ron Anderson, whose savvy extends well beyond horse racing.

“He's without a doubt one of the greatest riders we've seen in a very, very long time,” said the 67-year-old Anderson, who became a world-class agent soon after he started in 1973, and also represents future Hall of Famer Joel Rosario.

Anderson's admiration of “Johnny V.,” as Velazquez is known to friends and fans alike, is understandable and deserved.

“John devotes considerable time as president of the Jockeys' Guild, which involves much more than meets the eye,” Anderson said. “Overall, he's in a league by himself, a great rider and a complete professional in every facet of his life.”

Anderson is reticent when it comes to beating the drums on his own behalf, but his record speaks for itself.

“I've won 38 Breeders' Cup races,” Anderson noted sans fanfare. “Nobody's even close.

“I've been doing this long enough that we've got it figured out,” he said, “but the bottom line is these guys make it easy for me, because I get opportunities to put them on good horses.”

He has represented a Who's Who of Hall of Fame jockeys in his nearly 49 years as an agent, namely Velazquez, Jerry Bailey, Garrett Gomez, Gary Stevens, Chris Antley and Kent Desormeaux, with Rosario waiting in the wings.

Ron Anderson may not own up to it, but you could say this: he's been Colonel Parker to all of those jocks.

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Victor Espinoza Tabs Tom Knust As New Agent

Victor Espinoza has hired Tom Knust as his new agent.

The Hall of Fame member and three-time Kentucky Derby winner who celebrates his 49^th birthday May 23 parted company last Saturday with Brian Beach after a historic eight-year run.

For more than three years, Beach's priority has been maintaining vigilance on his wife Lotta's recovery from an accident on a horse, which in part diminished his time representing Espinoza, who opted for a full-time on-track presence now that he's fully healthy and life is returning to a degree of normalcy with the pandemic on the wane.

“Victor came to me and I thought he would fit well with Abel (Cedillo, whom the agent also represents),” said Knust.

“They're both great riders who hope to pick up promising 2-year-olds and stakes horses. I spoke with Abel and he wasn't hesitant at all. He was fine with it so we decided to give it a try.”

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‘Part Of Our Racing Family’: Los Alamitos Jockey Agent Neil Bricks Passes

Neil Bricks, one of the most successful agents ever at Los Alamitos Race Course and a mainstay at the Orange County oval in Southern California for over 45 years, passed away at his home on Saturday night. Bricks was 69.

A New York native, Bricks worked at Los Alamitos Race Course as a groom, exercise rider, jockey and then as one of the track's top trainers. His jockeys included leading riders Ramon Guce, who is also Los Alamitos' all-time leading Thoroughbred rider, Cesar De Alba, Eddie Garcia, Ramon Sanchez, Vinnie Bednar and many others. Highly competitive in the tough business of horse racing, Bricks was a fun, caring and loving person once the entries had been drawn and the races had been run.

“He was a jokester,” said his niece, Michelle Zuelzke. “He was very caring with all of us nieces and nephews and always tried to have a joke to make us smile. He had a good heart and loved his family a lot. He was always trying to get the family together. He was fun.”

Bricks arrived at Los Alamitos in the early 1970s, making his way to the famous Quarter Horse track with trainer James Brookfield.

“Neil would clean stalls and eventually started galloping horses,” said Scott Craigmyle, the director of racing and track stable superintendent at Los Alamitos. “He galloped horses for Wayne Charlton for a long time and then galloped horses for Blane Schvaneveldt. He even rode a few races as a jockey. As an agent, he was part of our team, part of the racing team. It's a big loss. Those agents help fill the races and we all have a common goal, to put together a good racing card. He won more Thoroughbred races as an agent than anyone in the history of Los Alamitos. Neil was part of our racing family. He was here every day, and we talked every night. He was around at Los Alamitos forever and he'll be sorely missed.”

The jockeys meant the world to Neil Bricks.

“Neil treated me like his younger brother and my family like it was his own family,” Guce said. “He treated my kids like he was their uncle. I'll always think of Neil in that way. He was family. He was also an excellent jockey, the best I've ever seen. I had injuries and missed time, but every time I came, he always put me on top again. That's not an easy thing to do. In 2017, I was out for a couple of years and when I came back he got me the mounts that took me back on top.”

Bricks had a long working relationship with former leading rider and now trainer Cesar De Alba, working with the rider during his time riding Thoroughbreds and then many of the top Quarter Horses in the sport.

“I loved Neil,” De Alba said. “We worked together for so many years. We got leading Thoroughbred jockey and leading Quarter Horse jockey. Neil had a good heart. At work, he was all business. One minute he would make me mad and the next he would make me laugh. Even after I retired, we stayed pretty close. I'm going to miss him.”

Charles Treece, the all-time leading Thoroughbred trainer at Los Alamitos, knew Neil Bricks well before he began his career as an agent.

“I was working for Curtis Perner and I was ponying horses during the races,” Treece said. “I remember Neil as a jockey. He would always ride this horse named Joe Moon Kitty. I would pony him to the gate and we got to know each other well. That was probably around 1975.

“Once I started training and he was an agent, I talked to him at 7 a.m. every day that we took entries,” Treece added. “He treated all his riders evenly and he wanted to ride winners. The thing about Neil is that worked hard on looking to ride the best horse in the race. I didn't always agree with him, but I understood that he wanted winners for his jockeys. I knew that he was riding who he thought would give his jockey the best chance to win the race. Away from the racetrack, he would come over the house for holidays and family parties for many years. He was always fun to be around. He loved The Beatles, baseball, and was the best checkers player I knew. He had a checkers board in the trunk of his car. He loved to play the game and would tell people how many moves they had left before he would win the game. He just liked having fun. I talked to him last night. I'm going to miss him.”

Information on services is pending.

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‘It’s Been A Great Run’: Victor Espinoza, Agent Brian Beach Part Ways

Victor Espinoza and Brian Beach, who reached pinnacles in racing others can only dream about, have parted company.

The Hall of Fame jockey and his agent of eight years went their separate ways Saturday morning after Espinoza informed Beach he is eager for more business which the 58-year-old agent, through no fault of his own, presently is limited in generating.

Through Saturday, Espinoza had only 37 mounts this meet, winning four races with five seconds and seven thirds, good for purse earnings of $365,844.

“It's tough; it's not easy,” said Espinoza, who turns 49 on May 23. “We had great success together and we were a good team. I missed a lot of time because of injuries and the pandemic, but now I'm healthy and want to win more races.”

Beach has been unable to beat the backstretch bushes on a regular basis to drum up business as most agents do since he primarily is focused on resolving health issues for his wife, Lotta, in Idaho, from where he has been commuting when possible.

Lotta has been coping with a multitude of lingering ailments stemming from a horse accident more than three years ago, in March of 2018.

“I understand Brian's situation but I'm back and my goal right now is to win as many races as I can,” Espinoza said.

Before the split, Espinoza and Beach enjoyed a wild ride.

A member of the Hall of Fame since 2017, Espinoza burst onto the international scene with Derby and Preakness winner War Emblem in 2002 and again with two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome seven years ago. He then swept the Triple Crown on American Pharoah a year later, thus becoming a global celebrity appearing on “Dancing with the Stars” and “The Tonight Show,” with lucrative commercial offers his for the taking.

Among his honors are Santa Anita's George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, three ESPY's as best jockey and three Kentucky Derby victories.

Espinoza overcame a career-threatening neck injury during a workout spill at Del Mar on July 22, 2018 and miraculously resumed riding seven months later.

“Victor wants someone at the track every day and I've got family concerns that don't allow me to be there every day,” explained Beach, an agent since 1990. “I moved to Idaho in January to benefit my wife's health more than anything else.

“We already owned a place there (in a town called Worley, about an hour southeast of Coeur d'Alene), and I needed to provide an atmosphere that was more conducive to her recovery.

“I was traveling back and forth every week until the pandemic hit. That closed us down for a while and when we did open up, agents weren't allowed on the grounds and we were doing (post position) draws via conference calls.

“It wasn't planned that way but it was working out. Things began to loosen up over time, so now everybody's kind of back to normal but I still haven't been able to be there on a fulltime basis because I have family health concerns to worry about.

“Right now, Victor's business is not in great shape and he wants to see if it will improve if he's got an agent at the track in person every day.

“We've had a great eight years, and I think if he hadn't had the accident in 2018, we'd still be going strong. But that was so serious, and when he did come back, Santa Anita was shut down for a while, there was a lot of rain and it all prevented us from regaining our business.

“We were just getting going again last summer towards the end of the Big Meet at Santa Anita when the pandemic hit, so it's been kind of an unfortunate way to end it.

“But we've had tremendous success together. Winning the Triple Crown is as big as it gets in this game and something not many agents ever experience, plus two Kentucky Derby wins, a Dubai World Cup, a Breeders Cup Classic—the biggest races out there and we've won 'em all.

“It's been a great run.”

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