jockey | Horse Racing Free Tips

Oaks-Derby Double Nets John Velazquez Jockey Of The Week Title

Winning three Grade 1s, including the world's most recognized race, lead to Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez unanimously being named Jockey of the Week for April 26 through May 2. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.

On a spectacular weekend of racing, Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez became just the eighth jockey in history to win both the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby in the same year. But the Grade 1 wins didn't stop there as he also won the G1 Derby City Distaff.

Velazquez's Grade 1 haul started Friday when trainer Todd Pletcher reunited Velazquez with Malathaat in the Kentucky Oaks. Off as the favorite in the field of 13, Malathaat settled in fifth position. In upper stretch, Malathaat and Search Results drew clear of their rivals and battled to the wire, with Malathaat prevailing by a neck.

“She got away from there just a bit slow, said Pletcher, “but Johnny (Velazquez) moved her up and got her in a much better position. He had to lose some ground and go wide to do it, but it was the right thing to do.”

Final time for the 1 1/8 miles was 1:48.99.

Under picture perfect skies on Saturday, trainer Bob Baffert gave Velazquez a leg up on Champion Female Sprinter, Gamine in the G1 Derby City Distaff. Velazquez took Gamine to the front and held off a late bid from Sconsin to win by 1-1/2 lengths.

“She didn't get to the break I hoped for but she bounced back really quickly and ran really easy in the early going. She showed what a champion she was and I am really proud of my filly,” said Velazquez.

Final time for the seven furlongs on a fast track was 1:21.50.

For the second year in a row, Hall of Famers Bob Baffert and John Velazquez teamed up in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby with the same result: a win in the Run for the Roses. This year, Velazquez rode the unheralded Medina Spirit, Baffert's only entry in the race. Velazquez took Medina Spirit to the lead at the start, set all the fractions and dug deep to fend off challengers, Mandaloun, Hot Rod Charlie and Essential Quality to win by a half-length in 2:01.2.

“You couldn't ask more of a horse. When you ride a horse like this who is competitive you can't ask for anything else,” said Velazquez who won the race for the fourth time.

Weekly stats for Velazquez were 17-4-2-4 for a 23.4 percent win rate and total purse earnings of $3,141,211 to lead all jockeys.

Velazquez out-polled fellow jockeys Manny Franco and Paco Lopez who tied for number of wins, and Florent Geroux and Flavien Prat who each won three stakes races.

The post Oaks-Derby Double Nets John Velazquez Jockey Of The Week Title appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Delaware: Leading Jockey Carol Cedeno Chasing Record Seventh Title

Three-time defending leading rider Carol Cedeno will be taking a run at history when the 84th live racing season at Delaware Park begins on May 26. The Delaware resident will be going for a record seventh leading jockey title at the Stanton-oval.

Since 2014, the native of Puerto Rico has been the leading jockey every season with the exception of 2017. She is currently tied with another Delaware Park legend Michael McCarthy who won six titles from 1996 through 2000 and 2002.

“I live only about a half-hour from the track and I raise my family in Delaware, so Delaware Park is home to me,” said Carol Cedeno, who is the mother of two children. “I work hard every day to make sure I can be my best for the season at Delaware Park and I take a lot of pride in being the leading rider. Every year it has been hard to be the leading rider and this may be the toughest year because I hear there are a good number of talented jockeys coming, so that just means I will be working a little harder.”

Cedeno has rewritten the Delaware Park history book on a number of other occasions.

She notched seven victories on a single card on July 11, 2018, breaking a record that had stood for more than six decades and was held by six riders. The jockeys who won six races on a single Delaware Park card were Joseph Rocco, Jr., in 2011; Michael McCarthy, who accomplished the feat twice—once in 1997 and again in 1998; Jimmy Edwards, in 1984; Greg McCarron, in 1974; George Cusimano, in 1968; and Eldon Nelson in 1958.

“To be mentioned with those kind of riders makes me extremely happy,” said Cedeno, who notched her 1,000th career victory at Laurel Park on Jan. 2. “Those are some of the best riders in racing, and to be in a group like that is special. I know to keep having success I need to keep working hard. But I love what I do and I love getting up in the morning to go to work at Delaware Park, so I am hoping I can do more.”

Cedeno has nearly 450 career victories at Delaware Park.

The post Delaware: Leading Jockey Carol Cedeno Chasing Record Seventh Title appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Super Agent Anderson Has Rosario In Position To Rock & Roll

The first Saturday in May belongs to the soldiers from Lilliput.

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.”

The post Super Agent Anderson Has Rosario In Position To Rock & Roll appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

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.

The post Jose Santos Revolutionizing Jockey Agent’s Role appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post