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Fewster Returns To Race-Riding In Maryland After 11-Year Absence

Emily Fewster, a jockey who rode 40 winners between 2004 and 2009, had her first mount in more than 11 years aboard Justin Nixon owned-and-trained gelding I Idolize You in Friday's seventh race at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

I Idolize You, making his fifth start this year but first since Feb. 29, pressed eventual runner-up The Forty Factor through a quarter-mile in 23.07 seconds before dropping back and finishing last of seven as Smokin Hot Factor rallied to give trainer Kieron Magee his first win of the summer meet in the six-furlong waiver maiden claimer for 3-year-olds and up.

Born in Korea but raised in Maryland, the 33-year-old Fewster first began riding at the age of 5, showed and broke horses and schooled timber horses before turning pro Jan. 31, 2004 at Fair Grounds. Last a winner on Aug. 21, 2008, she hadn't ridden in a race since Jan. 22, 2009 – both at Laurel Park.

Fewster began galloping on a farm at 13 and later galloped for late Maryland training legend Dickie Small before moving to New Orleans, where she got a job working for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. She rode her first winner Feb. 22, 2004, at Fair Grounds with Princessofthebayou, owned and trained by Donald Moran Sr.

In addition to Fair Grounds, Fewster also rode at Evangeline Downs, Yavapai Downs and Sam Houston during her rookie season before making Maryland her primary base in 2005. She also competed at tracks such as Colonial Downs, Delaware Park and Philadelphia Park and won the 2007 John Henry Stakes aboard Dubai Cat at The Meadowlands.

Currently, Fewster works as the main stable rider for Nixon's Laurel-based string in the morning, and he said the mount was a reward for her hard work and dedication.

“She joined the team in December when we came back down from Woodbine. She's been a real asset to the team,” Nixon said. “She gets on him in the morning, does a great job, so she deserved a shot here in the afternoon.

“She's dedicated to all my horses,” he added. “I don't think any one of them gets any more than another. She's involved with all of them.”

I Idolize You was racing first time for Nixon since being claimed for $5,000 out of his previous start, also at six furlongs over the main track. Shortly afterward, live racing was paused for 2 ½ months in Maryland amid the coronavirus pandemic before returning May 30.

“We obviously had to shut down and I elected to turn him out,” Nixon said. “He came in a little unfit and we're just trying to get him right.”

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Bejarano ‘Really Happy’ To Be Back At Ellis Park, Winning In Bunches

Rafael Bejarano wants to remind people that he's back in Kentucky after 13 years in California. The jockey's fast start at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., is a good way to do it.

Bejarano, who won the 2003 and 2004 Ellis Park riding crown and 14 meet titles throughout Kentucky, returned to the state this spring to ride at Churchill Downs. He won five races opening week at the RUNHAPPY Summer Meet at Ellis Park and captured another three Friday as racing resumed following a week off while Keeneland ran a five-day meet to make up for the COVID cancelation of the Lexington track's spring meet.

Bejarano won the first race on Sum Overture ($18.40) for trainer Gary House, the third on favored Into the Sunrise ($5.60) for Wesley Ward and the eighth on All West ($15.40) for Ron Moquett. That's good for a meet-leading eight wins, to go along with three seconds and six thirds out of 30 starts — a 27-percent win clip over the first five days.

“I'm really happy. I love this place,” said Bejarano, whose agent is former jockey Julio Espinoza. “It always was one of my favorite places here at Ellis Park. A lot of people just have to know me, just have to remember me. Julio has been doing a really good job, picking the right horses. We've been winning with long shots but it's not about the favorite – it's about the right horses.

“I'm really excited to see how it's going to be ending at this meet. There are a lot of good riders here, a lot of competition. I'm looking forward to finding good horses, coming back to Kentucky and having a little more opportunity than there was in California. The trainers are giving me support, a chance. We're getting busy, and hopefully this weekend we'll have more winners coming up.”

Moquett is among the trainers Bejarano rode for when his career was taking off in Kentucky.

“It's amazing to look up and see the caliber of jockeys that are here right now,” Moquett said. “Having someone like Rafe, who I have experience with and I know his resume, it gives you a lot of confidence. You know whenever you give him a leg up, you're going to get an effort every time.

“It's tough. With Corey Lanerie, Shaun Bridgmohan, Miguel Mena, Julien Leparoux, all these guys are awesome riders. For him to do that (win a bunch of races) back in the day is one thing. But to do it now with all these jockeys that are here — Joe Talamo — I mean, I'd like to see how many of these jockeys have won meets everywhere. To do it against this calibre of competition is probably under-appreciated.”

James Graham is second in the standings with five wins out of 18 mounts. He was unable to ride Friday because his COVID-19 test results did not come back in time. Jockeys and the jockey-room valets were required to have a negative COVID-19 test taken within the prior 48 hours as racing resumed at Ellis Park following the week of racing at Keeneland. Jockeys who leave Kentucky to ride elsewhere must show another negative test upon their return. Out-of-state jockeys wishing to ride at Ellis Park also must have a negative test within 48 hours of race day in order to participate.

Record-setting trainer Chad Brown had his first starter ever at Ellis Park as Shadwell Stable's Motagally finished second to Gus King's All West in the eighth race, a $38,000 allowance race at a mile on dirt. Brown is a regular at Keeneland and has been major presence at Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby Week. However, this year he has added a Kentucky division based at Churchill that is overseen by Whit Beckman, a Louisville product and 2000 graduate of St. Xavier High School. Beckman said the stable might have a couple more horses to run at Ellis Park.

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Espinoza On COVID-19: ‘I Don’t Want Nobody To Have This Disease … It’s Pretty Bad’

Triple Crown-winning jockey Victor Espinoza has opened up about his experience of coronavirus, believing he contracted it at Los Alamitos and admitting: “I let my guard down.”

Espinoza landed the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes on American Pharoah in 2015. He is among a host of big-name US riders to contract the virus, which has swept through the southern Californian jockey colony, resulting in the cancellation of this weekend's Del Mar meet.

While some have been asymptomatic, 48-year-old Espinoza said he has never felt any pain like it “I don't want nobody to have this disease,” he said. “It's pretty bad.”

Espinoza tested positive after riding at the Los Alamitos Derby meeting on July 4-5, joining a list that also includes Flavien Prat, Umberto Rispoli, Luis Saez and Martin Garcia.

Describing his experience on the Winners Circle ABR Podcast, the jockey said: “I survive so far. It's been already ten days, but the first couple of days it was pretty bad.

“My body, my joints, pretty much everything hurts. I don't have a headache, it's just sometimes I get a little pressure, but that pressure is like nothing I have ever felt before. This thing is no joke.

“On Tuesday it hit me pretty hard for two hours,” Espinoza went on. “The next day I woke up normal, like nothing happened. Then the following day my body started hurting, every joint, especially my legs all the way from my hip to the ankle. The worst thing is there is not much they can do.”

Espinoza, who has also won the Kentucky Derby on War Emblem and California Chrome, said he had been advised to rest at home and was beginning to feel much better. He added that he was fortunate to not have had any breathing difficulties, a cough or temperature which would have required more urgent treatment.

Until he went to Los Alamitos, the jockey said he had been taking extra precautions to avoid catching the disease.

“I have been in quarantine since March, I never went out anywhere,” he said. “I was just so careful to take care of myself – but one second I let my guard down when I went to Los Alamitos and that was it.

“I was there Saturday, and Sunday, I started to feel tired in the afternoon and by Monday it hit me and Tuesday was the worst.”

Explaining what happened at the race meeting, he continued: “I got to Los Alamitos late and there are a couple of jockeys from out of town, like Martin Garcia and Saez. I was almost close to Martin Garcia's corner and a couple of valets, who are positive now. But then we don't know.

“When I say I let my guard down, I was not even going to take a shower but somehow they convinced me the showers were okay. So I went to the shower room and when I came back to my locker Martin Garcia was there and his valets.

“They were packing their stuff right next to me and I don't have my mask on after getting out of the shower so I believe it was the couple of seconds I don't have my mask on was how I got it.”

He added: “I don't want to say that it was Martin. We were all together. We share the room with the quarter-horse jockeys. It's pretty narrow. There is no exhalation in there. Even if you are not very close to them, you could still get infected.”

This story was originally published by Horse Racing Planet and has been reprinted with permission.

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Prairie Meadows Institutes New Jockey Policy

Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino is updating their jockey policies. The new policy goes into effect July 17 at 6:00 p.m.

The following restrictions will be implemented:

No new jockeys will be allowed into the current jockey colony at Prairie Meadows. Anyone in the current jockey colony that accepts a mount at another track must self-quarantine for a 14-day period. The quarantine period will start the day following the jockey’s most recent mount outside of Prairie Meadows. Once the self-quarantine period is over, the jockey must provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test within 5 days to be allowed to ride again at Prairie Meadows. This protocol is in effect until further notice.

The post Prairie Meadows Institutes New Jockey Policy appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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