Agent Joe Santos has been on the backside this week at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., laying the groundwork for David Cabrera's chase to win his first local riding title after finishing second to perennial champion Ricardo Santana Jr. in 2018 and 2021.
“That's what we're here for,” Santos said during training hours Monday morning. “That's our goal again this year. We're here to try to win the meet. Every meet we go to, that's kind of a goal. That's what he does. He wins a lot of races. We're always trying to win more than anybody else.”
Cabrera is now based at Remington Park in Oklahoma City, Okla., where he is the runaway leader in the standings. Although Remington's meet ends Dec. 17, Santos said Cabrera only will miss one racing day next month at Oaklawn, which opens its expanded 66-day live season Dec. 3. Oaklawn's earliest meet opening in history will feature 10 December racing dates, all Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Santos said Cabrera will ride at Remington on Oaklawn's off days. The only racing day Cabrera is scheduled to miss at Oaklawn is Dec. 17, when the jockey returns to Remington for its stakes-heavy card, highlighted by the $400,000 Springboard Mile for 2-year-olds.
“We've got the favorite in all five stakes, it looks like,” Santos said. “Can't miss that.”
Following a one-year absence, Cabrera set single-season personal local bests for mounts (377), victories (62), and purse earnings ($3,395,649) during the 2021 Oaklawn meeting that ended in May. Cabrera won two stakes – $150,000 King Cotton for older sprinters aboard Boldor for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen and the $150,000 Rainbow Miss for 3-year-old Arkansas-bred female sprinters aboard Hillary G. The Rainbow Miss was the first career stakes victory for trainer Tommy Vance of Hot Springs.
Cabrera then finished second-leading rider at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, and had 83 victories at Remington Park, through Thursday, to surpass 1,500 for his career. Cabrera also cracked $7 million in purse earnings for the first time in his career in 2021.
“He knows how to win,” Santos said.
Coinciding with Oaklawn's December opening is a truncated race week, with racing normally conducted Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in 2021-2022. Normally, Cabrera is among the most active jockeys on the grounds.
“Honestly, with the way our business is set up, it seems like a good thing for us,” Santos said. “Thus far, we've got a lot of business with a lot of people we're hoping to ride for and given us some calls. I'm not necessarily sure how it plays out for everybody else, but from our standpoint, I think it's looking pretty good.”
Santos said he believes Cabrera's prominent training clients will include Ron Moquett of Hot Springs, Kenny McPeek, and John Ortiz.
“David, he's never really angered anyone that I know of, so I feel like we can ride for everybody,” Santos said. “That's kind of the goal. Just to try to ride the right horses in the right races and try to keep everybody happy. They know that they're going to get effort from him. From me, I'm going to try and be as prepared as possible on knowing what's going in what races. Hopefully, it just leads to a lot of success.”
Cabrera rode 43 winners at Oaklawn in 2018, his Hot Springs debut, and 12 in 2019 before wintering at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, Texas in 2020.
Santos also will represent 2021 Prairie Meadows leading apprentice Kylee Jordan during the 2021-2022 Oaklawn meeting and said he hopes to lure another journeyman, a nationally prominent rider, to Hot Springs in January.
Cabrera and Jordan are among seven jockeys across the country Santos represents in late November.
The post Jockey David Cabrera In Pursuit Of First Oaklawn Riding Title appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
