Jose Ferrer | Horse Racing Free Tips

He’ll Have A Triple: Ferrer Bags Three Winners At Tampa Bay Downs On 57th Birthday

The calendar says jockey Jose Ferrer was a year older on Wednesday. Just don't tell that to his rival jockeys or the trainers and owners who continue to benefit from his skill and passion.

Ferrer rode three winners at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla., on his 57th birthday, then performed 20 pushups in the winner's circle after weighing in following the ninth race, which he won on 3-year-old filly Princess Nina.

“Hell, no,” Ferrer replied when asked if he felt 57. “Didn't you see me doing 20 after the race?”

Undoubtedly, he will feel even younger in a couple of hours when he shares ice cream and cake with his wife Steffi and their sons, Derek and Joseph.

Ferrer captured the first race aboard Mermaid Kisses, a 4-year-old filly owned by Ridenjac Racing, Dale Howes and Asta Fico and trained by Dennis Ward. The jockey added the eighth race with Papajudgy, a 5-year-old gelding owned and trained by Kerri Raven. Papajudgy was claimed from the race for $7,000 by trainer Darien Rodriguez for new owners Acclaimed Racing Stable and Gumpster Stable.

In the ninth race on the turf, Ferrer kept Princess Nina close up early, moved to the lead rounding the turn for home and coasted to a 4 ¾-length victory from Kitten With a Whip in the 1-mile contest. That victory moved him into a tie for seventh in the 2020-2021 Tampa Bay Downs standings with 29 victories.

Kentucky Derby Day tickets going fast. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, attendance at Tampa Bay Downs on May 1, Kentucky Derby Day, will be limited. As a result, tickets must be purchased in advance, either online or at the Customer Service window on the first floor of the Grandstand. Advance wagering on the Kentucky Derby will be available Friday, April 30.

A front-row box seat for six people in the Grandstand on May 1 is $350, with other boxes available for $250. General-admission tickets are $10 each, with seating on a first-come, first-serve basis. The gates will open at 10 a.m. and there will be a noon post time for the Tampa Bay Downs race program.

Picnic Area tickets are $10. Patrons must bring their own chairs. Kentucky Derby Picnic Area tables for six are $75. All prices include a service fee. Fans are encouraged to purchase their tickets early to avoid being shut out.

For details, visit www.tampabaydowns.com on the Internet or call (813) 855-4401.

Around the oval. Sosua turned in an eye-popping effort in her career debut in the second race, pulling away through the stretch of the six-furlong maiden special weight contest to a 12 ¾-length victory from Mastering Bela. Hector Diaz, Jr., was aboard Sosua. The winning 4-year-old daughter of Speightstown, out of the Unbridled's Song mare Cara Marie, stopped the timer in 1:11.51.

Sosua was a $260,000 purchase at the 2018 Keeneland Association September Yearling Sale. She is owned by Mark B. Grier and trained by Arnaud Delacour.

Another first-time starter won the third race on the turf, as 3-year-old filly Mago On My Mind, a 49-1 shot, strode clear in deep stretch under jockey Isaac Castillo to post a 2-length victory from Clap for Me. The winner, by Brethren out of the Congrats mare Ruby On My Mind, paid $101.80 to win after touring the 1-mile distance in 1:37.34.

Mago On My Mind is owned by Eduardo Murillo Ortega and trained by Antonio Machado.

Diaz, the jockey on Sosua, also won the sixth race on 3-year-old filly Will Take Roses after Sharon's Law was disqualified for interference through the stretch. Will Take Roses is owned by Angel Ubarri and trained by Victor Carrasco, Jr.

Thoroughbred racing continues Friday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:23 p.m. Following Saturday's card, Tampa Bay Downs will be closed on Easter Sunday, then pick up on Wednesday, April 7 with the 74^th day of the 2020-2021 meeting.

Otherwise, the track is open every day for simulcast wagering, no-limits action and tournament play in The Silks Poker Room and golf fun and instruction at The Downs Golf Practice Facility.

The post He’ll Have A Triple: Ferrer Bags Three Winners At Tampa Bay Downs On 57th Birthday appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

‘Shortcuts Won’t Get You Anywhere’: Tampa Bay Derby Winner Jose Ferrer Voted Jockey Of The Month

While the track's old guard of riders has, to date, swept this season's Salt Rock Tavern Jockey of the Month Awards at Tampa Bay Downs (imagine how ancient this correspondent feels including Antonio Gallardo and Samy Camacho in an “old guard”), the influence of several new faces seems likely to be felt for years to come.

Many of those younger riders are likely to have successful careers by following the example of the current Jockey of the Month, 56-year-old Jose Ferrer. A full 28 years after he last rode in the race, Ferrer won Saturday's Grade 2 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby on 15-1 shot Helium, then came back Wednesday to ride three winners.

Ferrer rode 10 winners from 39 mounts during the judging period, and that was just enough to wrest the award from Hector Diaz, Jr., who posted a streak of eight consecutive racing days with a victory in his bid for the honor.

You can't be a jockey without dedication, but Ferrer's devotion to his craft is exemplary. He lifts weights in a makeshift gym in his garage before and after the races and on off-days, and he rides bikes with his wife Steffi, logging 3-to-6 miles on “dark days.”

“He's the fittest guy in the world. You've never seen a guy as strong as he is,” said trainer Dennis Ward, who uses Ferrer on many of his horses.

Ferrer thrives on competition.

“You have to want it more than anyone else,” said the Santurce, Puerto Rico product, who is ninth in the Tampa Bay Downs standings with 22 victories and has ridden 4,543 career winners. “You have to be willing to sacrifice and go over the limit.

“Taking shortcuts won't get you anywhere. People who are willing to dedicate themselves the most are going to be successful, whether it's in sports or business or any field.”

Ferrer derives tremendous inspiration from Steffi and their sons Derek, 6, and Joseph, 5. Watching his boys run into the winner's circle after a victory is an awesome sight to the jockey and a treat for Tampa Bay Downs fans. “They are such a big part of my life. I'm so blessed,” Ferrer said.

To last in any profession for almost 40 years, you had better be grounded, because the road isn't always smooth. In September of 2017 at Delaware Park, Ferrer suffered a collapsed lung, eight broken ribs and three fractured vertebrae in a multi-horse spill at Delaware Park.

Someone else might have considered that a sign to retire and be thankful to have dodged disaster one final time. Yet after being told by doctors it would be at least 4-to-6 months before he could get back on a horse, Ferrer started working horses again at Tampa Bay Downs that November, and he won his fourth race back on Dec. 6 aboard Jermyn Street for trainer Keith Nations.

Ferrer finished sixth in the Oldsmar standings that season with 37 winners, but that was merely a warm-up for the following summer. On July 8 at Monmouth Park, he rode a personal-best six winners, and he ran away with the 2018 Monmouth track title with 95 victories.

Ferrer also was the recipient of the 2018 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, which honors a jockey whose career and personal character bring credit not only to themselves, but the sport of Thoroughbred racing. The cherished award is determined by a vote of jockeys, who select from five finalists.

Those achievements, and his 27 graded-stakes victories, place Ferrer in rarefied air. But unlike legendary 85-year-old trainer D. Wayne Lukas (who, after winning the 1999 Kentucky Derby with Charismatic, told a reporter suggesting he might consider retirement that he would be harrowed into the racetrack), Ferrer can't compete forever.

And the new wave at Tampa Bay Downs, full of competitive vim and vigor, is ready to take up the mantle.

The 31-year-old Diaz, whose career got off to a relatively late start, has been making up for lost time in his debut meeting at Tampa Bay Downs. Displaying an ability to win both on the front end and coming from behind, as well as superb timing on the turf course, Diaz has climbed to fourth in the standings with 45 victories while earning the trust of such outstanding trainers as Kathleen O'Connell, Michael Stidham and Arnaud Delacour.

Jose Batista, 24, is fifth in the standings with 26 victories, with 25-year-old Tomas Mejia tied for sixth with 25 winners and 22-year-old Isaac Castillo eighth with 24. All three are from Panama and at this stage, relatively quiet guys who let their on-track accomplishments do their talking.

Mejia and Batista finished in the top-15 in last year's Tampa Bay Downs standings, while Castillo gained valuable experience last year at Monmouth, finishing eighth in the standings with 21 winners. The youngster looks polished beyond his years.

Wilmer Garcia, 29, and Raul Mena, 28, have been around a little longer, and the majority of Tampa Bay Downs bettors have no qualms supporting either when the horse and the price look right. They also handle their business the right way in the morning, with positive attitudes and an eagerness to share insights about horses with their trainers after workouts and races.

The racetrack is a classroom, and the only way a jockey gets ahead is by being willing to learn.

“Jose Ferrer is a really good rider, and he's very good from the gate,” Mena said. “I'm always trying to pay attention to how he breaks a horse from the gate, because he knows how to get to the lead and make the rest of the field fall asleep behind him. We can take a lot of good things from all those (veteran) riders.”

The “kids” might be soft-spoken, but they aren't afraid to approach an older jockey for insights. “I have a lot of questions for (Ferrer). He's a really nice guy and a classy person who tries to teach you a lot,” Mena said. “But I also pay attention by watching him in the races, because I know he's not going to tell me all his secrets.”

Sigh. None of us will be around forever, and replacements seem always at the ready. But it's heartening to know so many members of the next generation of Tampa Bay Downs standouts have the respect, and the intelligence, to keep the tradition of safe, competitive race-riding alive through their own determination and eagerness to make the most of each opportunity.

The post ‘Shortcuts Won’t Get You Anywhere’: Tampa Bay Derby Winner Jose Ferrer Voted Jockey Of The Month appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Connections Confirm Helium To Go Straight to Derby

Helium (Ironicus), an impressive winner of the Tampa Bay Derby Saturday, will not have another Kentucky Derby prep and will go straight to the race in Louisville the first Saturday in May, according to Jon Green, the general manager of DJ Stables, the owner of the colt.

Green announced the news on the TDN Writers' Room podcast Wednesday.

“I'm pleased to make the formal announcement on our podcast that I sat down with the owners, my parents and Mark Casse, who between them have a collective 80 years of experience in the horse industry,” said Green. “We're going to go an unconventional route and bypass the rest of the Kentucky Derby preps and train him in Florida at Palm Meadows, and then ship him to Churchill Downs three weeks before.”

Green admitted that it was an unconditional route to the race, but said, “It's not unreasonable in history to give a horse eight weeks off and ask him to run in a big race like this. Is it perfect? It's not perfect. Are there risks? Yes. But we feel what's best for the horse is to give him the time and slowly peak him into the Kentucky Derby, which is our primary goal.”

Green said that unlike other horses looking to peak in May, that DJ Stables hoped to race the horse after the Derby and throughout the summer with a focus on the Haskell at Monmouth, which is held near their home in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

“Our goal is not to run him in the Blue Grass, or a race like that because we think he doesn't need it,” said Green. “Running in a prep, so many things could go wrong, and our main goal is to run him in the Derby and then the races afterwards. We're looking at it through a different prism.”

While Jose Ferrer won the Tampa Bay Derby aboard Helium, Green also said that the Derby riding assignment was currently up in the air.

“Jose did a great job on him and won the Tampa Bay Derby on him, but we are looking for other options with jockeys,” said Green. “For the same reason riding Jose at Tampa Bay made sense, you have to have somebody who has the experience in big races and the experience at Churchill Downs. That's no disrespect to Jose, but I would think we would need to explore other opportunities.”

The complete discussion on Helium will be available on the TDN Writers' Room podcast which will be posted tonight.

The post Connections Confirm Helium To Go Straight to Derby appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Unbeaten Helium Lifts Casse’s Kentucky Derby Hopes With Sparkling Return At Tampa Bay

Almost half a century before he saddled Helium to win the 41st running of the Grade 2, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby on Saturday, Mark Casse fell in love with the picturesque, rustic charm of Tampa Bay Downs.

The track set an all-sources handle record of $15,229,267 on the 12-race Festival Day 41 Presented by Lambholm South card, bettering the previous track mark of $14,859,633 on Tampa Bay Derby Day three years ago. Saturday's total was also 15.77 percent above the 2010 Festival Day figure of $13,155,350.

With all those greenbacks circulating, both in purse money and wagering dollars, it might be hard for fans under 40 to understand Casse's emotions watching Helium race to victory. But racing's lure extends far beyond the possibility of big paydays.

“Tampa Bay Downs has been part of my life since I was a boy,” said Casse, who was elected last year to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. “My dad (late horseman Norman E. Casse, the long-time chairman of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company) took me there when I was about 12 and kids weren't allowed into the racetrack, back in the early 1970s.

“He would park outside of the 3/16-pole and I'd put a chair in the back of his truck and watch the races. He'd buy me hot dogs and a program, and I'd tell him my selections so he could make a few bets for me.”

Saturday marked five years to the day since the elder Casse died at 79.

Thoroughbred racing, it seems, has always transcended the generation gap. There was jockey Jose Ferrer, 56, summoning all his experience and guile to outduel Hidden Stash and Rafael Bejarano in a thrilling stretch duel as his wife Steffi and their sons, 6-year-old Derek and 5-year-old Joseph, shouted their encouragement.

“I heard their voices. I always hear them screaming for me when I'm coming down the lane,” Ferrer said. “I was up all night Saturday thinking about it, just enjoying it and embracing it and thanking God for the opportunity, especially with my wife and children there.

“I think it was the best win I ever had. It was a winning combination all the way around.”

All thanks to a 3-year-old colt who hadn't raced in four-and-a-half months, had never competed on dirt and had never raced around two turns.

Now, Helium is 3-for-3 and virtually assured of qualifying for the May 1 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve with the 50 “Road to the Kentucky Derby” qualifying points he picked up Saturday. Hidden Stash earned 20 points to move into eighth place with 22 points, and the third-place finisher, Moonlite Strike, earned 10 points to settle in 16^th place with 11 points.

Helium's standing will become official when owner D. J. Stable pays a supplemental Triple Crown nomination fee of $6,000, which Casse believed Leonard Green and his family will take care of soon. They had missed the deadline of Jan. 23 for early nominations.

Helium earned $210,000 for Saturday's victory, which wasn't foreseen by most of the experts and bettors who sent him off at 15-1 odds. Casse said Helium may go straight to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve off his Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby victory, although a final decision will be made later.

Casse and the Greens probably need a little longer to digest what transpired.

“I'm not easily worried, but I was kind of worried because he had so much adversity to overcome,” Casse said. After winning the seven-furlong Display Stakes on Woodbine's synthetic Tapeta surface on Oct. 18, “we planned to run him in the (Grade 3) Grey Stakes (on Nov. 22), but it snowed and they cancelled the race.”

That happened after Woodbine officials had announced the last three weeks of the meeting would be cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, meaning the Grey would not be rescheduled.

“We took him to New Orleans next and were going to run him in the Grade 3 Lecomte at Fair Grounds (on Jan. 16), but he wrenched an ankle one morning. Nothing serious, but we brought him home to Ocala and gave him about 10 days off before we put him back in training,” Casse said.

After working out twice at the Casse Training Center in Ocala, the conditioner sent Helium to his Palm Meadows Training Center base in Boynton Beach to continue preparations under assistant Nick Tomlinson. “When we get horses ready to run on a deeper surface (such as Tampa Bay Downs), that's where we take them,” Casse said. “I have to give so much credit to Nick.”

Casse didn't say much before the race, except to state his belief the son of Ironicus–Thundering Emilia, by Thunder Gulch, belonged against other relatively untested 3-year-olds.

For his part, Ferrer had never been aboard Helium before getting on in the paddock, and it had been so long since he rode in the Tampa Bay Derby (1993) that he didn't recall that race.

Not that he hadn't won a whole bunch of races in a lot of different places. Ferrer entered Saturday with more than 4,500 victories and 26 graded-stakes triumphs.

“He tried to buck twice when we went to the track and the pony went to grab him,” Ferrer said. “I don't know if he was trying to make a statement to me, but I petted him and talked to him and he settled down. Sometimes they want to act like little kids, and you just have to let them know you're on the same team. After that, he was perfect.”

Helium broke slowly and was wide going into the first turn, but Ferrer knew it was too early to despair. “I just told myself to keep going, and he did fine,” the jockey said. Meanwhile, Florida-bred Boca Boy was leading Moonlite Strike and King of Dreams, but a 6-furlong split of 1:11.38 didn't do them any favors.

Ferrer was forced to come wide on the far turn, but this was the moment Helium had been anticipating since the fall. He had won those two seven-furlong races at Woodbine by open daylight, and muscle memory kicked in, with encouragement from his rider.

Anxiety kicked in when Hidden Stash came to Helium in mid-stretch. Bejarano had a lot of horse, too, but like a modern-day Felix the Cat, Ferrer's bag of tricks wasn't exhausted.

“I threw the reins in the air to let him know we weren't done yet, and he picked up the bit again and took off,” Ferrer said, describing a technique he honed years ago under the tutelage of Angel Cordero, Jr., and Jorge Velasquez. Helium surged in front to win by three-quarters of a length.

It was an amazing scene for Ferrer, who didn't know a little more than three years ago when he might return to action after incurring a collapsed lung, eight broken ribs and three fractured vertebrae in a multi-horse spill at Delaware in September of 2017. He was ready to return at the start of the 2017-'18 Tampa Bay Downs season and finished in sixth place that meeting with 37 victories.

“If you have faith and don't give up, anything is possible, no matter how old you are,” Ferrer said. “Experience and fitness are what let me keep riding against these 25 and 30-year-old jockeys.”

Casse has two other 3-year-olds who might be Kentucky Derby candidates in Soup and Sandwich, who is being pointed to the March 27 Grade 1 Curlin Florida Derby Presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa off an impressive allowance/optional claiming score here on Feb. 24, and Grade 1 Summer Stakes winner Gretzky the Great, who may run next in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park on March 27.

But on a day that started off cloudy and ended with a sunburst of joyfulness for all that racing can offer, there seemed to be no harm reliving a Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby for the ages a little longer.

The post Unbeaten Helium Lifts Casse’s Kentucky Derby Hopes With Sparkling Return At Tampa Bay appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post