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Maryland Apprentice Marquez Heading To New York, To Team Up With Cordero

Teenaged jockey Charlie Marquez, the top apprentice and third-leading rider at Laurel Park's summer meet, is moving his tack from Maryland to New York under the tutelage of Hall of Fame rider Angel Cordero Jr.

Marquez, 17, who rides with a five-pound weight allowance, entered Saturday ranked third in wins (33) and starts (231) and fifth in purses earned ($944,681) at Laurel's extended summer meet. He had four mounts on Saturday's closing day program.

“There's nothing like Laurel. I love all the people. The environment's great, the horses are great. I just wanted to try something new in my career,” Marquez said. “I always wanted to go to New York. It's just another chapter of my life, so I want to see where that goes.”

Represented by agent Kevin Witte in Maryland, Marquez also finished third at Laurel's truncated winter meet with 24 wins and 132 mounts, and was fifth with $513,254 in purse earnings. He registered hat tricks March 8 and 15, the latter the final card before live racing was paused for 2 1/2 months in Maryland amid the coronavirus pandemic, returning May 30.

“I'm excited. I hope to do good. I have a very good agent up there,” Marquez said of his move. “Angel Cordero Jr.'s going to take my book. He's a great mentor, a good agent and has a lot of connections, so hopefully we can be a good team and work together to get some wins.”

After riding in seven amateur races in 2019, three at Laurel and four at Parx, with two seconds and two thirds, Marquez made his professional debut at age 16 running fourth on Up Hill Battle Jan. 1 at Laurel. The Columbia, Md., native got his first winner in his eighth career mount Jan. 9, also at Laurel, with Sierra Leona.

The son of Carlos Marquez Jr., a multiple graded-stakes winner of more than 3,150 career races currently riding in Puerto Rico, Marquez is also the grandson of Carlos Marquez Sr., another successful rider who taught at Puerto Rico's famed Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school.

Marquez registered seven two-win days during Laurel's summer meet. He joins forces with the 77-year-old with Cordero, a winner of 7,057 career races who previously represented Hall of Famer John Velazquez and currently handles the book of Manny Franco, regular rider of Florida Derby (G1), Belmont (G1) and Travers (G1) winner Tiz the Law.

“I can't really explain it. It's just an honor. I couldn't be more grateful. But I can't forget about all the people here that helped move me along and made me the rider that I am now where I think I can compete up in New York,” Marquez said. “I don't think there's anyone like Angel Cordero. He's a Hall of Fame rider and they call him the King of Saratoga. It's an opportunity I just had to take, and I'm very excited and looking forward to teaming up with him.”

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‘Very Fast Horse’: Track Record Holder Top Line Growth Headlines Sunday’s Salvator Mile

Different year, different horse, different Monmouth Park graded stakes race. But, trainer Kelly Rubley hopes, a similar result.

A year after the Maryland-based trainer shipped in with Divisidero to win the Grade 3 Red Bank Stakes, Rubley will look for history to repeat when she sends out Laurel track record holder Top Line Growth in Sunday's $150,000 Grade 3 Salvator Mile, the feature on Monmouth Park's 14-race card that day.

“Certainly that's the hope,” she said.

After making his 4-year-old debut in impressive fashion with a 5½-length romp at Laurel on Aug. 14 – a race in which he threatened his own track record for a mile – Top Line Growth will face seven challengers in the Salvator Mile his quest for his first graded stakes score.

The gelded son of Tapizar returned following a 10½-month layoff to sizzle a mile in 1:34.74 to launch his 2020 campaign. He set the Laurel track record for that distance on June 8, 2019 when he covered the distance in 1:34.07.

“It was very impressive,” Rubley said of Top Line Growth's comeback race. “He toyed with the track record he currently holds. He's a very fast horse.

“We have always felt he was a nice horse. We felt he deserved to try this race. His last race he had the conditions so we figured why not try it. It was a great start back. You hope you're not over-facing them when they're coming off a long layoff. Obviously, he was ready in that spot.”

Top Line Growth has consistently displayed two traits during his career: He likes to win and he loves eight furlongs. Owned and bred by The Elkstone Group LLC, Top Line Growth is 5-for-8 lifetime and 3-for-3 at a mile. Two of his career losses have come in Grade 3 stakes races: A third-place finish in the Smarty Jones at Parx last Sept. 2 and a fourth-place finish in the West Virginia Derby on Aug. 3 of last year.

“The race at Parx was one of his better ones numbers-wise,” said Rubley. “It was a bit of an off-track and I thought he did very well.

“We always thought he was a nice horse. He was a big, growing horse at 2, so he didn't start until he was 3. Luckily the owners were wonderful in giving me the time to develop him. He certainly showed up his first start.”

That was April 22 of last year, when Top Line Growth made his racing debut with a 9½-length victory.

Among the horses Top Line Growth will face in the Salvator Mile is Pirate's Punch, who was disqualified from first in his last start on Aug. 22 in the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes at Monmouth Park. Trainer Chad Brown will send out Grade 1 winner Valid Point, with the colt trying dirt for the first time in his career.

Rubley, whose only two career graded stakes wins have come with Divisidero, has enlisted Joe Bravo to ride Top Line Growth.

“Joe rode him at Parx so he knows him,” said Rubley, who started training in 2014. “I felt that was a logical move.”

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Claudio Gonzalez Secures 13th Training Title At Laurel Park

With no one in position to catch him, Claudio Gonzalez entered the final weekend of Laurel Park's extended summer meet ensured of winning its training title, but the 43-year-old cancer survivor didn't stop there.

Gonzalez sent out Robert D. Bone's 4-year-old gelding Galerio ($3.40) for his third win of the summer and sixth in nine starts dating back to February, holding off late-running long shot Crouchelli for a nose victory in Thursday's featured fourth race.

The entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds and up was the 27th win from 138 starters at the meet for Gonzalez, who will wind up tops in both categories as well as purse earnings, with $979,170 and counting. He has horses entered in two of nine races on Friday's card and four of nine races on Saturday's finale.

Damon Dilodovico was blanked with his only starter Thursday and remains second with 16 wins. Jamie Ness captured Race 7 Thursday with Bustin Hearts ($5.40) to move into a tie for third with Jose Corrales at 15 wins.

Gonzalez has now won 10 of the last 11 meets in Maryland dating back to Laurel's 2017 spring stand and owns or shares 13 titles overall. He has led the state in overall victories three consecutive years (2017-19).

“What can I say? It's a really good feeling because there are a lot of good trainers here with a lot of experience. That's why it feels good, and my whole team feels like me,” Gonzalez said. “They're working hard. They do all the hard work – my assistants, grooms, hotwalkers, exercise riders, blacksmith. Everybody works hard to make sure things go good.”

Gonzalez notched eight multi-win days during the meet, including an Aug. 13 hat trick with a trio of sophomore fillies – Landing Zone, Queen of Tomorrow and Polished Copper. The latter two are among six horses to win at least twice at the meet for Gonzalez, led by Galerio, Eastern Bay and Harpers First Ride with three each.

Laurel's summer meet began May 30 following a 2 ½-month pause in Maryland's live racing amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Gonzalez, who led a truncated winter stand with 40 wins, went 9-for-65 to start the summer before going on an 18-for-73 run since July 18.

“Every day we come and pay attention to every little thing. Little things make the difference sometimes,” Gonzalez said. “That's what I explain to everybody. We have to pay attention to everything and we're going to be OK.”

Three of Gonzalez's wins came in stakes over Labor Day weekend – the $100,000 Deputed Testamony with Harpers First Ride and $100,000 Polynesian with Eastern Bay Sept. 5, and the $100,000 Laurel Dash with Completed Pass Sept. 7.

All three horses are being pointed to stakes over Preakness weekend at Pimlico Race Course – Harpers First Ride in the historic $250,000 Pimlico Special (G3) Oct. 2, and Eastern Bay in the $250,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3) and defending champion Completed Pass in the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint on the Oct. 3 undercard of the 145th Preakness Stakes (G1).

Gonzalez expects to run multiple stakes winner Lebda in the $200,000 Chick Lang (G3) Oct. 1 and has a candidate for the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2), this year on the Preakness undercard, in 3-year-old filly Fly On Angel, upset winner of the Charles Town Oaks (G3) Aug. 28.

“They're all doing really good. They came back real good. You never know how tough it's going to be, but my horses are going to be ready,” Gonzalez said. “It's special. The Preakness is the biggest race we have here in the Maryland and it would be special to do good that weekend.”

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‘I Really Needed Somebody To Push Me’: Davis Credits New Agent For Recent Success

After going a month between starters, jockey Katie Davis is making up for lost time.

The 28-year-old fiancée of fellow rider Trevor McCarthy has registered seven wins with her last 15 mounts including a hat trick Sept. 12, the last live racing day at Laurel Park. She is named in three of 10 races when action resumes Thursday at Laurel, and two of nine races Friday.

A Maryland regular since late 2016, Davis rode three programs at Colonial Downs in neighboring Virginia before the meet was closed down Aug. 14 with a number of positive coronavirus results. One of them was McCarthy, and though she tested negative she joined her fiance in quarantine for two weeks.

With agent John DiNatale handling her book, Davis returned to action Sept. 3 and rode at least one winner each day that weekend including a two-win day Sept. 4. She has also finished third twice during her recent stretch.

“When I came back from the quarantine I was kind of lost and confused on what I wanted to do, because all the agents were pretty much taken. I really needed somebody to push me,” Davis said. “You can only do so much with yourself. I got very lucky. Trevor kind of put the word out for me a little more.

“Frank Saumell, the clerk of scales, said he had a longtime friend that had been in the business for 30-some years, 40 years. He used to be a trainer but he really wanted to get back in the game and become an agent,” she added. “That was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.”

DiNatale won 145 races and more than $1.5 million in purses in a training career with stops and starts between 1976 and 2009. One of his best horses was Stonewall Sue, who ran fifth in the 1994 Maryland Million Distaff and 1995 Shamrock Stakes at Laurel.

“A lot of people do know him, people that have been in the game a lot longer. Just picking him up really gave me that confidence that I needed,” Davis said. “Not that Trevor didn't give me confidence in that way, but the confidence in my own business to succeed and ride smart and keep going. That's what really lifted me up off my feet.

“Even the first week John and I were together he was like, 'Keep doing what you're doing, don't change a thing. You're riding smart and giving your horses every opportunity to win.' That alone shows that I can do this. I can perform well with the horses.”

Davis has 229 wins from 1,882 career starters and purse earnings of more than $6.1 million. She is one of six children that grew up around the sport while their father, Robbie, was winning 3,382 races between 1981 and 2002 primarily on the New York circuit. Older sister Jackie and younger brother Dylan are also professional jockeys, respectively based in Pennsylvania and New York.

In addition to her agent, Davis continues to lean on her father for his input. His mother, Davis' grandmother, passed away Sept. 1.

“Recently we've been talking a lot more. I really sat him down and said, 'C'mon, it's time to look at my races now. You've been looking at Dylan's for far too long,'” Davis laughed. “I sent him all my races, even if I finish last or got in a bad spot and ask him what he thinks I can do differently. He told me I was doing good and riding smart and my left hand was amazing. It's important to use both hands.”

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