Mike Puhich | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘An Unimaginible Thrill’: Background Proves Best In Longacres Mile

Background and jockey Rocco Bowen would not be denied victory in Sunday's $100,000 Longacres Mile (G3) at Emerald Downs in Auburn, Wash.

The 4-year-old gelding and three-time Emerald Downs riding champion combined forces for one final surge of energy and nailed Windribbon in the final jump for a head victory in the 86th renewal of the Northwest's premier horse race.

Background, the betting favorite, ran the mile in 1:36.67 and returned $6.60 for a $2 win ticket. Mike Puhich, winning his second Longacres Mile, is the trainer for owners Bob and Molly Rondeau of Normandy Park.

Bob Rondeau, best known as the longtime voice of University of Washington basketball and football, led the cheers in a raucous and emotional winner's circle ceremony.

“Unbelievable, I have no voice left at all,” Rondeau said. “(In mid-stretch) there's no way in the world he wins that race, but (Background) had the wherewithal to pull it off. This is an unimaginable thrill.”

Bowen, who won titles here in 2016, '17 and '18, resumed his riding career in the Midwest last year after missing some 18 months with injuries. Returning to Emerald Downs to win the track's biggest race had the 32-year-old native of Barbados in tears.

“I can't believe it. . .finally,” Bowen said. “I knew Background wasn't done, we fought together out there.”

A Florida-bred by Khozan, Background earned $55,000 to push his bankroll to $287,532. The chestnut gelding is 4-2-4 from 14 starts overall including three wins at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

Windribbon, ridden by Kevin Orozco, nearly pulled off a 12 to 1 upset that would have given trainer Blaine Wright a second straight Mile victory. The 5-year-old gelding swept past Papa's Golden Boy and Anyportinastorm into the lane, opening a 2 ½-length lead past mid-stretch, and just failed to last. Owned by Seamist Racing, Windribbon earned $27,500.

Five Star General, the 5 to 2 morning line favorite ridden by Mario Gutierrez, edged Papa's Golden Boy in the final jump for third place. The 5-year-old full horse now has a second and a third in the last two Miles.

Papa's Golden Boy, bidding to sweep all three stakes for older horses at the meet, battled gamely to the wire and finished fourth.

Papa's Golden Boy, ridden by Julien Couton, and Anyportinastorm, ridden by Juan Gutierrez, dueled through fractions of :22.94, :45.73 and 1:09.73, with neither rider giving an inch. Windribbon, positioned just behind those two, made his move into the lane and appeared headed for the upset victory.

But Background, in sixth place early, made a sustained, grinding rally that finally bore fruit at the finish line.

Unmachable rallied from dead last to pick off fifth place, one length behind Papa's Golden Boy, while Anyportinastorm faded to sixth. Reelfoot, longest price on the board at 101 to 1, finished seventh while Hard to Deny, Muncey, Forest Fire and Sir Bregovic completed the order of finish.

The Rondeaus enjoyed a big day. In addition to Background winning the Mile, Compelling Smile, co-owned by Rondeau and Mark Dedomenico, finished second in the $50,000 Emerald Distaff.

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‘Tough Little Son Of A Gun’: Rocco Bowen Returns To The Winner’s Circle After Scary Fall

Two weeks after a horrific spill, jockey Rocco Bowen recorded his biggest career Oaklawn victory to date in Thursday's seventh race aboard She's Divine ($47.40) for trainer Mike Puhich and North American Thoroughbred Racing Company, Inc. The allowance/optional claimer for older fillies and mares at 1 mile had a $105,000 purse.

“I'm telling you, I feel so thankful,” Bowen's agent/mentor, retired jockey Joe Steiner, said moments after the victory. “I'm just so thankful.”

It was the ninth victory at the meet for Bowen, 31, riding at Oaklawn for the first time this year. Puhich, who has deep ties to the Pacific Northwest, also put Bowen on his first Oaklawn winner (Background) Feb. 27.

Bowen recorded six more victories before he was injured seconds after the final race April 8 when his mount, Critic, fell and hit the rail, sending the jockey crashing to the ground.

Bowen said he never lost consciousness, but he lay motionless for several minutes before being placed on a backboard and transported by ambulance to CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs for further evaluation. No broken bones were found, Steiner said, and Bowen was released that night. Bowen fulfilled his engagements the following day, with the only visible sign of the accident a protective black brace on his sore left hand.

“He's a tough little son of a gun, I'll tell you,” Steiner said, adding he broke 39 bones in his riding career. “Well, you have to be, in this case.”

Steiner said Bowen will ride until the Oaklawn meeting ends May 1 before returning to Indiana Grand, which opened April 13. Bowen, a native of Barbados, became a riding star in the Pacific Northwest, specifically Emerald Downs in suburban Seattle, where he won three consecutive riding titles (2016, 2017 and 2018) before a training accident in September 2018, and subsequent debilitating arm injury, cost him approximately 1 ½ years in the saddle.

Bowen launched his comeback last June in the Midwest and won 39 races at Indiana Grand, including his 1,000^th in North America, to finish eighth in the standings. Steiner said he and Bowen plan to return to Oaklawn in 2022.

“The whole intention is to come back here,” Steiner said. “Now that I've been here, I'm so fortunate and so thankful that they've let agents come on the backside (easing of COVID-19 restrictions). It gave me the chance to get to meet some of these people. I didn't know a lot of these people and next year I'm looking at more and more. It's a matter of just building up more people to maybe get an opportunity with. I love working with people.”

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Jockey Rocco Bowen Getting ‘In The Zone’ At Oaklawn Park

Mile races at Oaklawn occasionally trick riding newcomers since those races end at the sixteenth pole.

Add Barbados native Rocco Bowen to the list, but his ending was a treat. Taking no chances in last Saturday's sixth race, Bowen guided Background ($70) to a noteworthy 1 ¾-length victory for trainer Mike Puhich in the $88,000 second-level allowance event for older horses.

“I rode four or five jumps after the wire,” Bowen said during training hours last Sunday. “(Ricardo) Santana was like: 'Stop! Stop! Stop! Rocco, stop, you're going to get fined.' But I was like so in the zone. I wanted to make sure the job was done – sealed, packaged and delivered.”

The victory, over a sloppy track with light rain falling, made Bowen, 31, the first Barbadian jockey to win a race at Oaklawn. Riding at Oaklawn for the first time this year, Bowen had been winless in 33 mounts at the meet, which was interrupted last month because of severe winter weather.

“I wouldn't say discouraged, I felt more like I was letting my agent down,” Bowen said, referring to his mentor, retired jockey Joe Steiner. “He took up a huge task to take my book when I came to Oaklawn, so I felt personally it was on me that I was letting him down and I wasn't putting my best foot forward. I wasn't putting my best foot forward to feed him and his family. It's the first time away from his 5-year-old boy. It's hard. I've been in that position, being away from my kids the first time. It's never easy. I had that in the back of my mind: 'What am I doing?' I'm taking away from his family. I'm not doing any good.”

A wicked left hook from Mother Nature added to Bowen's frustration. Arctic temperatures and heavy snow led Oaklawn to cancel eight live racing dates and 11 days of training in February. Not only did Bowen miss numerous chances to record his first victory, he gets on many horses each morning.

Bowen lives on Lake Hamilton and said much of his snow(cation) was spent driving to a nearby Kroger or gas station and venturing to the track to shedrow horses for trainer Norman McKnight to stay fit.

“I only missed like three days and then Mr. McKnight put me to work,” Bowen said. “It was surely one of the biggest snowstorms I've witnessed. I sent my mom videos, constantly, my family. I was like, 'Family, I thought you loved me. Where's the sunshine?' ”

Although Bowen cut his teeth in Canada, he became a riding star in the Pacific Northwest. He became the first Bajan jockey to win a riding title in the United States at the 2015-2016 Portland Meadows meeting and was champion jockey three consecutive years (2016, 2017 and 2018) at Emerald Downs in suburban Seattle before a debilitating arm injury in September 2018 cost him approximately 1 ½ years in the saddle. Bowen resumed riding June 4 at Belterra Park and a week later became the first Bajan jockey to win a race Churchill Downs (White Wolf for trainer Paul Holthus of Hot Springs). The purse was $24,000. Bowen said it was the trainer's wife, Oaklawn paddock analyst/handicapper Nancy Holthus, who reminded him last Saturday's pot was almost four times larger.

“Honestly, I didn't know the purse until I got back to the room, until one of my biggest fans, Nancy, said something to me,” Bowen said. “She said on top of me winning, it was a big purse. I said, 'Nancy, I was just hoping to win one.' It didn't matter the purse size because all purses here are big. Some are bigger than others. I was just hoping to notch one. It feels great.”

Bowen entered Thursday with 1,008 career North American victories, according to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization. He was named on two horses Thursday at Oaklawn, including Frankies Moonshine for Paul Holthus in the fifth race.

The most famous rider produced by Barbados, a small Caribbean island northeast of Venezuela, is Patrick Husbands, an eight-time Sovereign Award winner as the outstanding jockey in Canada. Husbands is 0 for 11 in his career at Churchill Downs and never ridden at Oaklawn.

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Background Hopes To Be Front And Center After Wednesday’s Indiana Derby

Trainer Mike Puhich is hoping his 3-year-old gelding Background is front and center after Wednesday's $300,000, Grade 3 Indiana Derby. Background is 20-1 in the morning line for the field of 10.

Background is owned by the Giddyup Stables of Bob Rondeau, who retired three years ago after 37 years as the voice of the University of Washington athletics, and his wife Molly, an Indiana product whose grandparents lived in Shelbyville.

Puhich is based at the Pegasus Training and Rehabilitation Center just outside Seattle in Redmond, Wash., but this year is establishing a Midwest division that wintered in Arkansas and moved on to Kentucky. Background began his racing career at Arkansas' Oaklawn Park, winning on his second attempt while stretching out to 1 1/16 miles, then alternated a pair of thirds with a pair of ninth-place finishes.

“If you look at his form, it's pretty much similar to everybody else in the race,” Puhich said. “It's a competitive race. Everybody's still eligible for conditioned allowance races. They're a cut below right now the top 3-year-olds in the country. But I think this is the kind of race where somebody is hoping to have their horse step up and go to that next level. But right now, we're all on equal terms. I think it's a real competitive race — a race we feel we're going to be competitive in and that he fit in.”

Background last ran June 14 when ninth in an allowance sprint at Churchill Downs. Puhich was using the spot as a tightener for the 1 1/8-mile Indiana Derby but after that poor performance he thought a trip to Indiana Grand was out.

“He's run a couple of disappointing races, but he's had an issue with chronic allergies,” Puhich said. “His last start he had a lot of mucous. We tried a different type of herb on him. I was at wit's end with him, and he responded really well to it. We were going to use that last race as a prep for this race, but I pretty much wrote it off the way he ran. But he responded to it and 'scoped really clean. We figured, 'Let's go up and take a shot.' He's doing good. He's happy and as healthy as he's been for a long time. So, we're looking for a much-improved performance. He's going to need it.”

The Indiana Derby winner will receive 20 points toward qualifying for the Sept. 5 delayed Kentucky Derby. While Background is nominated to the Triple Crown, Puhich said, “He's got to be awful impressive to take that next step. But I think everybody in the race is hoping their horse does step up and shows something that 'why heck, we can still be dreaming here.' But right now, we're going to focus on this race, and see what happens.”

In an excellent betting race — Arkansas Derby fourth-place finisher Winning Impression is the 3-1 favorite — there's good money to be made to those who can handicap the Grade 3 race correctly.

Asked why horseplayers should use his horse, Puhich said, “Twenty-to-one is a really good price for him. I think he fits in there with anybody on paper, if you go back and look at his better races. If he runs his best race, he's going to be right there.

“But I also think that it's the type of race that after it's over — no matter who wins — you can look at it and say, 'Oh yeah, you can make a case for that horse.' Because everybody's got a live shot, in my opinion.”

Regular rider Tyler Baze has the mount.

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