New York Racing Association | Horse Racing Free Tips

Hall of Fame Jockey Edgar Prado Has Retired

In a tweet sent out Tuesday afternoon, Gulfstream Park announced that Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado has retired. With 7,119 victories, Prado, 56, is the eighth winningest jockey in the sport's history. He has not ridden since the Jan. 6 card at Gulfstream.

At deadline for this story, Prado had not returned a phone from the TDN, but told the Blood-Horse that he wanted to spend more time with his family.

“It was getting harder and harder and I was wasting the time that I spent with my family, with my loved ones,” he told the Blood-Horse. “I saw my kids in my house having a great time and I decided to call it off. I've been very blessed throughout my career.”

Prado's decision to retire came after one of the roughest stretches of his career. He won just 15 races in 2021 and another 11 in 2022. This year, he was 0-for-2.

“They all wanted new riders,” he told said. “I totally understand that. When I was 20, I took somebody's place and now somebody is taking my place.”

Prado was born in Lima, Peru, where he rode his first winner in 1983. He began riding in the U.S. in 1986, starting out at the Florida tracks before moving on to Suffolk Downs. He had his breakthrough at the Maryland tracks, where, in 1997, he won 536 races. He was the leading jockey in Maryland six times, 1991 through 1993 and 1997 through 1999. Prado led all riders in the nation in wins three times, in 1997, 1998 and 1999.

In 1999, Richard Migliore, who was riding regularly for trainer John Kimmel had a spill and Kimmel needed a new rider. He summoned Prado from Maryland and that began a very successful run at the NYRA tracks for the talented Peruvian jockey. He would go on to win 11 riding titles at the NYRA tracks.

He won the 2002 GI Belmont S. with Sarava (Wild Again), the longest shot ever to win the race, and the 2004 Belmont with Birdstone (Grindstone). He also won five Breeders' Cup races. But Prado will always be best known as the rider of the ill-fated Barbaro (Dynaformer). After a rousing win by Barbaro in the 2006 GI Kentucky Derby with Prado aboard, the colt appeared ready to sweep the Triple Crown, but he broke down in the GI Preakness S. and was euthanized several months later.

Prado won an Eclipse Award in 2006 as the nation's leading rider and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008.

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Racetrack Chaplaincy Seeking Donations for Summer Camp Program

The mission of the New York Racetrack Chaplaincy is to better the lives of the some 3,500 people who care for the horses at the NYRA racetracks, which, among other things, means finding an outlet in the summer for the children of the backstretch workers during the Saratoga meet. It's a huge need given the obstacles backstretch families encounter when it comes to how to care for their kids, but the Racetrack Chaplaincy has come up with an answer. Some 10 years ago, the group started the Saratoga Enrichment Program, which places the children of Saratoga backstretch workers into local summer camps during the meet.

“The kids love it,” said Humberto Chavez, New York Chaplain for the Race Track Chaplaincy of America . “They get out of city life get into the country.”

When racing moves to Saratoga, the backstretch workers have to adjust. There is no housing for families on the Saratoga backstretch, which leaves only a few options, one of which is a campground near the track made available by a local church. But that doesn't solve what to do with the children. During much of the rest of the year, they go off to school during the week while their parents work their backstretch jobs. With schools closed during the Saratoga season, parents sometimes have to choose between working or staying home to take care of their children.

“What they do is the mom or dad goes up to work in Saratoga and kids and the other parent stays back home here at Belmont or in Florida or Kentucky,” Chavez said. “That was the only other option. In that case, the family component wouldn't be together. As a chaplaincy, we believe that families need to stay together. Families had traditionally always been very cautious about bringing their kids with them to Saratoga because of the restrictions of the track.”

To have the camp option solves much of the problem. The workers can go about their day knowing that their children are being looked after and having fun.

The chaplaincy has partnered with five camps and accepts children as young as six and as old as 14. Chavez said that in a typical year about 25 kids will sign up for the program.

“The highlight of it last year came with a young girl who had never owned or ridden a bike,” said New York Race Track Chaplaincy president Ramon Dominguez. “We partnered with Saratoga Shredders, which has a youth mountain bike program. They donated bikes for each individual child in our program. They taught this girl how to ride a bike. That was her highlight and our highlight. That's what we're here for, to give them an experience that would be hard to have back home in a city environment.”

The Saratoga Enrichment Program is wholly dependent on donations and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, Thoroughbred Charities of America, and NYRA are among those who help out. The group also depends on donations from individuals, and Chavez admitted that donations “have been a little light” this year.

“We get donations from individuals who love what we do and want to give a child a good opportunity to spend a good summer in Saratoga and keep the nucleus of the family together,” Chavez said. “We need people to help. It's for the kids and it helps their mons and dads who are working really hard in the industry.”

To donate to the Saratoga Enrichment Program click here.

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Arcangelo Tunes Up for Belmont

Blue Rose Farm's Arcangelo (Arrogate), last-out winner of the GIII Peter Pan S., worked five furlongs in 1:02.81 (2/5) at Belmont Park Wednesday in preparation for the June 10 GI Belmont S. New York Racing Association clockers caught the grey galloping out six-furlongs in 1:15 4/5 and seven-furlongs in 1:28 4/5. Javier Castellano was in the irons.

“He's a nice, beautiful-moving horse and he did it easy. He's a good work horse. In the morning, you can work him :59 if you wanted,” Castellano said. “We all know that [the Belmont is] a mile and a half and you don't want to go crazy with a bullet work. We just give him a good foundation and I think we both agree we let him do what he wants to do in the morning and be happy. You can see he's a very happy horse and he goes to the post nice–very relaxed, comfortable rhythm. I let him gallop out and in the turn I asked him a little bit and he took off and had a good open gallop. He's a big horse, long beautiful stride. He likes to reach for more ground. The farther he can go, the more he's comfortable.”

Trained by Jena Antonucci, Arcangelo broke his maiden going one mile at Gulfstream in March and was making his stakes debut when getting his head in front on the line in the nine-furlong Peter Pan. The Belmont will be the ridgling's first start around two turns.

“It's not a secret he hasn't gone two turns yet and that's the obvious conversation and we talked a lot about that,” Antonucci said. “The second half of the work was more important for me than the first half. Going off, he was super relaxed and that's what we were looking for–I didn't want him dragging Javier to the pole and him having to take any natural ability momentum away from him. He did that perfectly and Javier was a statue aboard the horse. We wanted to get that second turn around him and Javier was concerned to smooch at him too much.”

Antonucci will be starting her first horse in a Triple Crown race as Arcangelo looks to become the first Peter Pan winner since Tonalist won the Belmont in 2014.

“They're all special, and not the be cliche, but my job is to stay out of his way,” Antonucci said. “It [the opportunity] doesn't fall on deaf ears. It's special–if it's 10 in the gate or 11 in the gate of that entire foal crop, that's a very small percentage. So, I definitely don't lose sight of that and I'm very blessed to have the opportunity and for the team to have the opportunity. They've put in a lot of work and they deserve it.”

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Dutrow Licensed to Train in Kentucky

Richard E. Dutrow, Jr., was approved for a training license by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC)'s license review committee Tuesday. The voice vote was unanimous and without drama, and Dutrow's license goes into effect immediately.

Dutrow in February had regained his license to train horses in New York after sitting out a 10-year revocation imposed by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC).

The 63-year-old GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer with the long and controversial history of racing infractions has a 1-1-1 record from six starts at Belmont Park since returning to the sport May 6.

“I just want to get my license there. Bring some horses there. Start racing. Start winning and losing, just like everybody else,” Dutrow said prior to the vote.

Dutrow's presentation in front of the committee clocked in at just 2 1/2 minutes, and consisted of him making very brief introductory remarks prior to providing concise answers to four questions from the license review committee members.

Dutrow appeared at the Lexington, Kentucky, meeting via video from New York that bore the identifying stamp of the law firm Paul Weiss. Dutrow was seated at a conference table, presumably next to an attorney, although that person did not speak during the presentation while Dutrow calmly and politely stated his own case.

Dutrow's presentation was by far the shortest among the four license applicants who were on the afternoon's agenda, and its brevity also stood in contrast to the last time Dutrow appeared before the KHRC committee seeking licensure in July 2020. At that last hearing, his legal strategy had involved testimony given by several industry participants who had vouched for Dutrow's worthiness to be licensed.

At that hearing nearly three years ago, Dutrow hadn't been licensed by any jurisdiction, and he hadn't served the full term of his New York revocation. He chose to withdraw his 2020 application when the committee gave him the option of doing so after making it clear his application wasn't going to be approved.

It was a different outcome on May 30, 2023, when Dutrow did not have anyone else speak on his behalf, and he was not pressed on any of his past transgressions by any member of the KHRC's license review committee.

Asked by one committee member to outline the extent of his planned racing stable in Kentucky and who would be taking care of his horses there if he was not on the grounds, Dutrow responded, “Yes, sir. I plan on being in Kentucky quite often with my horses, yes.”

That answer, albeit vague, seemed to satisfy the committee members.

Asked in how many states he currently holds a training license, Dutrow said New York is the only current jurisdiction, and that his application before the KHRC is his only active application.

In response to a query about how many horses are now under his care, Dutrow said, “I have 23 horses under my care at Belmont. But there's a bunch of them on farms that I would consider under my care. There's too many to count.”

One committee member then wanted to know about the conditions that had been placed on Dutrow's New York license regarding his need to submit to human drug testing. Was there something about his personal drug use that would cause the NYSGC to do that?

“Not that I'm aware of. I'm not aware of it,” Dutrow said.

That was it for the questioning. After hearing individually from all four applicants on the agenda, the committee went into executive session to deliberate before coming back into open session to vote on each applicant.

Dutrow's video feed had been turned off after his presentation, so his reaction to gaining licensure wasn't part of the KHRC meeting's YouTube video. A staffer indicated that Dutrow would be phoned afterwards with the results of the vote, but that he couldn't be phoned prior to the vote, because if he spoke without all committee members being able to hear and see him, it would be a violation of open meeting rules. TDN was not successful in reaching Dutrow for comment after the vote in his favor was taken.

Dutrow's trainees earned more than $87 million between 1979 and 2013. They won multiple graded stakes, including three Breeders' Cup races and the 2008 Kentucky Derby with Big Brown. He often topped the trainer standings at New York tracks during the 2000s decade.

Around that same time, Dutrow's official rap sheet maintained by the Association of Racing Commissioners International began to swell with violations related to an array of equine pharmaceuticals.

Between 2000 and his attempt to win the Triple Crown in 2008 with Big Brown, Dutrow was cited for 18 drug infractions, ranging from comparably benign violations for overages of legal medications phenylbutazone and Lasix, to more serious charges of using mepivacaine, an anesthetic that can be used to make sore horses feel no pain.

In addition to $20,000 in drug fines, Dutrow racked up a $5,000 penalty for providing misleading information to authorities about a workout, and was slapped with a $25,000 fine in 2007 for having contact with his stable while he was supposed to be serving a suspension.

On Nov. 20, 2010, the Dutrow trainee Fastus Cactus tested positive for butorphanol after a winning effort at Aqueduct. Dutrow's barn was searched and investigators claimed to have found in a desk drawer three syringes filled with a muscle relaxer, xylazine.

The NYSGC's predecessor agency, the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, revoked Dutrow's license on Oct. 12, 2011.

Dutrow battled that revocation for two years, both at the racing commission level and in the courts. His suspension officially commenced Jan. 17, 2013. Later that year he filed a failed federal lawsuit seeking monetary damages and a reinstatement of his licensure.

Dutrow has since paid a $50,000 NYSGC fine, his term of revocation in New York ended on Jan. 17, 2023, and he now has valid licenses from New York license and Kentucky.

Asked via email after the meeting to clarify whether the committee's vote signified full approval of Dutrow's licensure or if the entire KHRC board still had to vote on what the committee approved, KHRC executive director Jamie Eads wrote, “Yes, he is licensed.”

According to the roll call, the voting members of the committee were Eads, Paul Brooker, Greg Harbut and George Haydon.

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