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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: ‘I Don’t Think I Could Ever Work For Somebody Else’

Jorje Abrego distinctly remembers that dark day in 2012 when Midwest Thoroughbreds abruptly removed their horses from trainer Brad Cox's barn.

“It was 3:00 in the afternoon, and I looked down the shed row to see all webbings laying open, no horses in the stalls; it was sad,” Abrego said. “I remember somebody told me, 'You know, you better find another job, because Brad has only two horses!'

“Brad came into Barn 47 and told me, 'Please don't go anywhere, I'll keep you on your salary if you stay here. I'm going to get more horses.'”

That he did. The Cox operation is now setting new milestones: the barn had four Breeders' Cup winners at the 2020 World Championships, and has three top candidates on the Kentucky Derby trail early in 2021.

“You know, sometimes bad things come, and then very good things come after,” Abrego said from his office at Oaklawn Park. “The rest is a very good story. It's amazing, really.”

The 35-year-old native of Guatemala has been at Cox's side since 2009, working his way up from a part-time groom and part-time hotwalker to one of the trainer's top assistants. Abrego had only ever worked with a few horses, and had never seen a racehorse before arriving in the United States at the age of 22. He only walked hots before taking the job in Cox's barn.

It isn't hard to see that Abrego's long-time loyalty to the trainer runs deep; he's one of the first ones at the barn in the morning, and one of the last to leave it at night. He can be found in most of the photographs of the barn's top runners, and he still answers Cox's calls with a crisp, respectful, “Yes, sir.”

For the past five or six years, Abrego has made Oaklawn Park his winter home, handling a barn full of horses as well as the high-quality ship-in runners. Last weekend, for example, champions Monomoy Girl and Essential Quality shipped up from New Orleans before triumphing in local stakes races.

Assistant trainer Jorje Abrego celebrates a victory at Oaklawn Park

The chestnut phenom Monomoy Girl is the one who has Abrego's heart, however.

“I love every single horse in my barn, and maybe Brad Cox will win 100 more Grade 1 races, but I'll always remember her,” Abrego said. “She was the first Grade 1 for the team, and it's amazing to have a 6-year-old filly still running.”

The daughter of Tapizar gave Cox his first G1 win in the 2018 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland, and has now won two editions of the Breeders' Cup Distaff, in 2018 and in 2020. She missed over a year of racing between her championship-defining victories, but came back with a vengeance to dominate her division in 2020.

Monomoy Girl sold to Spendthrift Farm for $9.5 million at the end of 2020, and B. Wayne Hughes decided to return the champion racemare to Cox for a final season of racing in 2021. In her first start as a 6-year-old, Monomoy Girl posted a facile victory in the G3 Bayakoa Stakes on Feb. 28 at Oaklawn.

Her racing success isn't the only thing Abrego loves about the mare.

“This filly is so sweet, too, especially when you give her a peppermint,” he said. “When this filly is walking the shed row, she's like a pony. You'd never think she would run like that.”

The excitement is ramping up in the whole barn this year, as Cox has three runners with points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. The trainer has never started a horse in the Run for the Roses, but with 2-year-old champion Essential Quality in the barn, as well as prep winners Mandaloun and Caddo River, the first Saturday in May can't come quickly enough.

“I just hope we have the right one in the barn, the winner,” Abrego said, smiling.

Jorje Abrego, left, schooling Essential Quality in the paddock at Oaklawn before the colt's win in the G3 Southwest Stakes

At the end of the day, win or lose, Abrego knows he has the best job in the world. He has a hard time expressing his gratitude to Cox for taking a chance on him all those years ago, but he'll never forget it.

“When I told him this, believe me, it came from my heart,” Abrego relayed. “I told him, 'I don't think I could ever work for somebody else.' I love this job too much.

“I don't feel like Brad Cox is my boss, really. The guy treats me like family.”

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The Friday Show Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: What Just Happened?

Following a big weekend of racing that showcased Triple Crown prospects Greatest Honour in the Fountain of Youth and reigning 2-year-old champion Essential Quality in the Southwest Stakes, all hell broke loose with a series of stories that diminished racing's on-track activities in favor of unsavory events taking place off the track.

In this week's edition of the Friday Show sponsored by Rowayton – standing at Diamond B Farm in Pennsylvania – Paulick Reporter publisher Ray Paulick is joined by bloodstock editor Joe Nevills and news editor Chelsea Hackbarth to review a week that featured an on-camera jockey fight and an incident involving a trainer in the Ireland posing for pictures while sitting on a dead horse – all while animal rights protesters were trying to shut down racing at Golden Gate Fields in Northern California.

Some strong opinions on these matters are shared in this week's show.

Plus there is our Star of the Week and a Toast to Vino Rosso, taking a look at one of the early foals from the first crop by the Spendthrift Farm stallion.

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View From The Eighth Pole: If Weight Matters, Take It More Seriously

We can only guess how much the weight carried in a race affects a horse's performance. All other things being equal, a horse that carries 120 pounds in a race will have an advantage over one carrying 123 pounds. Maybe it's a length, maybe more, maybe less. But it is an advantage.

That's why racing officials everywhere should pay heed to the ruling against Alexander Crispin, the Eclipse Award-winning apprentice jockey of 2020, for riding under his assigned weight in a mid-January race at Laurel Park in Maryland.

As Maryland Racing Commission administrative steward Adam Campola said, “There are integrity issues.”

Here's the timeline in the Crispin case.

-In early to mid-January, there were rumblings going through the Laurel jockey colony that Crispin – who already has an edge over his fellow riders with a five-pound apprentice allowance – was allegedly weighing in after a race under the weight he was assigned to carry. Jockeys (including saddle and weighted pads or lead weights if necessary) are weighed by the clerk of scales before a valet takes their saddle out to the paddock.

-Stewards met informally with Crispin and clerk of scales Frank Saumell on Sunday, Jan. 10, and had what Campola said was a “discussion” on the subject. “We had heard the rumors,” Campola said, “but there was no proof.”

-After the meeting, stewards worked with Maryland Jockey Club management to turn on the security cameras in the TIPS Restaurant at Laurel, where the jockeys and the weigh-in scale had been relocated as part of the COVID-19 protocols. Starting on Jan. 15, Campola said, the cameras were able to capture on video and record the weights of riders as they weighed out and in before and after a race.

-On Saturday, Jan. 16, after the final race of the day, Campola said he was getting into his car when he received a call from Saumell. “He said, 'Adam, I've got a problem here,' and told me what had happened.”

Crispin's mount, Alpha Queue, who finished third in the seven-furlong race, was assigned 115 pounds, but after the race came in closer to 110, Saumell told Campola.

Campola asked Saumell – who works for the Maryland Jockey Club – to have track management retrieve video of Crispin on the scales before and after the race. According to Campola, officials produced images from the security cameras that showed the discrepancy.

-A hearing was conducted on Feb. 24 (an attorney hired by Crispin asked for extra time because of his workload). Alpha Queue was disqualified and purse money redistributed. During the hearing, Campola said, Crispin offered no explanation for the discrepancy in weight.

-A ruling issued early this week said Crispin was being suspended 30 days and fined $1,000. For the final 10 days of the suspension, Crispin will be allowed to work horses in the morning. The suspension took effect on Monday, March 1.

“We were disturbed by this,” Campola said. “It doesn't sit well. We really had no guideline (on the extent of the penalty), so we called around to different places, but I didn't get anyone to say this has happened to them before. In the end, we thought it was a pretty fair penalty.”

Saumell is not suspected of any wrongdoing, Campola said.

There have, in fact, been a few cases of jockeys weighing in after a race with a lower weight than they registered just before the race. And keep in mind that, typically, riders come back after a race weighing more. In Kentucky for example, a rider is permitted an additional six pounds after riding in a race (three pounds for protective gear like safety vest, helmet and goggles and three pounds for rain, dirt or mud splattered or caked on their clothes).

In 1990 at defunct Bay Meadows in Northern California, jockey Ricky Frazier received a six-month suspension when he weighed in three pounds light after winning the $250,000 Final Fourteen Stakes by a nose.

In 2018, jockey Matt Garcia was suspended seven days by stewards at Los Alamitos in Southern California for twice weighing in about two pounds under his assigned weight.

In the 2010 Belmont Stakes in New York, Uptowncharlybrown was disqualified from fifth place when an eight-pound lead pad slipped off from underneath the saddle and saddle towel during the running of the race, causing jockey Rajiv Maragh to weigh in well under the 126-pound assignment. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin accepted the blame for that mistake.

How could a jockey and his or her equipment weigh less after a race than before? Jockeys and horsemen I spoke to provided some insights but asked that they not be named.

One way is for a jockey to slide lead weights into his or her boots before the race and then discarding them. Another is for a rider to gorge on a meal before getting weighed pre-race and then “flipping,” or self-induced vomiting.

Finally, there have been suspicions of jockey valets removing lead weights from the slots in saddle pads after the jockey weighs out pre-race. But in many jurisdictions, valets draw numbers to determine which horse they help saddle, so are not regularly assigned to their jockey's horse.

In all of these instances, the riders are going to depend on a clerk of scales who gives a cursory glance at the weight as jockeys quickly step on and off the scale, often with the indicator arrow still moving. Some clerks of scale have gotten in trouble for allowing incorrect weights post-race, but in these cases they usually involve riders who are unable to make assigned weights and are several pounds overweight, even after the safety equipment and dirt/mud allowances are taken into account.

Two steps should be taken to clean up this part of the business.

First, use digital scales that not only have an easy to read display but also can relay the information to the stewards and record all weights taken. Second, as many South American tracks do, focus a television camera on the scale and, after each race, let the wagering public see for themselves the weights of each rider.

As Adam Campola said, “There are integrity issues.” In this case, they aren't that difficult to fix.

That's my view from the eighth pole.

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Updated: ‘Integrity Issue’ Behind 30-Day Suspension Of Eclipse Award-Winning Apprentice

Eclipse Award-winning apprentice jockey Alexander Crispin has been suspended for 30 days and fined $1,000 for carrying the wrong weight during a race at Laurel Park in Maryland, the Daily Racing Form reported Tuesday.

On Wednesday, DRF reported the circumstances surrounding the ruling. Maryland stewards had heard rumors about Crispin allegedly riding under weight.

The race in question is the ninth on Jan. 16, 2021, in which Alpha Queue finished third. The horse, trained by Lacey Gaudet, was disqualified, and the Equibase chart notes that it “carried wrong weight.” Crispin's listed weight in the chart, presumably the weight at which he was supposed to ride Alpha Queue, was 115 pounds.

Video evidence showed that Crispin weighed in at 115 before the race, but 110 afterward.

According to the condition book, Crispin can ride at as low as 108 pounds.

Maryland rules require disqualification if the jockey rides at least one pound below listed weight, while overweights may be penalized with warnings.

“We felt, as a group, that it was an integrity issue, and it needed to be addressed,” chief state steward Adam Campola told drf.com. “We wanted to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.”

Two stewards outside of Maryland, commenting without specific knowledge of Crispin's case, told the Daily Racing Form that the fine and suspension suggest Crispin may have deliberately falsified his weight, or knew that he was not riding under the assigned weight.