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‘The More You Do, The More You Learn’: Gary Stevens On Going From Rider To Agent

Hall of Famer Gary Stevens has worn a lot of different hats during his time in the industry, from jockey to trainer to racing analyst. He even had a brief encounter with acting for the movie “Seabiscuit,” but he is currently working on mastering being an agent for former Southern California-based jockeys Geovanni Franco and Tiago Pereira at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

Stevens is best known for his career as a jockey spanning from 1979 to 2018, in which time he earned $258,217,768 and won 5,187 races in North America, including each leg of the Triple Crown three times, 11 Breeders' Cup races, and many other notable national and international races. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1997, and won an Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey the following year.

Stevens' father, Ron, was also involved in the horse racing industry as a trainer. His father introduced him to racing at a young age and even gave Stevens his first mount as a professional Thoroughbred jockey aboard Lil Star, who was the young jockey's first win that same day.

Stevens discussed his role as an agent and his passion for the industry.

Question: What do your responsibilities as an agent look like day to day?

Gary Stevens: “I wake up at 4:00 a.m. and I'm out at the track by 5:00. There are certain trainers that I hit early on and then I sort of just work my way through the barn area. Really the most difficult thing is arranging workouts. Geovanni had some nice winners this past weekend. To be successful at Oaklawn, the jock has to work horses. Trainers like it when they're out in the morning. I just make sure workouts are organized timing-wise, no conflicts. It's not easy to keep everybody happy. It seems like everybody wants the same times.

I also book mounts for the future so that's how the day starts. I'm also doing television for America's Day At The Races on FOX every day as well. There's no conflicts as far as entries go, other than on Saturdays when they take entries for Fridays so I have to go between where I do my television and the racing office. They're busy, busy days, but I'm enjoying them.”

Q: Do you think that your experience as a jockey – as well as your wide variety of other experiences in the industry – helps you market your riders?

G: “Yeah, but I'll tell you what, an agent's job is not easy, but if you have a good product it makes your job much easier. I've always respected my agents, but I have more respect for every agent out there now that I'm doing it full time. It's not an easy job and even though I've been around it all my life, there's nuances that I'm still learning on the fly. There's guys that have been doing this as long as I rode and their experience level, you can see it. I feel like the apprentice right now believe it or not, but being able to walk into pretty much any barn that I want to is a big help. I feel like I've got respect and I respect every barn that I walk into. I feel like I have a definite advantage with the reputation that I have.”

Q: You've already touched on some challenges to being an agent, but what is your favorite part about it?

G: “I love being out on the backstretch in the morning. I always have. When I was riding even at the highest level I enjoyed being in the barn. I've been going to the barn since I was a young kid working for my father and it's part of my life. Without the mornings you don't have the afternoons. I love watching the grooms work, the hot walkers, the trainers, the assistants, and just everything about it. One of my favorite things about being at Oaklawn is being at Wayne Lukas's barn every morning and not necessarily talking about the present, but the past and Wayne making me what he calls a 'gourmet coffee.' We'll sit and start telling old stories and I really enjoy that.”

Q: You've worn a lot of different hats within the horse racing industry. What is it about this industry that keeps you coming back?

G: “It's my life. I really enjoyed training, but the way it is now with these big outfits and everything, it's a definite challenge. I don't know how some of these guys make it with small outfits, especially in California and New York with the labor laws and taxes and insurance. It's a very difficult job to have. Being an agent goes hand in hand with what I did all those years riding, going by the barns, and being a part of it. I'm addicted to it and it's all I know. I've got the television stuff that I've done and that also kind of goes hand in hand because I have to do a lot of studying and homework for my shows. That prepares me for my job as a jockey's agent as well. It's this giant web kind of like the internet and one thing just leads to another and the more you do, the more you learn, and the more opportunities you get.”

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Lone Rock Will Try To End 2021 Season On Top In Oaklawn’s Inaugural Tinsel Stakes

Lone Rock tries to punctuate a sensational 2021 campaign in the inaugural $200,000 Tinsel Stakes Saturday at Oaklawn.

Probable post time for the 1 1/8-mile Tinsel, which goes as the ninth of 10 races, is 4:13 p.m. (Central). Racing begins at 12:30 p.m.

The Tinsel, for 3-year-olds and up, is among four new races added to Oaklawn's stakes schedule to accommodate an expanded season in 2021-2022 (66 days) and December opening, the earliest in track history. It has drawn a field of seven, including three millionaire multiple graded stakes winners.

Lone Rock opened 2021 with an allowance victory at 1 1/16 miles last February at Oaklawn, his first start since trainer Robertino Diodoro re-claimed the gelding for $40,000 in November 2020 at Churchill Downs. A two-time allowance winner at the 2021 Oaklawn meeting, Lone Rock flourished after targeting races beyond the American classic distance (1 ¼ miles) and surpassed $1 million in career earnings with a 1 ½-length victory in the $250,000 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes (G2) Nov. 6 at Del Mar in his last start. Lone Rock set a 1 5/8-mile track record (2:42.61) under Oaklawn regular Ramon Vazquez.

Diodoro said he doesn't believe cutting back to 1 1/8 miles will be a problem for Lone Rock, whose shortest race this year was the February allowance.

“I don't think so, just because the horse is doing so good right now and there's enough speed in there, on paper, anyway,” Diodoro said. “Again, we'll see what happens Saturday.”

Lone Rock has bankrolled $722,884 in winning 6 of 8 starts (all in 2021) since Diodoro took back the now-6-year-old Majestic Warrior gelding on behalf of New York owner Jason Provenzano (Flying P Stable). Prior to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, Lone Rock had captured an April 11 allowance race at Oaklawn, $130,000 Isaac Murphy Marathon Overnight Stakes April 27 at Churchill Downs, $400,000 Brooklyn Stakes (G2) June 5 at Belmont Park and the $120,000 Birdstone Stakes Aug. 5 at Saratoga.

The April 11 race, Isaac Murphy and Brooklyn were all 1 ½ miles. The Birdstone was 1 ¾ miles. Lone Rock also finished second in another 1 ½-mile race, the $150,000 Temperence Hill Stakes for older horses, March 13 at Oaklawn.

Overall, Lone Rock has a 13-4-2 record from 36 lifetime starts and earnings of $1,024,921. The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance was his fifth career stakes victory.

Diodoro said the Tinsel could serve as the gelding's bridge to another shot against Grade-1 company in 2022. Lone Rock ran in the $500,000 Breeders' Futurity (G1) for 2-year-olds in 2017 at Keeneland, but spent most of his career in the allowance ranks before blossoming in niche events this year.

“At the same time, it's one day at a time, definitely,” Diodoro said. “We're just focused on Saturday night now and see what happens.”

Also entered in the Tinsel are Warrior's Charge and Tenfold, two other millionaire multiple graded stakes winners.

Warrior's Charge won the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses in 2020 at Oaklawn for trainer Brad Cox. Warrior's Charge exits a runner-up finish, beaten a nose by Tinsel entrant Thomas Shelby, in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race Oct. 24 at Keeneland. Warrior's Charge still received a career-high 101 Beyer Speed Figure, four points higher than for his Razorback victory.

“He likes Oaklawn,” Cox said. “I think it's a good spot. He drew well. Looks like a shorter field. I think it's good timing since his last race. He received some big figures out of his last run and he's had plenty of time to recover from it. If he gets some similar figures again, I think we'll be in good shape.”

Tenfold, a Grade 2 winner, captured his first two career starts at the 2018 Oaklawn meeting for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen before finishing third in the Preakness. Diodoro also entered the speedy Thomas Shelby, who has won three consecutive starts, including a narrow decision over Warrior's Charge in October, and seven overall in 2021.

“There's lots of speed in the race, but we definitely aren't changing our tactics, that's for sure,” said Diodoro, who trains Thomas Shelby for four-time defending Oaklawn champion owner M and M Racing (Mike and Mickala Sisk). “We're going to go as hard as we need to go on the front end and hopefully have enough to last.”

The projected seven-horse Tinsel field from the rail out: Huge Bigly, Reylu Gutierrez to ride, 117 pounds, 6-1 on the morning line; Lone Rock, Ramon Vazquez, 124, 8-5; Beau Luminarie, Ricardo Santana Jr., 124, 6-1; Title Ready, Brian Hernandez Jr., 124, 9-2; Tenfold, Luis Contreras, 117, 6-1; Thomas Shelby, David Cohen, 121, 8-1; and Warrior's Charge, Florent Geroux, 124, 5-2.

Diodoro also entered Thomas Shelby in Sunday's seventh race, a starter/optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles.

Beau Luminarie is the first scheduled starter at the meeting for trainer Rodolphe Brisset, who won the $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses in 2019 at Oaklawn with Quip. Beau Luminarie is seeking his first stakes victory after near-misses in the $150,000 Ben Ali (G3) April 10 at Keeneland and the $60,000 Tri-State Overnight Aug. 7 at Ellis Park. Although Beau Luminarie has nine runner-up finishes in his 18-race career, he's won his last two starts, both in allowance company this fall in Kentucky.

“I think with the year he's had, it's no pressure,” Brisset said. “He's just turned the corner and found the wire. He's been finding the wire. Before, he had a tendency to want to hang, he had a tendency to want to run second. All of a sudden, he just learned how to win. I think we are in the right spot. I'm not saying he's going to win by 5, but he's improving and we'll see what happens. Likely, he'll get a break after the race and set him up for next year.”

Grade 3 winner Title Ready will be making his second start after finishing 11th behind 2021 Razorback winner Mystic Guide in the $12 million Dubai World Cup (G1) March 27 in the United Arab Emirates for trainer Dallas Stewart.

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C Z Rocket Back On Lasix, Returns To Hot Springs In Saturday Allowance

C Z Rocket was Oaklawn's top older male sprinter during the 2021 meeting that ended in May, but the millionaire multiple Grade 2 winner returns to Hot Springs for the 2021-2022 season trying to snap a five-race losing streak. The first chance comes in a high-end allowance sprint Saturday that his connections are using as a prep for the $150,000 King Cotton Stakes Jan. 29.

Co-owned by Southern California-based Tom Kagele, C Z Rocket was 2 for 2 last season at Oaklawn, toppling reigning male sprint champion Whitmore in the $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes and $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3). C Z Rocket is winless since, exiting a seventh in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 6 at Del Mar. But the late runner gets Lasix for the first time since last May's $400,000 Steve Sexton Mile Stakes (G3) in the 6-furlong eighth race.

“He needs it,” Kagele said Tuesday afternoon. “I don't think there's any secret he was falling off in races that he hasn't had Lasix, but he still ran pretty well. We tried him in the Breeders' Cup and didn't run that great there. Coming out of that race, his blood was a little off, so he had a little bit of an excuse there. He bounced out of it really well, so this race was like perfect timing and so we decided to run here instead of waiting for the Jan. 29 race.”

C Z Rocket, prior to leaving Southern California, recorded three workouts at San Luis Rey Downs for Saturday's race, which will mark his first for trainer Rene Amescua. On behalf of Kagele, trainer Peter Miller claimed C Z Rocket for $40,000 out of a fifth-place finish April 30, 2020, at Oaklawn. C Z Rocket then ripped off five consecutive victories, including the $150,000 Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2) at Del Mar and $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G2) at Santa Anita, before finishing second to Whitmore in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) in November 2020 at Keeneland.

Miller announced last month that he was taking a sabbatical from training to spend more time with his family and focus on his health, but would “continue to act as an advisor/racing manager to my owners and my assistants as well as staying involved as an owner myself.”

Amescua has raced extensively in California and won more than 900 races in his career, according to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization.

“I've known him for years,” Kagele said. “He was a trainer up at Golden Gate for years and just through the covid and other things, he kind of took a turn for the worse and lost some horses and some owners. Then, he recently said he was going to go out there to Oaklawn and I recommended him to Pete. I'm comfortable with it and Pete was, too. Pete owns part of C Z, also.”

After being claimed for $40,000 at Oaklawn, C Z Rocket began his winning streak against $50,000 claimers about a month later at Churchill Downs. The fifth-place finisher in that race, Hollis, was claimed for $50,000 and returned to set a 5 ½-furlong track record (1:02.17) in allowance company Dec. 10 at Oaklawn.

C Z Rocket, after escaping the claim box, won an allowance/optional claimer in June 2020 at Churchill Downs (he was in for a $62,500 tag) and set a 6 ½-furlong track record (1:15.00) three weeks later in a Keeneland allowance race. C Z Rocket has subsequently raced strictly in listed or graded stakes, spanning 10 races and roughly 15 ½ months.

“He'll be out there the whole meet,” Kagele said. “Hopefully, he does as well as he did last year.”

Regular rider Florent Geroux is named to ride C Z Rocket, the 5-2 program favorite, from post 8 for Saturday's eighth race, which has a $120,000 purse. Probable post time is 3:46 p.m. (Central). Also entered are millionaire Grade 2 winner Long Range Toddy and Mucho, a stablemate of Hollis who exits a runner-up finish, beaten a head, in the $300,000 Bet On Sunshine Stakes Nov. 6 at Churchill Downs.

C Z Rocket, a 7-year-old gelded son of City Zip, has an 11-4-4 record from 30 career starts and earnings of $1,511,641.

The King Cotton is Oaklawn's first of three major races for older sprinters. The series continues with the $200,000 Whitmore Stakes (formerly the Hot Springs) March 19 and the $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) April 16.

Moysey Records First Win of Meet

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Insights: Half to Bast Debuts at GP

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency

6th-GP, $60K, Msw, 3yo/up, 6f, 2:56 p.m. ET
Well-related UNEXPECTED (California Chrome) makes his debut here for trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. and the Chu family's Baoma Corporation, which also campaigned his MGISW half-sister Bast (Uncle Mo). A $500,000 FTSAUG '18 yearling, Bast was a frequent visitor to California winner's, scoring victories in the GI Del Mar Debutante S., GI Chandelier S., GI Starlet S. and the GII Santa Ynez S. in her final career start. She was also a stubborn third in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies behind eventual Eclipse Award winner British Idiom (Flashback). Bast would go on to bring $4.2 million from Spendthrift Farm while in foal to Justify at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton November sale. Their dam Laffina RNA'd for $290,000 while carrying Bast at the 2016 Keeneland November sale, but brought $1.5 million in foal to Ghostzapper at FTKNOV '19. Laffina's now 2-year-old Pioneerof the Nile filly was a $430,000 FTKNOV weanling and $425,000 KEESEP yearling. TJCIS PPs

8th-OP, $101K, Alw/OC, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 4:46 p.m. ET
Kueber Racing's COACH (Commissioner) makes her first appearance since finishing ninth in late April's GI Longines Kentucky Oaks. The $65,000 Fasig-Tipton October graduate won her first three starts as a juvenile, including the Rags to Riches S. under the Twin Spires, before finishing third in the GII Golden Rod S. She began her 2021 season with a second in the Martha Washington S. here in January; was fifth in the GIII Honeybee S. Mar. 6; and third in the GIII Fantasy S. Apr. 3 before the Oaks.
TJCIS PPs

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