Jockey Benny Landeros Continues To Climb Longevity Lists At Remington Park

Journeyman jockey Benny Landeros is in his 33rd year of riding racehorses and returns to Remington Park for this fall meet. He is the highest rider on the all-time wins list here that is not in the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Landeros sits sixth on the all-time Remington Park wins list with 691 in 8,701 mounts in Oklahoma City. That's the third-most horses ridden all time here, behind only Cliff Berry (12,936 mounts) and Luis Quinonez (9,704). Berry (2,125 wins) and Quinonez (1,416) are first and third on the all-time wins list with Don Pettinger (1,419) sandwiched between them in second, followed by Tim Doocy (796) and the late, great Pat Steinberg in fifth (727). Those top five riders are all Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Famers.

Landeros needs 36 more wins at Remington Park to tie Steinberg, whose career was cut short when he was killed in a car wreck on his way to Omaha, Neb., following the Remington Park meet in May 1993. Steinberg had won nine riding titles at the Oklahoma City track in his career.

Landeros has no delusions of grandeur in passing one of his favorite riders ever, Steinberg.

“Wow, I'm in sixth behind him?” Landeros said. “At Remington Park? I had no idea. I knew I was up there somewhere. That's pretty good. Me and Pat were great together. He's one guy that I never had words with. He was a real professional, along with Don Pettinger and R.D. Williams.”

At 52 years old, Landeros, despite finishing third in the most recent Fair Meadows jockey standings this summer with 22 wins, admits his career at Remington Park is winding down. He finished tied for 21st in the 2020 thoroughbred standings in Oklahoma City with five wins from 90 mounts.

“Sometimes I feel like I'm 20 and sometimes I feel like I'm 60,” he said. “I'm very healthy. I'm not going to ride many horses at Remington this year. I'm over here helping (trainer) Mindy Willis (who has 40 stalls this meet). I really don't care to ride many horses now. I always say my prayers in the morning and if the good Lord lets me keep being healthy and gives me another three to five years of riding…whatever he gives me, whenever he tells me it's time to let go, I'll let go.”

Born in Querrdaro, Mexico, Landeros became a naturalized American citizen in 2008. He passed the 2,000 wins mark this year and now sits at 2,014 overall, riding Thoroughbreds, American Quarter Horses, Paints, Appaloosas and Arabians. He has come a long way from when he experienced a bit of a fiasco on the first horse he galloped in California when he was in his teens.

“An ex-rider named R.J. Garcia took me to Pomona and found me an Appaloosa to gallop,” said Landeros. “That rascal, he ran off with me about three times. That was a no-no and the outrider didn't like it.”

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Soon thereafter, he gained some riding knowledge from one of the top riders to ever come out of California, seven-time Breeders' Cup race winner and Kentucky Derby winner aboard Sunday Silence, Patrick Valenzuela.

“I used to just study him when he rode and do all the things he would do with the reins and one day he told me, 'if you get your license to ride, you let the horse tell you what to do. You'll start to feel the horse and start to read the horse's mind.' All through the years, he's been right. The horses will tell you. I've been on some that have loved their job and I've been on some that have hated their job.”

Garcia took Landeros to Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw, Okla., when he was 19 and he started his official riding career there in 1989. His first year, Landeros went 0-for-22.

“I still didn't have any doubts,” he said. “I liked my job so much. I still do. I love my horses.”

On April 15, 1990, he made it to the winner's circle for the first time aboard Sea Bird Sonny at BRD. He gives a lot of the credit to the comradery of fellow jockey Troy Crissup.

“Troy came up to me and said, 'Look, this ol' boy is going to put you on this horse. Don't fall off the horse because he's very fast.' I said, 'Really? Then why aren't you riding him?' He said, 'because I like you.'”

His first win at Remington Park came on Dec. 7, 1991, with Ultimate Problem. One of his favorite horses of all time was Strategic Leader, who he won with in the $137,800 Oklahoma Classics Turf on Oct. 22, 2010.

“He was so fun to ride,” said Landeros. “But he would worry you a lot, too. You never knew when he was going to fire or not. That was one of those nights when I didn't know if he was going to pick up the bit. But he finally did and it was really exciting.”

Strategic Leader won by 2-1/2 lengths after breaking 11th from the gate and running ninth down the backstretch.

“I had some of the owners say, 'Man, you had us sweating.'” Landeros said. “I said, 'Yeah, I know. I was sweating, too.'”

His check for the ride was more than $8,000 for that win. Did he do anything extravagant with his small pot of gold?

“Nah, just paid the bills,” he said. “Maybe took my wife out to dinner.”

That's all he really cares about these days. Not the wins. Not the ladder of success. He loves his wife, Lisa, his grown daughter Leiha with her two kids and his 11-year-old boy Levi.

“They make me happy,” he said.

Everything else is just icing on the cake.

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Second Civil Suit From Oklahoma, West Virginia Racing Authorities Questions Constitutionality Of HISA

The Horseracing Safety and Integrity Act (HISA) is facing a second legal challenge after Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter announced this week he is filing a federal lawsuit calling into question the act's constitutionality. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Kentucky, includes a number of plaintiffs, including the states of Oklahoma and West Virginia and their racing commissions, the U.S. Trotting Association and Pennsylvania-based Hanover Shoe Farm, as well as the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Association and a number of track ownership entities in Oklahoma. Defendants include the United States, the Federal Trade Commission, and a number of individuals working for the FTC and the HISA nominating committee.

This suit, much like one filed in March by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and a number of its state affiliates, questions the ability of HISA to delegate regulation to a private group while not making it accountable to a government organization. The suit questions the new authority's relationship to the FTC, which critics say can only approve or deny new rules, but has no substantive input on their construction.

The Oklahoma suit also objects to the funding mechanism that has been laid out for the new authority.

After creating this vast new federal regulatory structure and delegating it to a private corporation, Congress disclaimed any responsibility for funding the Authority itself,” reads an excerpt from the suit. “Instead, it forced the funding responsibility onto the states, imposing on them the choice of either funding the Authority with state funds or, if a state refuses, collecting fees directly from racing industry participants in that state while punishing the state by banning it from collecting similar taxes or fees itself.”

The suit seeks a declaration that HISA is unconstitutional and wants the court to stop its implementation. The suit also seeks “nominal damages.”

Read the complaint here.

The Jockey Club, which was a major player in pushing HISA forward, has previously said it believes the act is on solid ground in terms of its constitutionality.

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‘So Proud Of Him’: Welder Continues Assault On Remington Park Record Books

In 2016, Welder ran second in the Oklahoma Classics Sprint to Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame runner Okie Ride.

Four years later, if Welder wins the $70,000 Silver Goblin Stakes on Friday, Nov. 13, he will pass Okie Ride for most stakes wins in the history of Remington Park with 11. Welder, a 7-year-old gelding owned by Ra-Max Farms (Clayton Rash) of Claremore, Okla., would also pass Okie Ride for most wins in the Silver Goblin Stakes with a fourth career score in the event.

The son of The Visualiser, out of the Tiznow mare Dance Softly Now, is trained by Teri Luneack and ridden by Remington Park leading rider David Cabrera. Another score in the Silver Goblin Stakes would also give Welder his 11th stakes win in a row, extending that Remington Park record he already holds at 10 consecutive.

Welder holds the main track record for six furlongs 1:08.13, set in the David Vance Stakes on Sept. 29, 2019. He was voted Oklahoma's Horse of the Year for the second year in a row in 2019 and is the only horse ever voted Remington Park's Horse of the Meet in two consecutive years. A win Friday would move him to within one of the all-time victories total at Remington Park. He would have 14, one behind Highland Ice and Elegant Exxactsy.

Welder is the most recent Oklahoma-bred to become a millionaire. He became the eighth Oklahoma-bred to achieve the mark when he won the TRAO Classic Sprint in April this year at Will Rogers Downs in Claremore. It was his fifth consecutive win in that stakes event.

Asked what record or accolade Welder holds or is chasing that has meant the most to her, Luneack said, “the most significant thing for us was when he passed the $1 million mark. It was the one goal that Clayton and I talked about and had set.”

As far as her favorite stakes win for Welder, Luneack said it had to be the David M. Vance Stakes in 2019.

“I was so proud of him for beating all those shippers that came in from around the country,” said Luneack. “The funniest story I heard was that the shippers were over in the test barn and they were all asking (the veterinarian), 'What is this Okie-bred doing in this race?' And he said, 'because he is one fast SOB.' Winning that race was my proudest moment with him.”

An indication of just how fast this gray streak of lightning is came in the Hot Springs Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas on March 9, 2019. He came up against a legendary sprinter, Whitmore, in that race. That 7-year-old gelding just won the Breeders' Cup Sprint this past weekend by 3-1/4 lengths at Keeneland. In the Hot Springs Stakes, he beat Welder by two lengths.

“Whitmore is a war horse,” Luneack said. “I was screaming so much for him to win (the BC Sprint). “I respect him so much. No one is more deserving of that win. If they do bring him back (at 8 years old, just like Welder) for Oaklawn, I imagine we could run into him again. We have every intention to run Welder in Hot Springs. It all depends on the Oklahoma weather that time of year.

“We run into a problem, since we don't have stalls (at Oaklawn), of vanning him over there and finding a track to work him on leading up to the race,” Luneack noted. Will Rogers Downs, Welder's local track, is not open early in the year for workouts, when Oaklawn begins racing.

The first major sprint race on Oaklawn's calendar is the King Cotton Stakes on Feb. 6 at six furlongs.

Okie Ride was inducted into the Oklahoma Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2017. He won four Oklahoma Classics Sprints, three Silver Goblin Stakes and three Remington Park Turf Sprints. He was owned by the Richter Family Trust of Perkins, Okla. and conditioned by Kenny Nolen.

“I do remember running second to him with Welder,” said Luneack. “You don't like to lose, but he was such a cool horse and meant so much to Kenny. I was genuinely happy for Kenny. I was sad we lost, but it's okay to lose to a horse like that.”

Welder has been made the 2-5 morning-line favorite to break and extend another set of Remington Park records Friday night in a field of six horses.

Here's a look at this year's edition of the Silver Goblin Stakes, 6-1/2 furlongs for Oklahoma-breds, three and older, with post positions, horse, jockey, trainer and morning line odds:

1) Fly to the Bank: Lindey Wade, James Helzer, 12-1

2) Welder: David Cabrera, Teri Luneack, 2-5 (morning-line favorite)

3) Rockport Kat: Richard Eramia, Teri Luneack, 15-1

4) Dominante: Obed Sanchez, Shon Dunlap, 20-1

5) No Lak of Speed: Luis Quinonez, Jesse Oberlander, 8-1

6) Quality Rocket: Garrett Steinberg, Boyd Caster, 3-1

The Silver Goblin Stakes is the eighth race of nine on Friday night. The first race is set for 7:07pm, with the Silver Goblin Stakes scheduled for 10:23pm.

The Silver Goblin Stakes is named after another Oklahoma-bred millionaire who was adept at winning stakes races at both sprint distances and at more than one mile in the 1990s.

Remington Park will also conduct a Saturday card on Nov. 14, beginning at 7:07pm.

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