Tag: People

Paul Fowler Jr.'s 4-year-old gelding Shaft's Bullett rolled to a popular victory in Friday's Race 8 feature at Laurel Park to complete a record-tying seven-win day for jockey Jaime Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, 32, tied Horacio Karamanos and Chuck Baltazar for the most wins on a single card at Laurel. Baltazar rode seven straight winners Dec. 15, 1969, and Horacio Karamanos equaled the mark Oct. 26, 2002.

“I was pretty happy when I won the first one,” Rodriguez said. “I thought that everything that I rode had a shot today. I give everything to anyone that I ride. I am so happy. It's a huge day. Seven wins in one day? It's impressive.”

A native of Puerto Rico, Rodriguez won each of the first five races Friday aboard Center Mid Maddie ($8.60), Albertano ($4.80), Six the Hard Way ($12.40), Big Cheeks ($6.20) and Pelota ($3.60) before streak was snapped when he ran fifth in Race 6 on Peach Be With Q.

Rodriguez came back to win Race 7 on Semper Fi ($3.80) and capped his performance on Shaft's Bullet. Tracking the duel of Local Motive and Momos while racing in the clear three wide in third, Shaft's Bullet rolled up to the leaders on the turn and took over once straightened for home.

After taking one peek behind him in mid-stretch to monitor any late runners, Rodriguez pumped his fist as he cruised to the wire unchallenged 5 ¼ lengths ahead of belated runner-up Be Better. The winning time in the second-level optional claiming allowance for 4-year-olds and up was 1:37.89 for one mile over a fast main track.

“I was pretty confident he had a shot and I said, 'I think this is going to be the seventh today,'” Rodriguez said. “Thank God, everything worked out the good way and he won the race.”

Center Mid Maddie, Big Cheeks, Pelota and Semper Fi are all trained by Jamie Ness, who leads Laurel's winter stand with 31 wins. Ness and Rodriguez are a combined 26-for-86 at the meet (30 percent).

“We have a pretty good relationship. I trust him, and he trusts me, too. Everything that we do, we do as a team and we go from there. That's how we work,” Rodriguez said. “I ride a lot for him but the same effort I give to him I'm going to give to everyone. I'm not picky. Whatever I've got, I'm going to give 100 percent.”

Rodriguez's other wins Friday came for trainers Rudy Sanchez-Salomon and Gary Capuano. Rodriguez, who did not have a mount in Laurel's Race 9 finale, entered the day trailing apprentice Jeiron Barbosa by one win for the winter meet riding title, and now holds a 47-41 lead.

Between Sept. 16 and 22, 2022, Rodriguez won eight straight races for eight different trainers at Delaware Park, one shy of the recognized U.S. record shared by Albert Adams (1930), Anthony Black (1993) and Travis Dunkelberger (2009).

Rodriguez had his best season ever in 2022, with career highs in wins (243) and purse earnings ($7.5 million) from 982 mounts, ranking seventh among North American riders in victories. He won his second straight Delaware Park riding title with 134 wins, 75 more than runner-up Mychel Sanchez, also going 24-for-89 at Parx (27 percent).

Last year, Rodriguez finished third at Laurel's winter (26 wins) and spring meets (16) and was fifth at the calendar year-ending fall stand (25). He ended 2022 ranked sixth overall with 79 wins in Maryland.

Rodriguez attended Puerto Rico's famous Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school and according to Equibase statistics earned his first domestic victory May 5, 2010 on East to Eden at Belmont Park. He rode primarily at Aqueduct and Belmont before relocating to Finger Lakes in 2012, dominating the standings. Rodriguez also spent time at Mahoning Valley before moving his tack to the Mid-Atlantic in 2020.

Equibase shows Rodriguez with career totals of 1,955 wins and more than $36.4 million in purse earnings. He is named in six of 10 races Saturday at Laurel, including multiple stakes winner Coffeewithchris in the $100,000 Private Terms for 3-year-olds, Ournationonparade in the $100,000 Harrison E. Johnson Memorial for 4-year-olds and up and Mavilus in the $75,000 Conniver for older Maryland-bred/sired female sprinters.

The post ‘It’s A Huge Day’: Jaime Rodriguez Rides Record-Tying Seven Winners Friday At Laurel appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Trainer Tony Dutrow, who has been slowly but surely edging closer to 2,000 career wins, will saddle Fabulously Funny as he looks to secure the milestone in Saturday's $100,000 Cicada for sophomore fillies going six furlongs at Aqueduct Racetrack.

“It could go down that way,” Dutrow said, with a laugh. “It's taken me a long time to get there, but it looks like we're going to get it done.”

Owned by Harold Lerner, AWC Stables, Nehoc Stables, Scott K. Akman, and Paul Braverman, Fabulously Funny enters off a frontrunning second-out graduation on February 17 in a local six-furlong maiden special weight that provided Dutrow with his 1,999th career win.

The Practical Joke filly stumbled at the start of her January 7 career debut, where she finished third beaten a length, but turned things around at second asking. She raced a close second to the outside of pacesetting Wonder Girl down the backstretch before coming under urging around the far turn and held off a late charge from familiar foe Spelterini to win by one length.

Fabulously Funny has worked back twice since her maiden conquest, including a bullet three-eighths Wednesday in 36.80 seconds over the Belmont Park training track.

“I'm very happy with her,” said Dutrow. “She's been forward the way we would like since she broke her maiden and we thought that with a short field, it looked like an opportunity for her to show us what she's capable of.”

Dutrow expressed no discouragement with her first effort, adding that his horses generally improve exponentially in their second start.

“My horses learn a great deal in their first start. I don't anticipate any of my first time starters being impressive, I'm hopeful that they learn,” Dutrow said. “If they're any good, they do learn and they become a lot better in their second start. I don't try to accomplish a great deal other than providing them with an experience in their first start. You could tell that in her second start, she broke very well and was in control of herself the entire race. She just did it with confidence and the way you'd like to see a second time starter run.”

Fabulously Funny, bred in Kentucky by International Equities Holding, is out of the Include mare Just Fabulous, who also produced graded stakes placed Midnight On Oconee. She was bought for $210,000 from the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Fabulously Funny will break from post 4 under Kendrick Carmouche.

Despite approaching a milestone, Dutrow said he has not been reflective on his overall career, adding that his main focus is not the quantity of races he wins. Some of his career highlights include winning Grade 1 races with horses such as Grace Hall, Embellish the Lace, Mo Town, The Big Beast, Seattle Smooth, Rightly So and Burning Roma.

“The only goal I had in racing was what I've practiced my whole career. I go out there every day and try to do as good a job as I possibly can with the help of the people in the barn,” Dutrow said. “I think we go out there and do our best to accomplish the best we can with the horse. I'm just worried about the horse in front of me and trying to do the best with that horse in their best interest. Keeping them safe and sound and helping them become what they can. That's the only goal I've had in racing.”

The post ‘It’s Taken Me A Long Time To Get There’: Trainer Tony Dutrow Nears 2,000-Win Milestone appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and 1/ST RACING will honor North America's all-time leading female trainer, Kathleen O'Connell, with a ceremony and trophy presentation in the winner's circle following the sixth race at Gulfstream Park Saturday, March 18. All owners and trainers are welcome to participate in the ceremony.

O'Connell broke the North American record for wins by a female trainer when My Eagle Soars captured the fifth race at Tampa on Sunday, March 12, marking the Michigan native's 2,386th victory. She surpassed Kim Hammond with that win.

O'Connell, who has about 60 horses between Tampa Bay Downs and Gulfstream, began training on her own in 1981. Her 17,315 starters through Saturday also account for 2,280 seconds and 2,154 thirds and $46,740,925 in purse earnings.

She has won nine graded stakes, three from 1997-2000 with Blazing Sword, a product of the late Gilbert G. Campbell's breeding and racing operation that became synonymous with O'Connell. Among her other graded victories were the 2011 Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby, with Watch Me Go; the 2003 Grade 2 Bonnie Miss Stakes, with Ivanavinalot; the 2019 Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes with Well Defined; and back-to-back runnings of the Grade 2 Princess Rooney in 2018 and 2019 with Stormy Embrace.

Hammond, who competes mainly in the Midwest, is still actively training but has yet to have a winner from 16 starters this year. Since launching her training career in 1980, her 15,706 starters have posted 2,178 seconds and 2,009 thirds and bankrolled $21,458,057 in purse earnings.

New York trainer Linda Rice follows Hammond and O'Connell on the all-time list, with 2,266 victories through Saturday.

Gai Waterhouse of Australia is acknowledged as the world's No. 1 all-time female trainer in victories with more than 7,000, according to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

The post FTHA, 1/ST RACING To Honor North America’s All-Time Leading Female Trainer Kathleen O’Connell At Gulfstream appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Javier Castellano, a four-time Eclipse Award winning jockey and a member of racing's Hall of Fame, will be accompanied by friends, family members, and a number of his fellow riders this Sunday at Santa Anita, as he accepts the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award Trophy in a Runhappy Winner's Circle ceremony that will be emceed by FanDuel TV's Kurt Hoover.

Castellano, 45, who immigrated from his native Venezuela in 1997, was one of five Woolf Award finalists that included jockeys Daniel Centeno, Terry Houghton, Edwin Maldonado and Willie Martinez.

Presented annually by Santa Anita since 1950, Castellano thus becomes the 74th winner of one of the most coveted awards in racing and a trophy that can only be won once. Determined by a vote of jockeys nationwide and named for the late jockey who was regarded as one of the greatest big money riders of his era, the Woolf Award trophy is a replica of the life-sized stature of Woolf that adorns Santa Anita's Paddock Gardens area.

Currently based in Florida, Castellano will be accompanied by his wife Abby, with whom he has three children, Kayla, Sienna and Brady. Castellano is also the son-in-law of Terry Meycocks, National Director of the Jockeys' Guild.

Second all-time only to fellow Hall of Famer John Velazquez, Castellano has career earnings of more than $377 million and through Dec. 31, 2022, he had recorded 5,595 career wins.

The son of a jockey, Castellano's first winner came aboard Phone Man on July 31, 1997 at Calder Racecourse. Castellano first came to national prominence on Oct. 30, 2004, when he rode the Frank Stronach homebred and Bobby Frankel-trained Ghostzapper to victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Lone Star Park.

The timing of Sunday's Woolf Award ceremony, which will include a video that honors all past winners dating back to Gordon Glisson in 1950 through last year's winner, Joe Bravo, will be announced following Sunday's entries, which will be taken on Thursday.

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