Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza will once again be represented by agent Brian Beach beginning with the start of Santa Anita Park's fifth condition book on Friday. Beach previously represented Espinoza from 2013 to 2021.
“We're getting the band back together,” the agent said Monday.
During their previous partnership, Espinoza swept the 2015 Triple Crown with American Pharoah. They split in 2021 due to what Beach said was a combination of COVID and the health of his wife, Lotta.
“With all the restrictions that were put in place at the time due to COVID, the health of my wife kind of kept me away from the track,” Beach said. “But things are much better with her and I'm able to jump back in.”
Espinoza has had just 23 mounts at the Classic Meet with two wins. For his career, the 50-year-old Hall of Famer has racked up 3,495 victories with purse earnings of more than $211 million.
Simon Harris, a long-time exercise rider and valet on the New York circuit, remembers the day as if it was yesterday.
It was a day of roiling emotions – sadness, anxiety, excitement. He was 24 years young and was leaving behind friends and family in Dublin, Ireland, for Ocala, Fla. He knew he had a job there with breeder and trainer Noel Hickey. Nothing else was certain.
Was he making the right move? Among others, he was leaving behind a girlfriend and a loving relationship that had lasted for a decade. It had been the saddest of goodbyes.
“It was hard to leave home,” he said simply.
Perhaps harder than anyone can imagine. And yet he never looked back. He was first struck by the warmth of the Florida air – and then by the warmth of those he met.
“I love the way people are here,” said Harris, now 55. “If you work hard, people give you a shot.”
The husband-and-wife training team of John and Tonya Terranova head the list of people who gave him a shot. The 5-6, 135-pound Harris began galloping horses for them in 1993 and was instrumental in the development of Gander, a star gelding. He continues to be a key figure in their operation.
“He's like family to us,” said Tonya. “He's like a brother to me.”
He interacts with the horses in the barn almost as well. “It's very rare that there is one he can't get along with,” Tonya said. “It's not just a job for him. He really has dedication and a love for the animal.”
The Terranovas count on Harris to breeze their horses. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert frequently sends top runners to them from his West Coast base ahead of scheduled starts in major New York stakes. Harris is a major reason why. Harris ranks Point Given, Baffert's 2001 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner, among the best he has ever climbed aboard despite the horse's headstrong nature.
Simon Harris aboard multiple Grade 1 winner McKinzie
When Baffert was considering retiring Indian Blessing at the end of the 2009 campaign, he left the deciding vote to Harris. Indian Blessing had been champion 2-year-old filly in 2007 and the nation's leading female sprinter in 2008.
“She's still good,” Harris told Baffert after hopping off. “She's not the same.”
Baffert had suspected as much. “She's done,” Baffert told him before the retirement was made official.
When trainer Tom Albertrani sensed he had a gem in Bernardini, he turned to Harris to help prepare the colt. Harris still ranks the winner of the Preakness, Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup in 2006 as the best horse he has ever ridden.
“He had everything. He had a great mind. He knew what he was,” Harris said. “When he went on the track, he had such a presence about him. He just looked special.”
According to Harris, much of his success has to do with demeanor. “The better exercise riders have a way about them that is calm,” he said. “They do things a little bit slower.”
He establishes relationships with his mounts almost immediately. “Horses have different personalities. They can tell right away that they can do whatever they want with you or they can't,” the rider said. “They know.”
“If you work hard, people give you a shot,” Simon Harris reflected on his U.S. racing career
Harris got his shot as a full-time valet in 1996. He continues to hurry to the jockeys' room as soon as his morning work is done. The jockeys' room is a world unlike any other. Opposing teams cool off in separate locker rooms. Opposing jockeys may sit beside one another.
“You're trying to win a race and something happens,” Harris said. “You're going back to a place where you're going to see that person right away.” It is not uncommon for valets to jump in as peacemakers.
Harris has worked for numerous riders, with Hall of Famers Jerry Bailey and Gary Stevens most prominent among them. He views Bailey as the greatest he has ever been around for his ability to anticipate the moves of his rivals.
“What made Bailey different from other riders I've taken care of, he was like a poker player,” Harris said. “He knew you. He knew your tendencies.”
Harris currently assists future Hall of Famer Flavien Prat and Jaime Torres, a promising youngster from Puerto Rico.
As far as tales from the jockeys' room, do not expect to hear any of those. “What goes in there,” he said, “stays in there.”
Harris is a divorced father of two daughters. Brianna, 22, and Eva, 20, live in England. Many family members remain in Ireland. But he stopped feeling as though he was a foreigner in a foreign land long ago.
Tom Pedulla, 2022 recipient of the Walter Haight Award from the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, wrote for USA Today from 1995-2012 and has been a contributor to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Blood-Horse, America's Best Racing and other publications.
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A year ago on this date, Jesus Castanon rode (then)-6-year-old gelding Chess Master to victory in the Turf Dash Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. With uncertainty surrounding Castanon's expected return from a fractured left fibula incurred on Jan. 8, owner-trainer Kerri Raven turned to Antonio Gallardo to ride Chess Master in this year's Turf Dash, with the Florida-bred repeating last year's win.
Castanon, who turns 50 on March 4, proved to be a fast healer. After undergoing surgery by Dr. Anthony Infante of Brandon, Fla. to insert a rod and three screws in the bone, Castanon was pronounced “ready to go” for today's seventh race on Kitchen Fire, an 8-year-old gelding from Raven's barn.
In storybook fashion, Castanon, whose career total of 2,683 victories includes the 2011 Preakness (F1) on Shackleford, rode Kitchen Fire to a two-length victory from Imtakinittothebank in Sunday's seventh race, a 5½-furlong starter/optional claiming event.
Relatively speaking, the stakes weren't that high financially. But Castanon admitted the race was one was special.
“I'm glad to be back on the team,” said the Mexico City native, who scored his 12th victory of the meet. “I was pretty pumped up today. Whenever you go through injuries like this, you're a little nervous coming back, but once I got back on the horse it came back naturally.
“I have to thank Dr. Infante for helping me return so soon,” Castanon added.
Raven knew Castanon was his old self when she received a video message from Castanon undergoing “therapy.” It showed him vacuuming the house under the watchful eye of his wife, former jockey Rolanda Simpson.
“We've done very well together, and it's great to have him back,” Raven said. “I didn't even have to worry because he is just naturally light, fit, and dedicated.”
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas used an old-school approach to reach a milestone Saturday at Oaklawn.
Lukas recorded his 50th career Oaklawn stakes victory when Last Samurai captured the Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses at 1 1/16 miles under Cristian Torres. Owned by Willis Horton Racing (Kevin Horton), Last Samurai was running just three weeks after finishing fourth in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park.
“Had a good work in between,” the legendary Lukas, 87, dead-panned moments after the Razorback. “I sometimes think that 21 days is ideal, if they come back good. I never shied away from 21 days in a major race. It may be old school, but it worked.”
Wheeling a horse back in a week, two weeks, or three weeks was common decades ago. But horses, particularly the caliber of Last Samurai, are campaigned much less frequently in today's climate. Last Samurai concluded his 2022 campaign with a runner-up finish to Bal Harbour in the Tinsel Stakes at 1 1/8 miles Dec. 17 at Oaklawn. After traveling to Florida for the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus, Last Samurai returned to Oaklawn and breezed a half-mile in :51 Feb. 10 in advance of the Razorback.
“We had the long trip to Florida for the Pegasus and we came back here on a short window of time,” Lukas said. “But he trained so darn well since the Pegasus, and he finishes his works a lot better and I thought we had a pretty good chance today to pull this off.”
Last Samurai ($18.80) received a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 105 for his 1 ½-length victory over favored West Will Power in the Razorback. Last Samurai covered 1 1/16 miles over a fast track in a meet-best 1:42.19. The Razorback is a major local prep for the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) at 1 1/8 miles April 22. Last Samurai won the 2022 Oaklawn Handicap for trainer Dallas Stewart and Horton's father, Willis, who died last fall. Last Samurai also won the $150,000 Poinsettia Stakes at 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-olds in 2021 at Oaklawn.
Oaklawn's final major prep for the Oaklawn Handicap is the $500,000 Essex Handicap (G3) at 1 1/16 miles March 18.
“We'll see him in the Essex, that's for sure, and then right on down the line,” Lukas said. “You know me. I don't dodge many of them.”
Last Samurai, a 5-year-old son of Malibu Moon, has a 5-4-4 record from 23 career starts and earnings of $1,607,639.
Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen holds the Oaklawn record for career stakes victories by a trainer with 98.
