Tag: People

Tampa Bay's leading rider Samy Camacho had a mount in every race on the track's Festival Preview Day Saturday. Of his three wins that day, the best came in the Suncoast Stakes, defeating an Eclipse Award winner and a Grade 2 winner.

That notable accomplishment earned Camacho the honor of Jockey of the Week for Feb. 6 through Feb. 12. The award recognizes jockeys for riding accomplishments and who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.

On Saturday, regular rider Samy Camacho was aboard Dreaming of Snow in the Suncoast Stakes for trainer Gerald Bennett. Also in the field of nine was newly crowned Eclipse Award winner Wonder Wheel and G2 Demoiselle Stakes winner Julia Shining. Even though she had won over the Tampa Bay surface previously, Dreaming of Snow was dismissed at odds of 38-1.

Breaking from post position five, Dreaming of Snow went straight to the front, racing against the rail and continuing to show the way through six furlongs. Exiting the far turn, Wonder Wheel challenged Dreaming of Snow, but the eventual winner refused to give in. Dreaming of Snow held off the champion by a neck for the win in 1:40.18 for a mile and forty yards.

Dreaming of Snow rewarded her believers $78 for the win. The Suncoast is a “Road to the Kentucky Oaks” points race, with Dreaming of Snow earning 20 points toward qualifying for the May 5 premier event for 3-year-old fillies.

“I beat Wonder Wheel – WOW!” Camacho exclaimed. “I know this filly well and when I got on her in the morning for the first time, I told (Bennett) I have to stay on her. She's pretty nice, but I never thought she would run two turns like this. She came back again when Wonder Wheel came to her.”

Camacho, 34, is a native of Venezuela and began riding in the United States in 2012. He won his 1,000th career race at Monmouth Park May 21, 2022. His younger brother, Samuel Camacho, Jr. is also a jockey. Camacho is currently on his way to winning his 4th leading rider title at Tampa Bay with 57 wins, 22 more than runner-up Pablo Morales.

Camacho's competition for Jockey of the Week included Armando Ayuso who won the El Camino Derby at Golden Gate, Javier Castellano who led all riders in wins for the week with 10, Manny Franco who won the G3 Withers, and Luis Saez who won the G3 Sam F. Davis.

The post Jockey Of The Week: Samy Camacho Springs 38-1 Upset In Suncoast Stakes, Besting Champ Wonder Wheel appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Hall of Fame trainer John Veitch, who helped revitalize Calumet Farm in the 1970s with champions Davona Dale, Our Mims, and Before Dawn and with Alydar – arch-rival of Triple Crown winner Affirmed – died on Tuesday in Lexington, Ky., according to Bloodhorse.com. He was 77 years old.

Born in Lexington on June 27, 1945, Veitch was the son of Hall of Fame trainer Sylvester Veitch and grandson of Silas Veitch, another trainer who started out as an exercise rider and jockey. Syl Veitch rode and trained steeplechase horses before taking on private training jobs with C.V. Whitney and, later, George D. Widener.

Like his father, John Veitch did his best work training for sporting owner-breeders. starting with Calumet Farm. earning Eclipse Awards for Our Mims as champion 3-year-old filly of 1977, Davona Dale as champion 3-year-old filly of 1979, and Before Dawn as champion 2-year-old filly of 1981.

Davona Dale, winner of 11 of 18 starts, was enshrined in the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 1985. Alydar was inducted in 1989 despite never winning an Eclipse Award. Winner of 14 of 26 races lifetime, the Calumet Farm homebred's battles with Harbor View Farm's Affirmed – finishing second in all three Triple Crown races in 1978 – were legendary, particularly the Belmont Stakes, where the two horses raced head and head for most of the mile and a half Test of the Champion, Affirmed winning narrowly in the end.

The Affirmed-Alydar rivalry began the previous year when the two colts faced each other six times, Affirmed getting the better of Alydar in four out of the six. They finished 1-2 in five of those races.

Veitch quit his private job at Calumet when J.T. Lundy took over as head of the Wright family's farm and wound up training for another great sportsman, John Galbreath and his Darby Dan Farm. For Darby Dan he won the 1985 Breeders' Cup Classic at Aqueduct with Proud Truth, bringing the Graustark colt off a layoff and winning his prep race, the Discovery Handicap, just one week before the Classic. Proud Truth won 10 of 21 races and nearly $2.2 million.

Three years later, Veitch won an Eclipse Award as grass champion with the Darby Dan homebred Sunshine Forever, a son of Roberto out of a Graustark mare.

In all, Veitch won 410 races between 1974 and 2003, including 76 graded stakes, 31 of them Grade 1. His last G1 victory came with Darby Dan's Plenty of Grace in the 1990 Yellow Ribbon Invitational Stakes at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting.

 

 

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Jockey Matthew McGillivray, winner of the Group 1 Queensland Oaks in 2019, was handed an eight-month suspension at the beginning of 2022 when he provided a urine sample positive to cocaine after riding trackwork at Eagle Farm. As 31-year-old McGillivray attempts to return to the sport he loves, the jockey opened up to News Corp about his struggles with drugs and alcohol, a pair of suicide attempts, and time in a psychiatric hospital.

The cocaine positive stems from a party, McGillivray said. Having lost his purpose in life when banned from the racetrack, alcohol then made the rider prone to violence. McGillivray said he had a general “don't give a s**t attitude” toward things that were once important.

“I didn't care, I had no care about anything,” he added. “I know I've done some damage, it will take me a lifetime to make amends to some people out there.”

At the top of that list is McGillivray's young family, a 5-year-old son and wife, Aimee. The drugs and alcohol forced an estrangement, and eventually led to McGillivray's suicide attempts.

“My suicide attempts were to do with my family, my son and my wife, I just felt useless in life,” he explained. “I had hit the lowest of lows. I'm happy to share my story about this because I don't want to hide it, I'm just making do as well as I can.”

Six months ago, McGillivray made the decision to get clean and make his way back to the racetrack. Today, he is licensed to ride barrier trials and is living under the watchful eye of trainer Greg Cornish who “is helping to keep me on the straight and narrow.”

While his goal is to be able to ride races once again, McGillivray said he won't rush the process to mend his broken reputation.

“No one can say anything bad about me that can make me feel any worse than what I was feeling at one point,” he said. “I don't want to keep dodging people and hiding from them, I want to tackle things head on.”

Read more at News Corp.

The post ‘I Had Hit The Lowest Of Lows’: Group 1-Winning Jockey Shares Struggles With Booze, Drugs, Mental Health appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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James “Woody” Woodruff Maloney Jr. died February 5, 2023, at the age of 69.

Woody was born October 20, 1953 in Long Island, New York to the late James Woodruff Maloney Sr. and the late Elizabeth Hyland Maloney. Growing up, his family split their time between East Norwich, Long Island, NY and a home on Colleton Ave. in Aiken, SC.

His father, James, was a prominent horse trainer who was inducted into the Aiken Thoroughbred Hall of Fame and the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, NY. His mother, Lib, was one of the premier show riders during the 1930s and was awarded the Alfred B. MaClay Trophy, at the National Horse Show, in Madison Square Garden in 1934, which was the highest national award for a junior.

Woody grew up riding in the Hitchcock Woods and would become a well-known steeplechase rider. He was involved with the Aiken Steeplechase Association and a keen court tennis player at The Aiken Tennis Club.

Woody is survived by his sister, Sheila Maloney.

Services will be held at a later date. The Historic George Funeral Home & Cremation Center, 211 Park Ave., SW, Aiken, SC 29801 (803.649.6234), has charge of arrangements.

Expressions of sympathy for the family may be left by visiting www.georgefuneralhomes.com.

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