Tag: People

Kazushi Kimura is likely to remember Sunday, Jan. 15, as that is the day he won his first race at Santa Anita and his first graded stakes in the United States. The milestone earned Kimura Jockey of the Week for Jan. 9 through Jan. 15 by the panel of racing experts. The award honors 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.

Kimura is coming off his second consecutive riding title at Woodbine Race Course in Toronto, Canada, and is spending the winter at Santa Anita for the first time. He plans to return to Woodbine in the spring.

“Any place where I decide I want to ride, I just need the opportunities, right?” said Kimura.

On Sunday, Juan Leyva, assistant to trainer John Sadler, gave Kimura just such an opportunity on Kirstenbosch in the Grade 3 La Canada, a 1 1/16-mile test for fillies and mares, 4-years-old and up. Off at odds of 3-1 and breaking from the rail, Kirstenbosch settled off the pace until mid-stretch when she came flying down the center of the track to catch the favorite, Ganadora and Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, at the wire.

“She's always a little bit lazy, she always needs like a little bit of pushing her to the wire. At the half mile last time I rode her in the La Brea (Dec. 26), it was a seven furlong race and I was just pushing her to the wire. Today I was more confident to say she would show up better than last time (a third place finish).

“It feels so amazing, my first win here and in a Grade 3, it's amazing,” said Kimura.

“John (Sadler) has given me opportunities since opening day,” said Kimura. “I'm really happy for him and I really appreciate it.”

The win was Kimura's first graded stakes win in the United States.

“He just rode her beautifully, he tried hard until the end,” said assistant trainer Juan Leyva. “He is a really nice kid. I would like to see him really get going because he is so polite and he's a good rider, too. Hopefully this will open up some eyes and he can get a lot more opportunities.”

Kimura, 23, is a native of Hokkaido, Japan, and joined the Woodbine jockey colony in 2018. He was North America's Eclipse Award-winning apprentice jockey in 2019 and he won the Sovereign Award, the Canadian equivalent, in both 2018 and 2019. He also won the 2021 Sovereign as Canada's outstanding rider.

Other nominees for Jockey of the Week were Alex M. Cruz with a stakes win at Turfway Park, Dylan Davis who won a stakes race at Aqueduct, Jareth Loveberry with a Fair Grounds stakes win, and Luis Saez who won nine races during the week and was the leading rider in total purse earnings.

The post U.S. Milestones At Santa Anita Earn Kazushi Kimura Jockey Of The Week Title appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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A week after getting his first wins as a trainer out of the way, Phillip Capuano will go after his first stakes win with Mopo Racing's Alwaysinahurry in the $100,000 Fire Plug Saturday at Laurel Park.

The 6 ½-furlong Fire Plug for 4-year-olds and up and $100,000 What a Summer for fillies and mares 4 and older going six furlongs are among six stakes, including four sprints, worth $550,000 in purses on a nine-race Winter Sprintfest program.

First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

Capuano, 29, worked as an assistant running his father Gary's string at Delaware Park in recent summers. Last year he began working for his uncle Dale in preparation for taking over the stable when Dale Capuano retired effective Jan. 1 following a 41-year training career.

“Not just all of Dale's owners that stayed on with me, I have to thank all of my father's owners for the last couple years that gave me a shot and the confidence of being at Delaware and managing all those nice horses,” Phillip Capuano said. “It really put me in a position to move forward with this opportunity. Without all of them together, I wouldn't be here right now.

“The last couple of years at Delaware, Gary had given me full autonomy. [He said,] 'Train 'em, do what you do, I'm not going to interfere. You run it the way you want to run it.,'” he added. “So, that really helped set me up for this.”

A 5-year-old Great Notion gelding, Alwaysinahurry is already a multiple stakes winner having broken through in the 2021 Concern at Laurel. He has also placed in three other stakes and enters the Fire Plug on a two-race win streak including the Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial against fellow Maryland-bred/sired horses in November.

Alwaysinahurry is the first stakes starter for Capuano, who earned his first win with his sixth starter, Thunderturtle, Jan. 13 at Charles Town. The next day he registered his first two-win day with Imagine a Cure and Vance Scholars at Laurel. He is 3-for-11 with one second entering Laurel's return of live racing Friday.

“Instead of having somebody to fall back on if I need it, the buck starts and stops with me. There's nobody else for me to fall back on, even though I could always turn to my father and Dale if I had any questions or concerns. But, ultimately, it's on my shoulders now,” Capuano said.

“If I started worrying about it right away, like picking up where Dale left off, I think that just would have been disastrous. Ultimately what I hope to do is kind of encompass what I learned from Gary and what I learned from Dale and just kind of make it my own,” he added. “If I try to make it just one or the other, I don't think it'll work the way I want it to.”

Capuano nominated Alwaysinahurry to both the Fire Plug and Saturday's $75,000 Jennings for Maryland-bred/sired horses going one mile, but opted for open company to keep him sprinting. Mopo's ownership group is a partnership headed by married retired TV personalities Maury Povich and Connie Chung.

Dale Capuano, 60, won 3,662 races during his career, is the all-time leading trainer in Maryland Million history and topped the $1 million mark in season earnings 34 times including the last 30 in a row. Gary Capuano, 59, remains based at Laurel and is perhaps best known as the trainer of Captain Bodgit, winner of the 1996 Laurel Futurity (G3) and 1997 Florida Derby (G1) and Wood Memorial (G2) that ran second in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and third in the Preakness (G1).

“For me the toughest part right now is learning the individual horses, how I can train them. Can I train them the way I want to train them and have it work. There's still a little doubt in that regard, still trying to figure out what I can and can't do with these horses,” Capuano said. “I talked to my father and Dale about it, it's like I just claimed 35 horses.

“It's just figuring it out. With my father's horses, I can train them the way I can because I know the horses. They've been there for six or seven years. Stability is Gary's biggest proponent and the help and the horses. The horses he has, they haven't changed,” he added. “It's a learning curve but I'm really appreciative for all the owners to stick with me and to not make me feel pressured to doing things a certain way. They don't want me to be exactly like Dale but it's a transition process and they're aware of it.”

Alwaysinahurry drew Post 3 in a field of 10 for the Fire Plug that includes 2021 Maryland Million Sprint winner Air Token; Al Loves Josie, most recently third in the seven-furlong City of Laurel Nov. 26; 2022 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash winner Beren; 2022 Challedon and Dave's Friend winner Factor It In; Five Dreams, second in the six-furlong Blitzen Jan. 4 at Parx; 2020 Maryland Million Sprint winner Karan's Notion; Pirate Rick, riding a three-race win streak; Savoy, third in the Dave's Friend; two-time stakes winner and Grade 3-placed Wendell Fong; and multiple stakes-placed Yodel E.A. Who.

Fire Plug was a stakes winner every year from age 3 to 7. The popular gelding won or placed in 49 of 54 career starts with half his 28 victories coming in stakes including the J. Edgar Hoover, Maryland Breeders' Cup and Roman handicaps. Twice graded-stakes placed including the 1991 General George (G2), he was retired later that year at the age of 8 with $705,175 in purse earnings.

The post Nephew Of Retired Trainer Dale Capuano Relishing ‘Learning Curve’ Ahead Of First Stakes Entry appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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A total of seven candidates have been nominated for the upcoming 2023 FTHA Election, to be held March 15, 2023. Nominations were submitted during the Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association's annual General Nominating Meeting and Awards Dinner at Gulfstream Park Jan. 7.

The seven candidates are:

OWNERS

• Gerardo Amado
• Tom Cannell
• David Geofroy
• Jeffrey Siskin

TRAINERS

• Patrick Biancone
• Jorge Delgado
• David Fawkes

The Florida THA is supervised and managed by a Board no less than 11 and no more than 15 Directors. Six seats are reserved for Owner/Directors, and six seats are reserved for Trainer/Directors. Three Directors may be either an owner or a trainer. An individual licensed as an owner may only run for a seat on the Board as an owner; an individual licensed as a trainer or as an owner and trainer may only run for a seat on the Board as a trainer.

The Board of Directors is divided into three groups of five Directors, known as Groups 1, 2, and 3. Elections are held annually, and the terms of all Directors shall be three years.

Voting for the 2023 FTHA Election will begin in February. Each member of the FTHA who is currently licensed as an owner and/or trainer and is in good standing is entitled to cast one vote in the general election.

Click here for the FTHA provisions for Elections and Voting.

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Frankie Dettori is among the first group of superstar riders confirmed to compete in the Saudi Cup International Jockeys Challenge at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh on Feb. 24, 2023.

The Italian will make his 11th seasonal appearance in Saudi Arabia, where he has ridden six winners from 72 rides, on what promises to be his final year in the saddle.

Asked what it meant to be invited to ride in the IJC, which is held on the Friday of Saudi Cup weekend, Dettori said: “In my final year as a jockey I want to go to as many places as possible and being able to compete in the IJC at The Saudi Cup is a huge event that I'm delighted to be a part of.

“This will be one of my final chances to share a weighing room with some of the world's greatest jockeys, and I look forward to seeing who else I'm going to come up against. Joao Moreira has been confirmed, as has last year's winner Caitlin Jones, so the competition already looks pretty fierce!”

“I know both the dirt and the turf tracks well having ridden in Riyadh quite a lot over the years, and it's a place I enjoy riding at as it's very fair and the surfaces are always in great condition. It's also a great warm-up event for the big Group races on the Saturday, and of course The Saudi Cup itself, which I'd love to win.”

Australian rider Caitlin Jones won last year's IJC and has been invited back to defend her title.

Speaking about her experience of riding in and winning the IJC in 2022, Jones said: “It's hard to believe it's nearly been a year since I rode in the International Jockeys Challenge. It was extra special to ride alongside Glen Boss during his last hurrah and have him standing on the podium with me. That's a memory I will never forget.

“I hadn't had much experience on a dirt track, but it was a great surface to race on. You could travel wherever you were and if you were good enough you could win from anywhere. There wasn't a lot of kickback, it's an elite surface on every level. They've done a wonderful job with it.

“I couldn't be happier to have been asked to come back and try to retain my title – it would be pretty cheeky if I managed it, wouldn't it?! I'll be going out there with every intention of taking it out a second time, but you need a lot of luck with the horses you get drawn. I can't wait to be back competing in Saudi Arabia again.”

Four-time Hong Kong Champion Jockey, Joao Moreira, is another of the high-profile names to be confirmed to ride in the four-race challenge.

The Brazilian is back in his native land after leaving Hong Kong last year but is planning to ride more internationally in the coming months.

Moreira said: “I'm excited and looking forward to riding in the International Jockeys Challenge. This is a great opportunity for me to ride in a place I've never been before, and I wouldn't miss a chance to ride at a different racecourse and to get that stamp on my CV.

“I've heard the infrastructure is good over there and I've no doubt that the event they are going to put on will be top-class. Whoever is there, I'm sure they are going to see some great riders doing their best and putting on a very good show.

“Frankie's just a brilliant rider, he's the best. Getting the chance to ride with him once again is fantastic.”

The second of the seven female riders to be confirmed is Canadian Chantal Sutherland, who has ridden over 1,200 winners, including three Grade 1s to date, and is set to take her first rides in Saudi Arabia.

Sutherland said: “It's a huge opportunity which I'm super excited about. I've never been to Saudi but it's always been on the bucket list as I love these jockey challenges. I've had a really good year in Florida so far and I can't wait to head over.

“To ride against the likes of Frankie [Dettori] and Caitlin Jones is a real honor. I know Frankie well and have ridden against him plenty of times – he's a lot of fun and the crowds always love him. Any one of us could win it, but I'm going to give it my all – I'd love to come out on top. I was obviously very lucky to come second in the Breeders' Cup Classic a few years ago, but if I could win the IJC it would top that.

“Racing in Saudi is getting bigger and bigger and everyone I've spoken to has been really positive about it. The prize money is absolutely amazing, and I'm really excited to be part of it all.”

The International Jockeys Challenge features four handicap races, each run for $400,000, with a further $100,000 prize fund for the challenge itself.

The jockeys are made up of seven international female riders, five international men and two local men with the jockeys receiving 15% of prize money won in each of the four races.

All races will consist of 14 runners and five reserves, with all 14 jockeys riding in each race.

Two races will be staged on dirt and two on turf, with the distances ranging from 1200m to 2100m.

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