Ramon Vazquez Upsets Los Al Futurity En Route To Jockey Of The Week Title

The decision by Ramon A. Vazquez in early 2022 to move his tack from the Midwest to Southern California has proven to be a wise one. On closing weekend at Los Alamitos, he won the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity with longshot Practical Move as well as the leading rider title.

Vazquez was voted Jockey of the Week for Dec. 12 through Dec. 18 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.

Riding for trainer Tim Yakteen in the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity, Vazquez was aboard longshot Practical Move against a formidable trio from the Bob Baffert barn. Off as the fourth choice in the five-horse field, Practical Move raced in third between Baffert trainees Carmel Road and Arabian Lion. When Carmel Road drifted out, Vazquez guided Practical Move to the rail for the stretch run. Practical Move collared Carmel Road with a quarter mile to go, drawing off decisively to win by 3 1/4 lengths in 1:41.65 for 1 1/16 miles.

“This is the first time I've ever been on this horse and he really impressed me,” said Vazquez. “He relaxed perfectly and then I had to make a decision turning for home whether to go inside or outside. When the leader (Carmel Road) drifted out a bit there was an opening.  He came right through and gave me a very nice finish.”

Vazquez concluded the day with four wins.

On Sunday, Vazquez secured his fourth leading rider title of the year, taking the three Thoroughbred meets at Los Alamitos and the Santa Anita Autumn meet.

A native of Puerto Rico, Vazquez, 38, made a career move earlier this year when he moved his tack to southern California after riding successfully at the Midwest tracks of Oaklawn, Lone Star, Prairie Meadows and Remington Park. He won his first Grade 1 race at Del Mar this summer aboard Tell Me Nolies in the Del Mar Debutante for trainer Peter Miller. Vazquez recorded his 3,000th career victory on June 28, 2019 at Prairie Meadows.

Other contenders for Jockey of the Week were Dylan Davis with two stakes wins at Aqueduct, Jose Lezcano who was the leading rider for the week in total and stakes earnings, Jose Ortiz with a stakes win at Gulfstream Park, and Cristian Torres with stakes wins at Oaklawn Park and Remington Park on Saturday.

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Karl Broberg, Cristian Torres Capture Meet Titles At Remington Park

Karl Broberg has become the burr in the saddle of the country's all-time winningest trainer Steve Asmussen and Remington Park's all-time winningest owner Danny Caldwell, ending both their streaks of capturing their respective annual trophies at Remington Park.

If not for Broberg of Mansfield, Texas, Asmussen would have won 16 Chuck Taliaferro training titles in a row at Remington Park and have 19 overall instead of his record 17. As it is, Broberg ended Asmussen's reign of six titles in a row going into 2022 by winning this year's trophy with 48 wins to Asmussen's 30, good for second in the standings.

This was Broberg's second training title at Remington Park, also ending another Asmussen streak in 2015. Asmussen had won eight in a row from 2007-2014. His wins have diminished for four years in a row, however, even when he was winning titles. He won a record 104 times in 2018. That fell off to 83 wins in 2019, 73 in 2020 and 42 last year.

“It was kind of Steve to let someone else win it for a change,” Broberg said with his usual caustic humor. “This means much more to me than winning the leading owner title. I think Barack Obama was President the last time I won. I have to thank all my great help in the barn. Couldn't have done it without them.”

Aside from numerous victories in the claiming ranks and in allowance races, Broberg also scored stakes wins in the $150,000 David Vance Sprint with Flash of Mischief and in the Ricks Memorial with Island Hideaway.

The final top five in trainers for 2022 were Broberg, 48 wins; Asmussen, 30; Scott Young, 25; Kari Craddock, 22, and Diodoro, 20. Craddock is the all-time leading female trainer at Remington Park.

By horses' money earned, Broberg also was at the top of the heap with $1,119,986. He was the only trainer this meet with more than a million. Second through fifth were Asmussen, $941,866; Young, $781,467; Craddock, $759,220, and Ray Ashford, $638,266.

The Chuck Taliaferro Award for leading trainer is named in honor of one of Remington Park's top trainers in its formative years until his passing in 1994.

Leading Owner – End Zone Athletics

It was a similar scenario in End Zone Athletics, Broberg's outfit, winning the Ran Ricks Jr. top owner trophy for the meet. He ended the streak of Caldwell of Poteau, Okla., who had won the last two in a row. If not for End Zone Athletics, Caldwell might have won the owners' title 12 consecutive times, but End Zone wound up with it in 2019 and 2022. Both times he broke Caldwell's streak. Caldwell also had won eight times in a row when Broberg was the party pooper in 2019.

The top five in the 2022 owners' race were End Zone Athletics, 34 wins; Caldwell, 25; Bryan Hawk, 20; C.R. Trout, 11, and Silva Racing (Miguel Silva), 9.

Caldwell was leading owner by horses' earnings with $644,544 to End Zone Athletic's (Broberg) $612,794. Caldwell moved to the earning top on the final night of the season when one of his all-time favorite horses, Rated R Superstar, won the $102,000 Jeffrey Hawk Memorial Stakes on the next-to-last race of the meet. That win gave him $60,000 more in purses than End Zone Athletics, who held a lead of $28,250 going into the Jeffrey Hawk. Those two were followed in money earned by Hawk with $556,083; Trout, $457,316, and Terry Westemeir, $347,876.

The Ran Ricks, Jr. Award for leading owner, is named in honor of the track's all-time leading owner at the time of his passing in late 1996. Ricks was the first owner to stable a horse at Remington Park in 1988.

Leading Jockey – Cristian Torres

In the jockeys' race, Cristian Torres, in his first-ever meet at Remington Park, ended a four-year streak by David Cabrera of winning the Pat Steinberg trophy. Torres finished with 71 wins in a runaway against runner-up Stewart Elliott, who had 59. They were followed by 3) Jose Alvarez, 45; 4) Gerardo Mora, 43 and 5) Leandro Goncalves, 41. Cabrera fell all the way to ninth place with 30 victories.

“I'm really grateful to all the trainers and owners that trusted me,” said Torres. “It was fun. I need to thank Robertino Diodoro and Broberg. And especially thank my family.”

The top jockey at Remington Park earns the Pat Steinberg Award, named after the track's all-time leading jockey at the time of his passing in 1993.

In horses' money earned, Torres also was tops with $1,742,742, followed by Elliott, $1,578,561; Goncalves, $1,411,265; Alvarez, $1,367,485, and Alfredo Triana, Jr., $1,167,043. Also surpassing the $1 million mark were Cabrera, Weston Hamilton and Mora.

Tracked by more than 172,000 fans on Facebook and 10,700 Twitter followers, Remington Park has provided more than $311 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District, Remington Park live racing will return in March 2023 with the start of the American Quarter Horse, Paint and Appaloosa season. Remington Park presents simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.

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Trainer Jeff Radosevich Wins 3,000th Career Race At Mahoning Valley

Trainer Jeffrey Radosevich became the 36th trainer in North America to reach the 3,000 career win mark on Monday after Stay Thirsty Amigo won the third race at Mahoning Valley in Ohio under jockey Erik Barbaran.

Off as the 4-5 favorite in the six-furlong race for $15,000 claimers, Stay Thirsty Amigo settled along the rail early before rallying and drawing clear to win by two lengths. The 5-year-old son of Stay Thirsty is owned by Samuel Klein, Jr.

Running time over the dirt labelled fast was 1:11.33.

The win was Radosevich's 86th of 2022, increasing his annual earnings to $2,243,461. His career earnings are just shy of $40 million, with a strike rate of 20 percent since 1993.

Hailing from a racing rich family that includes trainers father Joe, brothers Jake and Joey, and nephews Jacob and the ill-fated Joshua (jockeys), Radosevich began training in the fall of 1993 after a 14-year career in the saddle which saw him win 1,141 races. Primarily based in Northeast Ohio, the 54-year-old Richfield, OH resident has multiple training titles to his credit and has also finished in the top ten in the nation in wins five times during his career.

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Pineda, Vazquez Take Los Alamitos Winter Meet Titles

Milton Pineda topped the trainer standings at Los Alamitos Race Course when the track concluded its six-day Winter Thoroughbred meet Sunday.

Pineda had five victories, two more than Bob Baffert, Leandro Mora, and Peter Miller. It was the first training crown for the 38-year-old Pineda.

Pineda, Baffert, and Miller had the most wins (10) for the year at Los Alamitos, combining the Winter meet with the September (Sept. 16-25) and Los Angeles County Fair seasons (June 25-July 9).

Ramon Vazquez won the riding title, completing a sweep of the three meets. He finished the Winter meet with 10 wins, four more than Juan Hernandez and apprentice Armando Aguilar.

A 38-year-old native of Puerto Rico, Vazquez finished 2022 at Los Alamitos with 35 wins overall, 20 more than runner-up Hernandez. Kyle Frey was third with 13 victories.

Field size for the 2022 Winter meet increased over last year. The average field size was 7.37 starters per race compared to 6.77 in 2021.

Daytime Thoroughbred racing will return to Los Alamitos in 2023. The first of three meets is scheduled to begin Friday, June 23 and continue through Sunday, July 9.

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