Tag: People

With little to no fanfare, French native Ryan Curatolo is quietly but steadily making his mark at Santa Anita this winter, as he's now won nine races, good enough to make the coveted Top 10 in the jockey standings through 31 racing days.

Born in Marseille, France on April 29, 1992, Curatolo, at age 14, attended a jockey school in Chantilly for a period of four years. Another notable attendee during that time frame was a fledgling rider named Flavien Prat.

“My dad was not in racing, but he used to take my sister and me to the races, that was my introduction,” said Curatolo on Thursday morning at Clockers' Corner. “I started riding in New York in 2010 and that's when I learned to speak English by myself basically…I would go to the track and picked it up just watching TV, listening to the radio and it was actually pretty easy. I picked it up pretty fast. Within three months, I was speaking pretty good English.”

Represented by agent Mike Ciani, Curatolo, who in addition to riding in his native France and in New York, has a rather extensive international resume, having ridden in Singapore (where he met his wife, Dayle), Japan, Macau, South Korea, Dubai, U.A.E. and Qatar.

“We had not met, but I was referred to Ryan by a guy that worked for Pete Eurton,” said Ciani, who has been a jock's agent for 15 years. “He was riding in Qatar and we were communicating through Facebook Messenger a couple years ago. We had made arrangements for him to come here and ride, but everything got delayed by COVID.

“As a result of all of that, when he finally did get here, he hadn't ridden races for about seven months, so it took a little while for him to get race-fit. He's done an amazing job and we're riding for more and more people. The fact that he's won nine races is really something, especially when you consider he has not ridden a single favorite.”

The fact that Curatolo has been able to consistently produce when the tote board would suggest otherwise is yet another strong indication of his considerable talent.

This past Saturday for instance, Curatolo rode a pair of winners, Salto De Tigre ($13.00) for trainer Keith Desormeaux and first time starter Tofino Bay ($73.40) for Neil Drysdale.

“We're just waiting for good opportunities,” said Curatolo, when asked how he keeps a fresh attitude with a paucity of live mounts available. “You go out there and Santa Anita is one of the best racetracks in the world, I think. We're just making ourselves available and when we get the chance, even if you're on a longshot, you try hard.

“Even if you get a fourth or fifth place, that helps to pay the bills and that's what I want to try to do for the people I ride for. I think that's helped to build our business, by riding well, by trying to get a piece for them. We go out there and try hard.

“I study the guys I ride with and I've learned a lot about the track, the main track and the turf. The more you ride the turf, the more you know what to do and where to be, the same thing with the dirt…When to move, when to accelerate and the way the track is banked. All of these things are important.”

Married six months and soon to be 30 years of age in April, Curatolo's emergence this winter has certainly been a pleasant surprise to those horsemen that have used him and to those punters that have backed him.

In addition to his double digit victories this past Saturday, here is a complete listing of Curatolo's Winter Meet pari-mutuel success: Feb. 19, Ever Smart ($31.40), Feb. 13, Ko Samui ($39.40) & Classical Romance ($10.20), Jan. 30, Epoch ($25.80), Jan. 22, Classical Romance ($7.20), Jan. 9, Renegade Princess ($7.40) and Jan. 8, Barristan the Bold ($36.20).

Looking ahead, Curatolo is named on five horses this Saturday, including Madone for trainer Simon Callaghan in the Grade II Buena Vista Stakes at one mile on turf and Founder's Day for Bob Hess, Jr. in the Grade I Beholder Mile on the main track.

Vive la France!

The post French Native Ryan Curatolo Making A Splash In The Jockeys’ Standings At Santa Anita Park appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Horseshoe Indianapolis Racing & Casino is proud to add handicapping and wagering specialist Brian Arrigoni to the elite broadcast team. Arrigoni will serve as the new Paddock Analyst, joining “Racing Rachel” McLaughlin, on-air racing analyst and production manager, and Track Announcer John G. Dooley, covering the 2022 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing season.

A native of Minnesota, Arrigoni has long been associated with horse racing, attending the races from a young age with his father, who he notes as his role model. He has served as the paddock analyst for Canterbury Park the past six years and has a growing following on social media for his exclusive picks, catering to those seeking assistance in multiple race exotic wagers.

“As someone who is always learning and trying to apply new ideas and get better, I have leaned towards the low takeout wagers,” said Arrigoni. “I'm very appreciative of the opportunity I had with Canterbury to grow and fine tune my handicapping skills. With that opportunity, I've learned a lot and enjoy the satisfaction of stringing along multiple winners in a row, which has led me to often play Pick 5's due to minimal takeouts. I'm very excited to join the team at Horseshoe Indianapolis and I'm ready to get to work adding support to both John (Dooley) and Rachel (McLaughlin).”

Arrigoni will be right at home at Horseshoe Indianapolis, which sports several reduced takeouts. The Straight Fire Pick 6 (Jackpot Pick 6) offers an industry low 11.99 percent takeout while the Pick 4 and Pick 5 have a 15 percent takeout. Arrigoni's largest payday was on a Pick 5 ticket cashed at Aqueduct last fall with a reward of $176,719 waiting on him at the conclusion of the wager.

“Brian has quietly made a name for himself as an excellent handicapper who uses advanced wagering strategies and techniques,” said Eric Halstrom, Vice President and General Manager of Racing. “As our new Paddock Analyst, his on-camera presence will be the perfect complement to Rachel Mclaughlin and John Dooley during the upcoming racing season.”

An avid hockey fan, this will be Arrigoni's second association with Indiana. He previously relocated to Carmel, Ind. while playing hockey for the Indiana Ice. The 2012 college graduate, with bachelor's degrees in criminal justice and political science, now serves as manager for an insurance company in Minnesota when he's not surveying races.

“We look forward to watching Brian's analytical approach when handicapping the Horseshoe Indianapolis races,” added Halstrom. “We are very excited to have him join our team. His knowledge and enthusiasm for racing is unmatched, and we are fortunate to have someone of his caliber supporting our program.”

Arrigoni and his fiancé, Jessica, have six children. Sons Alijah (14), Isaac (13), Cole (9) and Vincent (2) are joined by seven-month-old twins Nico and Noelle. He will begin his Indiana duties when the 2022 season begins Tuesday, April 19, providing daily analysis on select Thoroughbred races remotely with in-person visits on select racing days throughout the season.

The 20th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing is set to resume Tuesday, April 19 and run through Wednesday, Nov. 23. Racing will be held Monday through Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. with Thursday racing beginning at 3:30 p.m. A total of 12 Saturday racing programs will be held in 2022. For more information on events and racing, go to www.indianagrand.com.

The post Brian Arrigoni Named Paddock Analyst At Horseshoe Indianapolis appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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There was a Vance-trained winner Feb. 20 at Oaklawn, but it wasn't for David or his son, Tommy.

Trisha Vance Duncan – David's daughter and Tommy's younger sister – recorded her first career victory in the seventh race, an allowance sprint for older horses, when Heart Rhythm ($16) edged favored Macron by a half-length under Geovanni Franco.

Heart Rhythm marked the second career starter for Vance Duncan, 57, who also co-owns the Flat Out colt with her husband of three years, Kelly. Heart Rhythm and Girls a Bullet, her first starter, previously had been with David Vance, Oaklawn's leading trainer in 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1976.

Vance, on behalf of Vance Duncan and her husband, had claimed Heart Rhythm for $50,000 Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs. Vance Duncan, at one time, worked as her father's assistant and was instrumental in keeping the stable afloat immediately following a December 2007 automobile accident that left him confined to a motorized wheelchair.

Now, Vance Duncan has a winner under her name.

“That's the difference,” she said Sunday morning.

Vance Duncan's decision to go out on her own came after her husband closed his Dallas-area restaurant, Big Daddy's Roadhouse BBQ, in November 2020. They had three horses with David Vance during the 2021 Oaklawn meeting that she groomed and cared for.

“My dad was training the horses and we didn't have anything else to do,” Vance Duncan said. “I worked for my dad for about a year again and then we decided that I would train the ones that we owned.”

Vance Duncan said she officially struck out on her own about seven weeks ago. Girls a Bullet finished third, beaten a head, in a Feb. 13 sprint for older $16,000 female sprinters. She was claimed out of the race by 2020 Oaklawn training champion Robertino Diodoro.

Heart Rhythm toppled heavily favored Macron, who is trained by Hall of Famer and North American all-time wins leader Steve Asmussen.

“That was awesome,” Vance Duncan said. “That's a good horse. We claimed him at Churchill. My dad ran him back up there and he ran third, then we brought him here and he ran second, then we ran him again and he won.”

The only other horse Vance Duncan trains is Alexandros, a Jan. 7 starter/optional claiming winner for her father. Vance Duncan and her husband own the Flatter gelding.

Vance Duncan said she's looking to claim “a couple” of horses and “get up to five” for the Churchill Downs spring/summer meeting that begins April 30. David Vance is among the all-time winningest trainers at Oaklawn and Churchill and one of just 34 in North American history (United States and Canada) with 3,000 career victories, according to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization.

“I learned everything I know from my dad,” Vance Duncan said.

David Vance, 81, said he's proud of what his daughter has already accomplished in the brief time on her own.

“She's always worked for me,” Vance said. “She does all the work, so why not be the trainer? Hell, she's probably the best groom back there are far as a groom goes. There's no groom back there better than she is. She's been my assistant before, before she went off and came back. After I had my accident, she started being a trainer, too. Not only my assistant, but a trainer, too. Tommy wasn't training at the time and he came and helped her, but she did a great job.”

Tommy Vance saddled his first career stakes winner last year at Oaklawn and has two runner-up finishes and three thirds during the 2021-2022 meeting that began Dec. 3.

The post Trisha Vance Duncan Saddles First Winner With Second Career Starter appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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P. F. Mayboy's Feb. 16, 1972, victory was noteworthy for being more than John Ed Anthony's first as an owner at Oaklawn. It's what happened after the race that he laughs about 50 years later.

After finishing fifth in the 1970 Arkansas Derby, P. F. Mayboy was now running for Anthony's fledgling Loblolly Acres Corp., and a $15,000 claiming tag, after he purchased the son of Nashua Blue and two other horses from fellow Arkansas lumberman Dick Sturgis, who operated a breeding/training farm approximately 55 miles south of Hot Springs.

P. F. Mayboy opened a commanding six-length lead on the backstretch of the 1 mile and 70-yard race for older horses and held on to win by a head. Anthony, poking fun at himself, said he didn't know how to get to the winner's circle, so he wasn't in the win picture following his landmark victory.

“I have the picture, but my friend Dick Sturgis is in it,” Anthony said Saturday night. “As I remember, it may have been a photo and I waited until the photo was posted before I started down there and before I got there, they had already taken the picture.”

Anthony, 83, would more than make up for his rookie mistake. Already among the most celebrated owners in Oaklawn history, Anthony reached another milestone in Saturday's 12th race when his homebred Rolling Fork captured an Arkansas-bred allowance sprint under Reylu Gutierrez. Based on chart results, favored Rolling Fork ($6.60) marked Anthony's record 270th career Oaklawn victory, breaking a tie with the late Sharon Hild.

Anthony won 172 races at Oaklawn under his Loblolly banner before it was phased out in the mid-1990s following his divorce from Mary Lynn Dudley. Rolling Fork became the 98th Oaklawn winner for Anthony's Shortleaf Stable. Loblolly and Shortleaf are species of pine trees native to south Arkansas, where Anthony's family has held vast timber interests for more than 100 years.

Some of the most famous horses in Oaklawn history have carried Anthony's familiar chocolate brown and yellow silks, including Eclipse Award winners Temperence Hill (champion 3-year-old male of 1980) and Vanlandingham (champion older male of 1985) and Cox's Ridge, who became Loblolly's first nationally prominent horse in the late 1970s. Loblolly also campaigned a third Eclipse Award winner, Prairie Bayou, the country's champion 3-year-old male of 1993.

Temperence Hill won the Rebel Handicap and Arkansas Derby in 1980 at Oaklawn before capturing the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown. Loblolly added two victories in its second leg, the Preakness, with Pine Bluff in 1992 and Prairie Bayou in 1993. Pine Bluff also won the Rebel and Arkansas Derby.

Like many of Anthony's horses, Rolling Fork, a 4-year-old Midshipman gelding, is named for a point in the breeder/owner's native south Arkansas (it is a tributary of the Little River). For his towering accomplishments, Anthony was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.

“It's an honor to have somebody like that supporting you,” said John Ortiz, who trains Rolling Fork. “It's an honor. That's just great, with a horse that everybody loves. He's sweetest horse in the barn. 'Sweet Potato,' that's what we call Rolling Fork. All he does is eat sweet potatoes.”

Shortleaf has approximately 22 horses in training, the bulk at Oaklawn with Ortiz and two-time reigning Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox. Shortleaf also has 2021 Oaklawn allowance winner The Sound with trainer Jimmy Jerkens in New York.

After some lean times in the post-Loblolly era, Anthony has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years with the help of his son Ed, a pedigree expert, and racing manager John Gasper. Shortleaf runners won 28 races and amassed $2,312,041 in purse earnings overall last year, single-season highs, dating to 2000, according to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization.

Anthony stands three stallions and boards about a half-dozen broodmares at McDowell Farm near Sparkman, Ark., approximately 60 miles south of Hot Springs. Anthony also boards some 18-20 other broodmares at famed Stone Farm in Kentucky.

“We bought horses for a while and I always like colts,” said Anthony, a native of Fordyce, Ark. “I finally decided that the name of the game was really homebreds and so we developed a broodmare band.”

Anthony said Shortleaf develops five or six Arkansas-breds and 12-15 Kentucky-breds each year “from scratch.”

“We won't buy much anymore,” Anthony said.

The breeding/buying mix has yielded spectacular results during the first 33 days of Oaklawn's scheduled 65-day meeting in 2021-2022. Through Sunday, Shortleaf was the runaway leader among owners in victories (11) and purse earnings ($1,133,556). Loblolly, between 1980 and 1993, led all Oaklawn owners in purse earnings six times. Loblolly won 20 races at the 1988 and 1993 meetings. Shortleaf already has equaled its Oaklawn-best 11 victories, which came at the 2021 meeting. Shortleaf entered Wednesday with $932,976 in purse earnings this year to rank second nationally, according to Equibase.

“I mean, that's great for him,” Gasper said, referring to Anthony. “It's good for everybody, but I feel so good for him. When I went to work for him, I said: 'I'm going to try to do my best to get you back to where it was.'”

Anthony has won three races at the 2021-2022 meeting with Gar Hole, a promising homebred and 2-1 program favorite for Saturday's $150,000 Nodouble Breeders' Stakes for Arkansas-bred sprinters.

Plainsman – almost 50 years to the day since Anthony's first Oaklawn victory – surpassed $1 million in career earnings with a neck decision over Thomas Shelby in the $600,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 12.

On the advice of Gasper, Anthony purchased Plainsman, a 7-year-old son of Flatter, for $350,000 at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Cox's Ridge gave Anthony, a Hot Springs resident, his first career Oaklawn stakes victory in the 1978 Razorback.

“He (Anthony) obviously loves Oaklawn,” said Cox, who trains Plainsman. “It's his home track and he always wants the horses ready to run here. Obviously, between his open horses and Arkansas-breds, this is a meet he points for. He plays a big role in Arkansas racing.”

Ortiz trains Gar Hole and saddled Shortleaf homebred Ice Orchid to a runner-up finish in last Saturday's $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies. Anthony recorded his 271st Oaklawn victory in Sunday's eighth race when Arkansas-bred standout The Mary Rose, another homebred, whipped open company in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race. Gutierrez rode favored The Mary Rose ($6) for Ortiz.

And yes, Anthony was in his latest Oaklawn win picture.

“I go back to the first win in February of 1972 – 50 years ago this month – so that was pretty special,” Anthony said in the Larry Snyder Winner's Circle following The Mary Rose's Feb. 27 victory. “And where we've gone from there has been rewarding and, obviously, you wouldn't do something for 50 years if it weren't a lot of fun. I'm proud to be in Arkansas and I'm proud to support Oaklawn and I've cheered for Oaklawn throughout all 50 years and found it to be very receptive and very cooperative and a great place to race. In fact, I've said it over and over again – the best place to winter in American racing is Hot Springs, Ark.”

The post ‘He Plays A Big Role In Arkansas Racing’: Leading Owner John Ed Anthony Celebrates Milestone At Oaklawn appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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