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‘Part Of Our Racing Family’: Los Alamitos Jockey Agent Neil Bricks Passes

Neil Bricks, one of the most successful agents ever at Los Alamitos Race Course and a mainstay at the Orange County oval in Southern California for over 45 years, passed away at his home on Saturday night. Bricks was 69.

A New York native, Bricks worked at Los Alamitos Race Course as a groom, exercise rider, jockey and then as one of the track's top trainers. His jockeys included leading riders Ramon Guce, who is also Los Alamitos' all-time leading Thoroughbred rider, Cesar De Alba, Eddie Garcia, Ramon Sanchez, Vinnie Bednar and many others. Highly competitive in the tough business of horse racing, Bricks was a fun, caring and loving person once the entries had been drawn and the races had been run.

“He was a jokester,” said his niece, Michelle Zuelzke. “He was very caring with all of us nieces and nephews and always tried to have a joke to make us smile. He had a good heart and loved his family a lot. He was always trying to get the family together. He was fun.”

Bricks arrived at Los Alamitos in the early 1970s, making his way to the famous Quarter Horse track with trainer James Brookfield.

“Neil would clean stalls and eventually started galloping horses,” said Scott Craigmyle, the director of racing and track stable superintendent at Los Alamitos. “He galloped horses for Wayne Charlton for a long time and then galloped horses for Blane Schvaneveldt. He even rode a few races as a jockey. As an agent, he was part of our team, part of the racing team. It's a big loss. Those agents help fill the races and we all have a common goal, to put together a good racing card. He won more Thoroughbred races as an agent than anyone in the history of Los Alamitos. Neil was part of our racing family. He was here every day, and we talked every night. He was around at Los Alamitos forever and he'll be sorely missed.”

The jockeys meant the world to Neil Bricks.

“Neil treated me like his younger brother and my family like it was his own family,” Guce said. “He treated my kids like he was their uncle. I'll always think of Neil in that way. He was family. He was also an excellent jockey, the best I've ever seen. I had injuries and missed time, but every time I came, he always put me on top again. That's not an easy thing to do. In 2017, I was out for a couple of years and when I came back he got me the mounts that took me back on top.”

Bricks had a long working relationship with former leading rider and now trainer Cesar De Alba, working with the rider during his time riding Thoroughbreds and then many of the top Quarter Horses in the sport.

“I loved Neil,” De Alba said. “We worked together for so many years. We got leading Thoroughbred jockey and leading Quarter Horse jockey. Neil had a good heart. At work, he was all business. One minute he would make me mad and the next he would make me laugh. Even after I retired, we stayed pretty close. I'm going to miss him.”

Charles Treece, the all-time leading Thoroughbred trainer at Los Alamitos, knew Neil Bricks well before he began his career as an agent.

“I was working for Curtis Perner and I was ponying horses during the races,” Treece said. “I remember Neil as a jockey. He would always ride this horse named Joe Moon Kitty. I would pony him to the gate and we got to know each other well. That was probably around 1975.

“Once I started training and he was an agent, I talked to him at 7 a.m. every day that we took entries,” Treece added. “He treated all his riders evenly and he wanted to ride winners. The thing about Neil is that worked hard on looking to ride the best horse in the race. I didn't always agree with him, but I understood that he wanted winners for his jockeys. I knew that he was riding who he thought would give his jockey the best chance to win the race. Away from the racetrack, he would come over the house for holidays and family parties for many years. He was always fun to be around. He loved The Beatles, baseball, and was the best checkers player I knew. He had a checkers board in the trunk of his car. He loved to play the game and would tell people how many moves they had left before he would win the game. He just liked having fun. I talked to him last night. I'm going to miss him.”

Information on services is pending.

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‘It’s Been A Great Run’: Victor Espinoza, Agent Brian Beach Part Ways

Victor Espinoza and Brian Beach, who reached pinnacles in racing others can only dream about, have parted company.

The Hall of Fame jockey and his agent of eight years went their separate ways Saturday morning after Espinoza informed Beach he is eager for more business which the 58-year-old agent, through no fault of his own, presently is limited in generating.

Through Saturday, Espinoza had only 37 mounts this meet, winning four races with five seconds and seven thirds, good for purse earnings of $365,844.

“It's tough; it's not easy,” said Espinoza, who turns 49 on May 23. “We had great success together and we were a good team. I missed a lot of time because of injuries and the pandemic, but now I'm healthy and want to win more races.”

Beach has been unable to beat the backstretch bushes on a regular basis to drum up business as most agents do since he primarily is focused on resolving health issues for his wife, Lotta, in Idaho, from where he has been commuting when possible.

Lotta has been coping with a multitude of lingering ailments stemming from a horse accident more than three years ago, in March of 2018.

“I understand Brian's situation but I'm back and my goal right now is to win as many races as I can,” Espinoza said.

Before the split, Espinoza and Beach enjoyed a wild ride.

A member of the Hall of Fame since 2017, Espinoza burst onto the international scene with Derby and Preakness winner War Emblem in 2002 and again with two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome seven years ago. He then swept the Triple Crown on American Pharoah a year later, thus becoming a global celebrity appearing on “Dancing with the Stars” and “The Tonight Show,” with lucrative commercial offers his for the taking.

Among his honors are Santa Anita's George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, three ESPY's as best jockey and three Kentucky Derby victories.

Espinoza overcame a career-threatening neck injury during a workout spill at Del Mar on July 22, 2018 and miraculously resumed riding seven months later.

“Victor wants someone at the track every day and I've got family concerns that don't allow me to be there every day,” explained Beach, an agent since 1990. “I moved to Idaho in January to benefit my wife's health more than anything else.

“We already owned a place there (in a town called Worley, about an hour southeast of Coeur d'Alene), and I needed to provide an atmosphere that was more conducive to her recovery.

“I was traveling back and forth every week until the pandemic hit. That closed us down for a while and when we did open up, agents weren't allowed on the grounds and we were doing (post position) draws via conference calls.

“It wasn't planned that way but it was working out. Things began to loosen up over time, so now everybody's kind of back to normal but I still haven't been able to be there on a fulltime basis because I have family health concerns to worry about.

“Right now, Victor's business is not in great shape and he wants to see if it will improve if he's got an agent at the track in person every day.

“We've had a great eight years, and I think if he hadn't had the accident in 2018, we'd still be going strong. But that was so serious, and when he did come back, Santa Anita was shut down for a while, there was a lot of rain and it all prevented us from regaining our business.

“We were just getting going again last summer towards the end of the Big Meet at Santa Anita when the pandemic hit, so it's been kind of an unfortunate way to end it.

“But we've had tremendous success together. Winning the Triple Crown is as big as it gets in this game and something not many agents ever experience, plus two Kentucky Derby wins, a Dubai World Cup, a Breeders Cup Classic—the biggest races out there and we've won 'em all.

“It's been a great run.”

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Gary Young On OBS Bargain Purchase Winning Kentucky Derby: ‘I’ll Remember That Moment For My Entire Life’

Veteran bloodstock agent Gary Young is still living on a proverbial Cloud Nine following Medina Spirit's victory in last Saturday's $3-million Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (Grade 1).

Young, who is based in Southern California, purchased the Florida-bred Protonico colt for a mere $35,000 as a 2-year-old at the 2020 OBS July Sale for Amr Zedan.

“Jockey Victory Espinoza actually helped bridge the relationship with Mr. Zedan,” Young said. “He's a lifelong horse lover and he felt like he wanted to get back in the game. He met (Bob) Baffert in Saudi Arabia a couple years ago and he decided to take another swing at the game. The first sale we went to (2020 OBS April) he gave me a budget of $1 million and I got there that day and sometimes you hear rumblings about potential top sales prices around the sale. I called him about the two horses we marked down and told him there was a chance we wouldn't get both for that price and one may go for more than the budget.”

Young was correct and their first purchase was future Grade 1-winning filly Princess Noor, who dropped the hammer at $1.35 million. Princess Noor subsequently retired at the end of 2020 due to an injury but was pronounced in foal Friday to top stallion Into Mischief.

Following Princess Noor's purchase, Young returned to the sales ring to the rescheduled OBS July Sale. Because the sale was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Young only had 12 horses marked down in his catalogue to look at following the breeze preview days.

“After the last day of the preview I walked out of the sale similar to Rocky Balboa walking back to the corner after Apollo beat him up,” Young said. “I called Mr.Zedan and he asked me if I remember seeing a horse by Protonico breeze. It was easy to remember because there was only one horse by Protonico in the sale and he was one of the 12 horses I wrote down to look at. He told me his friend stands the stallion and asked if I could go look at him.

“In his sales breeze he kept his rhythm very well to the wire and actually continued out well to the seven-eighths pole. I have the catalogue of that sale and on the page for (Medina Spirit) I wrote, 'natural router stride.'”

When Young arrived to look at Medina Spirit prior to the sale, he noted his dark color like his sire Protonico. On the day of the sale, Young purchased Medina Spirit and he was shipped to Southern California to Baffert.

“I'm glad Mr. Zedan chose me to work with but even more importantly he chose Bob,” Young quipped.

Young arrived to Louisville eight days prior to this year's Kentucky Derby – the same time his prized purchase walked off the van to begin his final preparation for the “Run for the Roses.”

“I kept coming home to the hotel room all week knowing this horse would run well,” Young said. “In the Derby, I knew there wasn't a lot of speed inside of us. We knew Mandaloun had some speed but we thought Brad (Cox) would instruct (Florent Geroux) get him to relax. Rock Your World, who I considered our main opposition, got left leaving the gate.

“Down the backside you start looking around who's traveling well behind you. I could see Mandaloun was a different horse than the Louisiana Derby. He was probably pulling more than you like but he was running. Then, I noticed Flavien (Prat) on Hot Rod Charlie was traveling beautifully. Essential Quality was a little further out than Medina Spirit, Mandaloun and Hot Rod Charlie.”

Young's mere $35,000 purchase gamely turned back his rivals down the stretch for a half-length victory in the Kentucky Derby.

“I remember seeing Mr. Zedan after the race just fall to his knees in pure jubilation,” Baffert said. “What a humble man. We couldn't be happier for him.”

Young was noticeably hoarse Sunday morning following the Derby celebration.

“You can't put into words what winning the Kentucky Derby means,” Young said. “Life has been so good to me. I've been around so many talented people and horses. In the past I've been fortunate enough to win many Grade 1 races but there's only one Kentucky Derby and I'll remember that moment for my entire life.”

Medina Spirit will face his next test in next Saturday's Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico. He returned to training Wednesday at Churchill Downs and will ship to Baltimore, Md., Monday afternoon.

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Trevor McCarthy Shifting Tack To Southern California

There will soon be a new face in the Southern California jockey colony, belonging to Trevor McCarthy.

The native of Wilmington, Delaware, who celebrates his 27th birthday on May 16, was born into racing, following his father Michael McCarthy as a jockey, and made his bones in Maryland, leading several campaigns at Laurel and Pimlico.

Married to jockey Katie Davis, daughter of former top rider Robbie Davis, Trevor was fourth in the standings at Belmont Park through last Sunday, and after due diligence by both he and his new agent, an accord was reached.

If all works out well, McCarthy could follow in the footsteps of other jockeys who began their careers in Maryland before heading for greener pastures, among them Chris McCarron, Kent Desormeaux, Edgar Prado and Ramon Dominguez.

“I needed a rider and was not going to take one away from another agent here,” said Derek Lawson, who will represent McCarthy. “I recruited him. I started looking at riders who might fit out here, called him up, he made calls to trainers to learn about me and here we are.

“This is something he definitely wants to do,” continued Lawson, who got the pink slip from Flavien Prat in mid-February after playing a significant role in developing the 28-year-old Frenchman into a world-class presence.

“Trevor had a great winter at Aqueduct but he wanted to try something completely different, that being California, and he wanted to work with me,” Lawson said. “He will start riding here Memorial Day weekend (May 28 through 31).”

Lawson wasn't resting on his laurels or smelling the roses during his sudden and enforced absence from the game he loves.

“I wanted to bring in someone new and Trevor filled the bill. I like developing good, young talent.

“I recruited him the best way possible, tried to show him the advantages here, and even though it's heavy with competition at the top, otherwise he fits right in with everybody else.”

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