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Leparoux Joins Select Group With 500th Keeneland Win

Julien Leparoux made the most of his first mount of Keeneland's Spring Meet by riding Calumet Farm's homebred Gear Jockey to win the fifth race and record his 500^th career victory at lthe Lexington, Ky., racetrack. He became the fourth rider to reach that milestone, joining Hall of Famers Pat Day (918) and Don Brumfield (716) and Robby Albarado (526).

Leparoux won his first race at Keeneland during the 2005 Fall Meet, his first season as a jockey. Since then, he has earned 12 leading jockey titles at Keeneland, most recently during the 2019 Fall Meet.

“Keeneland has always been a place I love. This is my favorite track in America,” Leparoux said. “To win 500 here is special. I have my family here with me on a beautiful day. It's perfect.”

Leparoux's Keeneland success has helped him earn two Eclipse Awards for being the best in his field: as an apprentice in 2006 and again in 2009.

In his career, he has more than 2,700 victories and mount earnings of $173.8 million.

Gear Jockey, a 4-year-old colt by Twirling Candy, is trained by Rusty Arnold, who scored his 281st Keeneland win to tie Hall of Famer Bill Mott on second place on the list of Keeneland's all-time leading trainers by wins. Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas has a record 295 victories here.

Leparoux and Arnold increased their win totals in the final race when Reiko and Michael Baum's Illiogami rallied to notch her first victory.

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Edgard Zayas Off To Fast Start At Gulfstream’s Spring/Summer Meet

Defending two-time champion Edgard Zayas has gotten off to a quick start for the Spring/Summer Meet at Gulfstream Park, riding five winners on the first two programs.

The 27-year-old jockey, who rode a personal-best 74 winners during the recently concluded Championship Meet, made three visits to the winner's circle Friday after notching a double on Thursday's opening-day card.

“I had my best meet of my career in the Championship Meet. I'm hoping I can keep it going for the Spring/Summer Meet,” said Zayas, who also captured the 2020 title at Gulfstream Park West.

The Puerto Rico native, who rode his first career race at Gulfstream in 2013, has ridden 1755 winners while based in South Florida.

“I love Florida. Everyone asks me why I don't go somewhere else. I feel so comfortable here. It feels like home to me. I can stay here year-round. It's great for the family,” the father of two said. “But, next year, if things keep getting better, I could go somewhere else.”

Zayas scored back-to-back aboard Swirling Candy ($4.60) in Race 1 and Systematic ($2.60) in Race 2 before winning aboard Pearlescent ($9.40) in Race 6

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Junior Alvarado Bringing South Florida Momentum To New York Jockey Colony

Following a successful winter in South Florida, a determined Junior Alvarado will resume riding in New York on Friday at Aqueduct Racetrack.

After many years of staying in New York for the Big A winter meet, Alvarado, 34, instead took his tack to Gulfstream Park for their championship meet where he finished sixth in the jockey standings with 53 wins, including seven stakes scores.

“For a long time, I've waited for this opportunity and it felt like the right time, so I took advantage of it and I thought it went better than expected,” Alvarado said. “The first couple of weeks were a little slow, but that was a lot of people getting to know me and trying to figure out the track and knowing when and where to make your move. Things began picking up after that.”

Much of Alvarado's success this winter came on the turf for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. He guided Annex, a sophomore Constitution colt, to stakes scores in the Palm Beach and Cutler Bay as well as capturing the Grade 3 Sweetest Chant with White Frost, a 3-year-old Candy Ride filly.

Both Mott trainees could be contenders this summer in NYRA's lucrative Turf Triple series, implemented in 2019 as the turf equivalent of the Triple Crown, with all legs contested at Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course.

Alvarado also picked up Gulfstream stakes wins with Venezuelan Hug in the Grade 3 Canadian Turf for trainer Danny Gargan; Gray's Fable for Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield in the Grade 3 Kitten's Joy; and Pacific Gale in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie for John Kimmel.

Alvarado's mounts banked more than $2.3 million in earnings at the Gulfstream meet, where he boasted a record of 377-53-75-48 while finishing in the money at a 47 percent clip.

“This is the first year where I've started things off with this much success,” Alvarado said. “Coming back to New York, I've been riding a lot of good horses that I picked up down in Florida. Coming into the spring, I don't know that I've ever had this many good horses lined up, so I am very confident moving forward. It gives me a lot of confidence in the decisions I make in riding.”

Alvarado departed for Florida after a strong fall campaign in New York, notching five stakes wins during the Big A fall meet and six stakes victories during the Belmont fall meet, including Grade 1 scores aboard Dayoutoftheoffice in the Frizette and Gufo in the Belmont Derby Invitational.

On Saturday, Alvarado will have the chance to parlay his South Florida prosperity to the Empire State, with mounts in four of the five graded stakes on a lucrative card.

In the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino, Alvarado will pilot Frank Fletcher Racing Operations' Candy Man Rocket, who will try to make amends after an off-the-board effort as the beaten favorite in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 6.

The Mott-trained son of Candy Ride tasted sweet victory in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs on February 6 but did not get the most favorable of runs into the first turn of the Tampa Bay Derby, where he broke awkwardly and was shuffled to mid pack in between horses.

Alvarado, in search of his first Wood Memorial win, will guide Candy Man Rocket from post 7 in a field of 9. He said the outside post in Saturday's nine-furlong event will be beneficial.

“Things just didn't go our way that day,” Alvarado said of the Tampa Bay Derby effort. “There was some bumping going into the first turn and we had to start over and go to the outside. I would draw a line through that race. We have a good post to the outside on Saturday. Hopefully, he breaks well and gets a race similar to what he did in the Sam Davis, when he was in the clear on the outside.”

The Wood Memorial offers 100-40-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-four finishers and a good result on Saturday would propel Candy Man Rocket, currently 32nd on the leaderboard with 10 points, into the starting gate on the first Saturday in May.

Alvarado's previous Derby mounts include Mohaymen [4th, 2016], Enticed [14th, 2018] and Tax [14th, 2019].

Alvarado's stakes lineup on Saturday incudes mounts aboard multiple Grade 1-winner Mind Control in the Grade 1, $300,000 Carter [Race 6]; Modernist in the Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior [Race 8]; and Mia Martina in the Grade 3, $250,000 Gazelle [Race 9], which offers 100-40-20-10 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points. He will also partner Lady Sansa in her North American debut in a turf allowance in Race 7 for trainer Christophe Clement.

Alvarado formally returns to action on Thursday at the Big A, and is named to ride Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks winner Paris Lights in the Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff [Race 7]. He also is scheduled aboard Olympique [Race 1], Runabout [Race 2], and Box N Score [Race 6].

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Former Jockey, Racing Official George Taniguchi Passes At Age 94

George Taniguchi, believed to be America's first Japanese-American jockey and later a highly respected Southern California racing official, passed away at age 94 following a brief illness at his home in Palm Springs in early March, according to his niece Donna Johnson, who had served as his caretaker.

Born in 1926 in the farming community of El Centro, CA, Taniguchi's family moved to Los Angeles following World War II and he quickly became enamored with acting—which led to a chance encounter with major league horseracing at Hollywood Park in 1950.

In search of a producer whom he hoped would give him a leading role in MGM's “Go for Broke,” Taniguchi high-tailed it to the Track of the Lakes and Flowers, only to be denied entrance to the Turf Club. Although dejected, Taniguchi soon liked what he saw on the track and was told to contact a quarter horse trainer in Bakersfield named Jimmy Monji—who would later train quarter horses for Ed Allred, who would later become the owner of Los Alamitos Racecourse.

According to Taniguchi, in a story published in Discover Nikkei on Aug. 10, 2020, it was Monji who taught him how to ride with a horse, not just on a horse. His experience with Monji in Bakersfield led to him becoming a freelance exercise boy at Hollywood Park in 1952 and then a licensed jockey in 1954.

Hollywood Park's leading apprentice and a winner of a career-high 230 races in 1954, Taniguchi more than held his own riding at tracks around the country with the likes of John Longden, Bill Shoemaker, Eddie Arcaro, Ray York, Milo Valenzuela, Bill Boland, Donald Pierce, Jerry Lambert and other top riders of the 1950s and 60s. With 203 wins in 1959, Taniguchi enjoyed his best money-won year, as his mounts earned $934,711, placing him 12th nationally.

A multiple leading rider on Pomona's half mile bullring, Taniguchi, who retired from the saddle in 1968, booted home a total of 1,597 winners from 11,354 mounts.

“My dad loved George and he won a lot of races with him at Pomona,” said trainer Gary Stute in reference to his father, the late Mel Stute. “My dad always said nobody rode that bullring out there better than George. He was fearless and a great judge of pace. I can tell you this, he was a great racing official also. He knew the game and he respected everyone.”

Among his biggest wins, as reported by Steve Andersen in Daily Racing Form, were the $218,940 Arlington Futurity in 1960 aboard Pappa's All, with whom he also won that year's Hollywood Futurity.

Taniguchi also rode Hall of Famer Round Table to victory in the 1957 El Dorado Handicap at Hollywood Park and in 1958, he won Santa Anita's San Felipe Stakes aboard Carrier X. A multiple stakes winner at Pomona, Twenty One Guns and Taniguchi also won the Del Mar Handicap in 1959.

Following his retirement, Taniguchi worked as a racing official at all major California tracks and served as Assistant Racing Secretary at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park and Del Mar.

“George was a good friend and a tremendous official,” said longtime Santa Anita Placing Judge, Bob Moreno. “He was always upbeat and he made the job fun. He was professional at all times and he knew the game thoroughly. A first class man in every respect.”

George Taniguchi is survived by his son Ryan and niece, Donna Johnson.

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