Tag: People

It has been a long time in coming. After several years of falling short in the voting, retired jockey Corey Nakatani finally got the call this year that he's been voted into the Racing Hall of Fame. The induction ceremonies are Friday in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

“I just think it's amazing,” Nakatani said. “Where I started, the guys I learned to ride from, the guys I was competing against. As you know they're all Hall of Famers. To do as well as I did, obviously you have to put in the three 'D's': determination, desire, and don't take no for an answer.”

Nakatani was one of 10 children in his family growing up in Southern California. His father, Roy, was born during World War II in a Japanese internment camp at Santa Anita. Corey was a champion high school wrestler and, in a strange way, that led him to racing.

“When I was 15 years old I broke my nose in a wrestling tournament and went to the hospital at Arcadia Methodist (across from Santa Anita),” Nakatani said. “After they fixed my nose, my dad went to Santa Anita and bet on the horses.”

While his dad was playing the ponies, Nakatani wandered out on the track apron and started asking questions.

“I was like, 'Do those guys make any money?' and, (trainer) Jack Van Berg was standing nearby,” Nakatani recalled. “He said, 'That guy right there is Bill Shoemaker and he's standing with Charlie Whittingham. They both make about a million dollars a year.' So that summer I went to the World Jockey Association and learned about horses. Then at the end of the summer I went to work at Tony Matos' farm, a Thoroughbred breeding farm where they broke babies and stuff.”

Nakatani worked at the farm for about three months and then went to work at Galway Downs in Temecula, Calif. for Bob and Cecil Hundley.

This may be a good time to note that Nakatani had never ridden a horse in his life. He was a quick learner and by 1988 he was picking up mounts. One of the first races he ever rode was at Del Mar. He went to Tijuana and rode his first winner that year, and by the spring of 1989 Nakatani was riding at Santa Anita.

Thirty years later, Nakatani had won 3,909 races, 341 graded stakes, 120 Grade Is, more than $234 million in purse money, and at the time of his retirement ranked 12th all-time among North America's leading riders. He now ranks 14th on the all-time list. He notched 10 Breeders' Cup wins and his most memorable was, of course, his first.

“I was on Itsallgreektome in New York,” Nakatani remembered about the 1990 Breeders' Cup Mile (G1) at Belmont Park, where his mount finished second. “I got beat by Lester Piggott (aboard Royal Academy). When I first started riding Laffitt Pincay (Jr.) was my idol. He, at the time, had the most Breeders' Cup wins. That was my focus, winning stakes races and getting the young 2-year-olds to get better.”

Nakatani said he attributes his success to staying healthy and hard work.

“Working hard, getting on a lot of horses and helping the trainers put them in the right races,” Nakatani said. “It was an amazing ride, seems like it was just yesterday I was winning all of the major stakes races in California.”

Nakatani won three riding titles at Del Mar in 1994, 1998, and 2004. He ranks sixth all-time in wins at Del Mar with 705 and second in stakes victories with 108. He gives a lot of credit to his agents: Matos, Bob Meldahl, and Nick Casado.

As for the best horse he ever rode…Lava Man is the first one he mentions. The multiple Grade 1-winning Slew City Slew gelding, a California-bred, was a 2015 inductee into the Hall of Fame.

“I used to ride a lot of nice horses,” Nakatani noted. “A lot of the time you're riding against Hall of Famers, so you don't always get the best of the horses you want to ride. I was very fortunate and lucky to win a lot of races I shouldn't have won.”

Nakatani's racing career came to an abrupt end at Del Mar in 2018 when he was unseated during a race and suffered a broken neck. He announced his retirement in 2019.

“I had a lot of help along the way,” Nakatani said. “One trainer that comes to mind is Jenine Sahadi; people like that who had a lot of faith in me.”

The post Retired Jockey Nakatani Recalls Some Highlights Of Hall Of Fame Career appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Jockey Umberto Rispoli loves riding at Del Mar. And it shows.

Since arriving at the seaside oval in the summer of 2020, he has never finished out of the top five in the jockey standings. Twice he's finish second, including a meet-long battle with Flavien Prat in 2020 that Rispoli lost on the final day, 50-to-49. He was a distant runner-up to Juan Hernandez last summer.

Those close calls haven't dampened his enthusiasm, and so far he leads the jockey standings at Del Mar's summer meet with seven victories going into Saturday's card. In fact, he looks back with pride on the riding dual with Prat in 2020.

“It was one of the finest battles they've ever seen here,” Rispoli said. “I didn't expect that at that time because it was my first meet and I didn't know what was expected of me, but to finish the meet with 49 winners was pretty good.”

At Santa Anita the winter/spring before arriving at Del Mar, Rispoli won 50 races so his career in the U.S got off to a rousing start. But then again the native of Italy came to America with some impressive credentials. He holds the record in Italy for most wins in a season and boasts several riding titles.

“The good target at Del Mar is to find a good horse that's going to the Breeders' Cup,” he said, “and to have a solid meeting. Keep the bar for winning high. That's the key.

“I'm trying to win as many good races as I can,” Rispoli continued. “If the title is an option, we can try to win the title but the priority is to find some nice 2-year-olds, win some big races and prepare for the road to the Breeders' Cup.”

Rispoli has ridden in one Breeders' Cup during his brief career in the U.S. He finished second on Smooth Like Strait in the 2021 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1) at Del Mar.

In April of last year, business was waning up at Santa Anita so Rispoli decided to move his tack east. At first he was going to New York, but he called an audible and went to Kentucky instead. There he found even fewer opportunities. He had difficulty finding quality rides and after only a couple of months he decided to return to Southern California where his wife and two children had remained.

“It was tough for me when I came back from Kentucky,” Rispoli said. “I lost a lot of business and you know, once you're gone you have to rebuild everything again. But Matt has been doing a great job and now we're riding for a lot of people.”

Matt Nakatani is Rispoli's agent and over a year later Rispoli said business is good and he's setting his sights on closing the gap between him and his chief rival, Juan Hernandez, who he admires and respects as a fellow rider.

“Juan has done a terrific job to keep winning,“ Rispoli said. “But I would like to give him a challenge. Otherwise it's going to be boring. I think I can be a tough customer for him.”

As for the rest of the jockey colony, Rispoli, who has ridden everywhere, from France to the Czech Republic, from Japan to South Africa, said the Del Mar jockey colony is on the improve.

“The colony is getting tough and stronger,” Rispoli said. “At the end of the day you need to ride a good horse, that's what you need. You can be a good rider but if they put you on a 100-1 horse or 50-1, at the end of the day you're not going to win any races.

“I think the competition is open with everybody,” he continued. “We just need to be focused. It's a short meet, intense, and the less mistakes you make the more races you can win.”

The post Rispoli Brings International Experience To Del Mar Jockey Colony appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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It's that time of year again. Del Mar is open for another summer of exciting Thoroughbred action, the 2-year-olds are about to strut their stuff on the racetrack and the track has assembled another group of aspiring college students who may one day make an impact on the world of horse racing. This year, the popular Intern Program, which over the years has brought 119 young folks to Del Mar, has four bright, enthusiastic individuals.

Let's meet this year's class of 2023:

23-year old Jadyn Crowe is one of two interns in this year's class to hail from the University of Arizona, but unlike 41 interns before her, she did not attend the school's renown Race Track Industry Program. Instead, Jadyn recently graduated with a business management degree.

“I'm just trying to figure everything out,” she says. “I thought this would be a really fun place to work in the meantime before I look for a career.”

Jadyn grew up in San Diego and currently resides in Point Loma.

“I used to ride English when I was little,” she says. “I spent a lot of time with horses so I always thought it would be cool to work around them.”

The first time Jadyn came to the races was three or four years ago when she visited Del Mar with some of her friends.

“Just seeing all the flowers and everybody so dressed up it was really cool to experience,” she says, “and then how fast the horses go and all the excitement.”

Jadyn grew up in La Mesa before her family moved to Coronado her senior year in high school. Then it was off to Arizona where she says she mainly concentrated on the business clubs on campus. Her brush with horse racing came through a classmate's uncle who ran horses at Rillito Park in Tucson.

“I would love to learn the inside operations here at Del Mar,” she says when asked what she hopes to get out of the experience this summer. “How everything is organized, what goes into getting this place ready for racing. There's a lot that goes into it and I find that super interesting.”

“I don't have a lot of experience in any corporate type of job so I think this is a great little taste of what a real corporation or business might be,” she notes. “I would love working in HR or marketing but I'm happy to go where I'm needed.”

Like her fellow interns, Jadyn will be shadowing different department heads through their daily routines, be it checking out the jocks room one day, the pari-mutual room the next, and even spending some time with the stewards.

Noah Kirste is currently a senior at Southern Utah. He grew up in Las Vegas and while he may have dabbled a bit in horse racing, it was Del Mar…the place, that attracted him to the Intern Program.

“It's a unique place that separates itself from a lot of places within the country or even the world,” Noah says. “When I was here last year with my stepfather I met a lot of people and they were all very nice and intriguing and it looks like they have a really strong team here.”

His stepdad works for Caesars, sponsor of the Del Mar Derby, among others. He remembers his first impression of the seaside oval.

“Just seeing how big this place was,” he says. “You see horseracing on TV and it looks small but once you step into this arena, it's massive.”

He feels a certain kinship to the horses.

“Growing up in Utah you do visit farms and I have ridden horses so I feel attached to them,” he offers. “They're such beautiful creatures and they're another reason for my being here.”

Noah says he's hoping to experience all facets of the racing industry.

“From the betting side to the marketing to operations,” he says. “I'm hoping this internship will help me decide what I want to do with my future.”

“I've gotten into horseracing the past year or two so I'm fairly new to this industry,” Noah says. “I've watched Churchill. I've watched the Breeders' Cup and the Kentucky Derby. Being a marketing major I'm hoping to see how the racetrack operates.”

Noah graduates in December.

Laurel White is the other intern attending the University of Arizona. She's a junior majoring in marketing with a minor in history. Like her fellow Wildcat, she, too, is in the process of narrowing down what she wants to do as a career.

“Sports marketing is something I'm interested in,” she says. “This internship came up and I decided to go with it to kind of see what I like and what I don't like. I'm just looking forward to seeing what piques my interests.”

While she'd never been to Del Mar, she has been to the races. She took in the sights and sounds of Keeneland in Lexington last year.

“It was my first racetrack experience and it was very cool,” Laurel says. “I imagine it will probably be a little bit different here because of the different parts of the country.”

One of her goals with the Intern Program is to make some good connections and network with the people who work here at Del Mar.

“I'm just going to take the summer as it goes,” she says. “From my limited experience I think this is a really cool environment but I just don't know that much about it so I'll see after the summer if I want to continue to pursue a career in the horse racing industry.”

Luke Falcetti is attending college in upstate New York at Syracuse University where he's majoring in Sports Analytics. Luke's family lives in Orange County but he chose Syracuse because it was one of three schools in the country that offer his major.

“When I came out of high school I didn't know what I wanted to do,” he says. “I knew I liked sports and I was good at math. So I was looking around and found that major and that's why I chose Syracuse.”

He says he's loved horse racing for as long as he can remember and has been coming to Del Mar his whole life.

“My grandparents brought me here as a kid,” Luke says. “I thought this would be a fun opportunity to come here and learn everything from the inside.”

His first memory of Del Mar was Pacific Classic Day 2012. “I came with my parents,” he says noting that was the year Dullahan won the big race. “We've gone to every Pacific Classic over the past 10 years so I'm pretty familiar with the winners.”

Unfortunately, he missed last year's Classic with Flightline because he had to get back to New York for school. But that's not where he found out about the Intern Program. He says a family friend involved with Del Mar gave him the heads up.

“I'm sort of using it as a window into how I can get involved in horse racing,” Luke says. “I have aspirations, a little bit, I just don't know what it would be or what I would do. I've been doing analytic stuff at school so maybe in some form there.”

We all know how analytics have permeated other sports like baseball and football.

“There definitely is some in horse racing,” he says, “but from what I've seen the other sports are much more involved. Like in baseball you have 20 different stats you can look at for each player. You can pinpoint an expected batting average for a player in a certain matchup against a certain pitcher. It's all about the matchups which you don't see in racing as much.”

Which makes one wonder, if they ever come up with an analytic that will reveal the winner of a horse race, that person, maybe Luke, will make a fortune.

The post Four New Interns Call Del Mar Home For Summer Of 2023 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Stonehedge's Florida-homebred Dean Delivers, trained by Michael Yates, looks for a victory at the Grade 1 level in Saturday's $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap, a six-furlong sprint over the main track for 3-year-olds and up at Saratoga Race Course.

Dean Delivers sports a 16-5-7-1 lifetime record, most recently scoring by 2 1/4-lengths in the Grade 3 Smile Sprint going six furlongs on July 1 at Gulfstream Park. The performance garnered a 100 Beyer Speed Figure, building upon a 99 received on May 20 when the chestnut opened up against fellow Florida-breds in Gulfstream's seven-furlong Big Drama.

“It's a very good number. He ran a big race. Everything [in his prior starts] had been seven furlongs and a mile,” said Yates. “It was good to get him back to three quarters, where it looks like it's been his best numbers to date.”

The Vanderbilt will mark the 4-year-old's Grade 1 debut and also his first start outside of Florida. The race is a step up in class for Dean Delivers, matching up against 2022 Champion Male Sprinter Elite Power and Grade 1-winner Gunite, among others.

“The last stakes he won in Florida gave him bonus money for the Breeders' Cup and the horse is doing really good, but there's very few races to choose from going three quarters of a mile,” said Yates. ”So, we decided to go try this level and see if he is competitive with those horses pointing towards the Breeders' Cup.”

Dean Delivers is by Cajun Breeze, who was trained by Yates and ran in 33 races from 2010 to 2014, winning four. Cajun Breeze ran in the 2012 Smile Sprint, then a Grade 2 race, before shipping to Saratoga and placing second in an allowance race at six furlongs.

“It is very rewarding and it's been a full-circle deal. A lot of years and a lot of tears,” explained Yates, who seeks his first graded stakes at Saratoga, a task he hints would add to the track's “Graveyard of Champions” nickname.

Emisael Jaramillo will retain the mount on Dean Delivers, breaking from post six and carrying 120 pounds. Jaramillo has piloted Dean Delivers in his last two starts, winning both outings.

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