People | Horse Racing Free Tips

Gerald Bennett Wraps Up Both Trainer, Owner Titles At Tampa Bay Downs

If it's June, Gerald Bennett must be at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale (moved from April this year due to COVID-19), looking to strengthen his Winning Stables, Inc., roster with future Thoroughbred standouts.

Or he could be driving back from Delaware Park with wife Mary after delivering a shipment of 13 runners from Tampa Bay Downs for the Wilmington, Del., meeting that began Wednesday.

With a few days remaining in the Oldsmar oval's 2019-2020 season, Bennett still can be found at his barn overseeing a few dozen horses, many of which have helped him capture a fifth consecutive Tampa Bay Downs training championship with 60 victories (the current season concludes with racing Wednesday and June 30, with the 2020-2021 meeting beginning July 1).

The 76-year-old conditioner shared his first Oldsmar training title in 2010-2011 with Jamie Ness, the track's all-time record-holder with nine titles, won consecutively from 2006-2015.

What's different this season: Bennett has also wrapped up his first Tampa Bay Downs owners title with 23 victories. Bennett, who sent out 15 winners under his Winning Stables, Inc., banner and eight in various partnerships, is four ahead of both Godolphin, LLC (19 victories) and owner-trainer Juan Arriagada, who won 11 races individually and eight in various partnerships.

“It's great to be able to keep going strong year after year,” said the Springhill, Nova Scotia native, who ranks 14th all-time in North America with 3,903 victories. “You need that fire and desire to do it right because it's a lot of work to stay successful, and right now I still have it.”

Bennett, the father of trainer Dale Bennett, has recruited new owners to the sport virtually from the start of his career, when he competed in Canada. “It's important for the sport to bring in new owners,” he said. “You get those friendships established and win some races, and they bring more of their friends into it. I'm fortunate to have owners who like to run their horses where they can win, and hopefully you can buy more young stock that you can turn into stakes horses.”

Owners who partnered with Winning Stables on victories this season included James Georgeades and Ron Pugliese, Jr., of JPG2 and Mr. Pug, LLC; Harold L. Queen; Arnoriver Racing (Mike Arnone); Martin Goodell; and Mary Thomas and Michael Vitello.

While Bennett maintains an excellent rapport with his owners, it is in the barn area where he seems most at home. His reputation for turning claiming horses into allowance winners and allowance horses into stakes performers has been honed through years of study, dedication to his profession and subscribing to the belief that no detail is too small.

Among his best horses are millionaire Beau Genius, who won the Grade I Philip H. Iselin Handicap and the Grade II Michigan Mile and One-Eighth in 1990; Secret Romeo, a multiple-stakes winner who earned $865,790; Bucky's Prayer, a mare who won the 2007 Lightning City Stakes; Fast Flying Rumor, who set a Tampa Bay Downs Beyer Speed Figure record of 108 (since bettered) while winning the 2016 Turf Dash; and R Angel Katelyn, who won three stakes races during the 2016-2017 meeting.

Bennett's lone stakes victory this season came with 6-year-old Florida-bred mare Lady's Island, who won the Minaret Stakes for owners Matties Racing Stable and Averill Racing on Feb. 15.

Win or lose, Bennett is back at the barn by 5 a.m. the next day to oversee each horse's regimen. “I'll be walking in the shed row when a horse stops in front of me, and the hot walker is amazed because the horse knows me,” he said. “Mary says it's because I feed them peppermints, but they get to know your voice and have confidence in what you're doing.”

In that regard, Bennett's Thoroughbred athletes aren't much different than the owners he trains for and the bettors who support his horses.

The post Gerald Bennett Wraps Up Both Trainer, Owner Titles At Tampa Bay Downs appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Hoyte, Exercise Rider To The Stars, Gets First Woodbine Race Win

Jason Hoyte, a longtime respected exercise rider at Woodbine racetrack near Toronto, celebrated his first Canadian win as he guided the 3-year-old filly French Charm ($3.30) to a maiden-breaking score in Sunday's opener.

The daughter of Commissioner overtook longshot leader Classy n' Silent down the stretch and held off Anita Grigio at the end of the 5-1/2-furlong contest to win in 1:06.18 for trainer Ricky Griffith and owners Steve Duffield and Racing Canada Inc.

“It means so much to me. It's just a blessing come true. Hard work does pay off,” said Hoyte of his first Woodbine win.

Hoyte began his race riding career in Barbados back in 2000, winning his first race with Tikashar at the Garrison Savannah racetrack. He arrived in Canada in 2004 and started galloping horses for Steve Owens then became the go-to morning rider for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse for 16 years, breezing some of the biggest stars of the sport in preparation for the biggest races including the likes of Hall of Famers Tepin and Sealy Hill.

Hoyte, who was inspired by his friend and fellow jockey Keveh Nicholls to return to racing action, made just his 13th start a winning one.

Live Thoroughbred racing continues, without spectators, on Thursday, featuring the season's debut of sprint sensation Pink Lloyd in the $125,000 Jacques Cartier Stakes (Grade 3). First post time is 3:45 p.m. ET. Fans can watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com and tune into Racing Night Live on TSN3 and TSN5 from 6-8 p.m. for live racing from Woodbine Racetrack and Woodbine Mohawk Park.

The post Hoyte, Exercise Rider To The Stars, Gets First Woodbine Race Win appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Through Starts And Stops Of Santa Anita Meet, Leading Rider Prat Stayed Focused And Fit

Flavien Prat won Santa Anita's riding title in a landslide. Going into Sunday's 12-race closing-day program at the Arcadia, Calif., track, the final numbers are a mere formality as Prat had an insurmountable 89-61 lead over runner-up Abel Cedillo after winning five races on Saturday.

He has no chance of breaking Laffit Pincay's record of 138 victories at a Santa Anita meet, set in 1970-71, but the 27-year-old Frenchman's achievement was a virtual fait accompli throughout the undulating “Races Without Faces” meet, especially after he won six races on the card May 17.

It's been a team effort.

Due to the pandemic, there were starts, stops and intermissions at the current campaign, so with regard to specific numbers such as wins, mounts and days raced at past meets, this was similar to the proverbial comparison of apples and oranges.

But considering the circumstances, Prat's agent, Derek Lawson, will take it.

“I don't know how Pincay won 138, even though he probably rode in more races and on more days,” said Lawson, agent six years now for reigning Kentucky Derby winner Prat. “As for us, it wasn't just what we endured, because the entire country endured a shutdown.

“Both Flavien and I stayed focused by watching races that were available to us, and physically, he trained as hard as he possibly could.

“He didn't slow down; just kept training and working out, riding the stationary bicycle in his garage 21 miles a day, swimming and using weights he purchased and had in his home.

“He also watched whatever old races that were available and kept his mind in the game. It was the same with me. We focused on one topic, and it was racing.

“I also maintained contact with trainers who were keeping their horses sharp, and one was Peter Miller at San Luis Rey. With guys like him, Richie Baltas, Richard Mandella and others, we had some good business when we came back. It was fun.

“Even so, I never thought we'd be riding at this level as far as win percentage (27), but one day led to another and it kept going on and on and on and it worked out really well.”

When it comes to deciding which horse to ride, both agent and rider put their heads together, for the most part.

“We talk about all the horses all the time,” Lawson said. “When it comes to the stakes races, there's greater discussion and a lot of communication between the two of us. It's not just me. I need help to choose in certain situations. It's not cut and dried.

“I'll tell him we have two horses here, what do we do in this situation? Sometimes he leaves it up to me, sometimes he says 'I've got no idea.' There's a lot of communication between the two of us. We have a common goal, to try and win racing titles from the beginning of the year.

“It's really a team effort.”

The team includes Santa Anita's racing department.

“They kept us informed,” Lawson said. “Chris Merz (Racing Director for Santa Anita's Vice President of Racing and Racing Secretary Steve Lym and his diligent staff) stayed in touch with me. We knew they were at the mercy of the (Los Angeles County) Health Department, but we appreciated that they kept us informed on a regular basis.

“Every week or two I would get in touch with them, knowing things were starting to loosen up a little bit. They did a great job having the condition book ready when we were able to get started again.

“It was a matter of extensive communication and making sure everyone was on the right page.

“It worked out great.”

The post Through Starts And Stops Of Santa Anita Meet, Leading Rider Prat Stayed Focused And Fit appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Horses Helped Heal Jockey Rocco Bowen

Rocco Bowen has always known how to work hard and achieve his goals. The Barbados-born jockey made his way to the United States and found a second home at Emerald Downs in Washington State. There, he was the leading rider at in 2016 and 2017, the first jockey to record back-to-back 100-win seasons at the track.

Bowen was en route to a third consecutive riding title in 2018 when his whole world changed in an instant.

The morning of Sept. 8 dawned like any other, with Bowen at the track before the sun and readying to breeze over a dozen horses. On this morning, however, his inside rein broke on a horse he was riding and he went down hard.

Unconscious for 25 minutes, Bowen finally came to inside the ambulance on the way to the hospital. He didn't know where he was or what had happened, but as soon as he figured out what day it was the jockey wanted to go back to the track for the afternoon's races.

Doctors told him that wasn't an option with his separated shoulder and serious concussion, but Bowen was determined. At the time of the accident, he was sitting at 97 wins and wanted to set the record with three straight 100-win seasons at Emerald.

After just one week out of the saddle, Bowen returned to win 12 more races and the title.

“I knew I had to take care of my body and get my hand fixed,” Bowen said. “My left hand wasn't working right. I may be right-handed, but I learned to be left-hand dominant in the saddle from Garret Gomez. I just kept horses in the clear and did the best I could to finish the season.”

Looking back at the time immediately following the injury, Bowen laughed and quipped: “You know, jockeys are notoriously stubborn and hard-headed. I'm no different. If our limbs don't have to be reattached, we get back on the horse.”

It was the long-term aftermath that began to break down Bowen's steely resolve. Doctors couldn't seem to find anything wrong with him, but he had persistent numbness in his left hand as well as occasional shooting pains from his neck all the way down his arm.

The injury dragged out for over a year, and Bowen just couldn't seem to find a solution. He'd be fine one day, then the next he'd drop a glass of apple juice on the floor. He was close to giving up by early 2020.

“It got me in a really bad place, and I was willing to give up everything and go back to Barbados,” Bowen said. “My weight went up to 152, but I didn't really care because the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. They wanted to send me back for light duty, but what am I supposed to do, wash buckets?

“I had people pulling me in a hundred different directions. Should I retire and take the insurance money, or try to come back, but where and how? I was lost.”

A telephone conversation with his mother, Nancy Bowen, who still lives in Barbados, finally began to put things in perspective.

“Mom said if I'm really not done, I need to get up and go do it,” Bowen said. “I tried to listen to doctors, but it wasn't working.

“I didn't know where to start to get back up. My brother reached out to jockey Rico Walcott, and we started by getting my weight down. Then I had to work on my confidence, but I just didn't feel like I was done riding.”

It was another conversation, this time with Kyle Watson, his brother not by blood but by choice, that really kicked Bowen into high gear to make his way back to the track.

“We were raised together – he's my brother from another mother,” Bowen joked, explaining that Watson lives in Barbados with Bowen's mother. “Through my comeback, we got even closer. He's my greatest critic, and we handicap together … he helps keep me in line from thousands of miles away. He told me, 'Roc, this is your time to shine.'”

On April 1, Bowen weighed in at 152 lbs. By May 22, he was down to 122 lbs. He was riding in the mornings everywhere he could and kept going by trainer Genaro Garcia's barn at Indiana Grand because his brother had noticed the trainer's success rate. On the ninth morning, Garcia finally let him work a horse, and the two hit it off.

His hand kept getting better and better; it was like the horses were healing him.

Bowen rode his first race back on June 4 at Belterra Park, after 640 days away from the races. He finished second aboard Dingdingdingding. On June 5, he won a $7,500 claimer aboard Hyndford, trained by Garcia.

“Once I rode that race, and the hand didn't go numb or anything, and I said I'm not back, but I'm coming,” said Bowen. “Genaro told me, 'I believe in you, I have the world of confidence in you,' and that was big for me.”

Bowen's entire family back home in Barbados was excited to watch him on television on June 11, when he got his first mount at Churchill Downs. He won the race by a nose.

“I called Mom and told her I got my first call, and all my family gathered at my grandma's big house to watch the race,” Bowen said. “I still can't believe I won my first ever race at Churchill. I cried from the winner's circle all the way back to the jock's room. … My agent, Mr. John Herbstreit, he put me on the map after 640 days!”

Bowen has now won six races since his comeback, and he is working hard to keep up the momentum.

“I love the Midwest, it's home for me right now,” said Bowen. “The feeling in my hand is all back, and it's like nothing but positive energy right now. I went from three weeks ago, my legs were at maybe 20 percent, and now they're up to 70 percent strength.”

In the short-term, Bowen wants to finish in the top three of the standings at Indiana Grand. Long-term, Bowen can see himself buying a house in the Midwest and trying to get a mount in either a Triple Crown or Breeders' Cup race by 2023.

“I'm just trying to be humble and keep moving forward,” Bowen said. “Hopefully I can take my career to next level. All these guys in Indiana are treating me like they've known me a long time, especially Joe Talamo. He's my brother's idol, he doesn't ride but he loves jockeys. Talamo was happy to sign a picture for him, and he got to meet Talamo via FaceTime from the jock's room. … This year, I want to surprise Kyle with a plane ticket to watch me in a big race: 'Here bro, get your suit ready and we're going to the big time.'”

The post Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Horses Helped Heal Jockey Rocco Bowen appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post