Overnight rain in Louisville left a sealed and muddy track for Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks horses to navigate Friday morning.
But, no harm; no foul. No works were scheduled and routine gallops were the norm of the day.
Saturday figures to be much different with rain clearing out of the Louisville area and as many as 12 Derby works and two Oaks work scheduled. Temperatures are forecast to be in the low 50s under cloudy skies.
Trainers Todd Pletcher and Brad Cox fill eight of the spots with the breezes scheduled during the 7:30-7:45 training window for Derby and Oaks horses.
Pletcher has half-mile works scheduled for Kingsbarns and Major Dude, who will work together, plus Forte and Tapit Trice, who will work in company but not together.
Cox plans to work Angel of Empire with Jace's Road and Hit Show with Verifying.
Also expected to work are Mage for Gustavo Delgado, Confidence Game for Keith Desormeaux and Cyclone Mischief for Dale Romans. Bill Mott has penciled Rocket Can in for Saturday but could wait until Sunday depending on track condition.
Scheduled to work for the Oaks is Mimi Kakushi for trainer Salem bin Ghadayer and Defining Purpose for trainer Kenny McPeek.
Three Kentucky Derby works took place Friday.
Trainer Tim Yakeen worked Practical Move five furlongs in :59.60 and Reincarnate a half-mile in :46.40 at Santa Anita. At Gulfstream Park, Lord Miles worked five furlongs in 1:02.40 for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.
Tomorrow morning at Santa Anita, Skinner is scheduled to work for trainer John Shirreffs.
At Belmont Park, Promiseher America worked a half-mile in company in :49.60 over the training track for trainer Ray Handal in preparation for the Kentucky Oaks.
At the San Luis Rey Training Center, And Tell Me Nolies worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 for trainer Peter Miller.
ANGEL OF EMPIRE/HIT SHOW/JACE'S ROAD, VERIFYING – With the sloppy track condition, trainer Brad Cox's Derby quartet had a lighter training day ahead of their final Derby works Saturday.
Angel of Empire trained at 5:30 a.m. and jogged about two miles.
At 7:30 a.m., Hit Show, Jace's Road and Verifying all had light gallops.
All four horses are scheduled to work Saturday at 7:30 a.m.
CONFIDENCE GAME – Don't Tell My Wife Stables and Ocean Reef Racing's Confidence Game returned to the track to gallop Friday morning after walking the shedrow on Thursday. Alex Cano, the regular exercise rider and assistant trainer for Keith Desormeaux, guided Confidence Game one mile and a quarter over the sloppy sealed track.
The barn confirmed that Confidence Game will put in his last breeze ahead of the Derby on Saturday at 7:30 a.m. In his prior workout at Churchill Downs on April 14, the son of Candy Raid by the Bernardini dam Eblouissante traveled a mile from the gate in 1:38.20 with company.
“He had someone come with him from the gate and then on the backside another horse picked him up,” assistant trainer Julie Clark said. “We liked how he looked today ahead of his next work.”
CONTINUAR – Lion Race Horse Co. Ltd.'s Continuar (JPN) spent an hour in the mile chute under Kazunari Yoshida before returning to the Quarantine Barn.
The Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby invitee is trained by Yoshito Yahagi, who is scheduled to arrive in Louisville Monday.
Continuar, who will be ridden in Derby 149 by Ryusei Sakai, is expected to work Tuesday.
DERMA SOTOGAKE – Hiroyuki Asanuma's Derma Sotogake (JPN) spent an hour in the mile chute under Masatoshi Segawa before turning to the Quarantine Barn.
Winner of the UAE Derby in his most recent start for trainer Hidetaka Otonashi, Derma Sotogake will be ridden in the Derby by Christophe Lemaire. He is expected to work Tuesday.
DISARM – Winchell Thoroughbreds' Disarm had routine training session Friday in which he was accompanied to the track by assistant trainer Scott Blasi on his pony and galloped 1 ½ miles with rider Roberto Howell in the irons.
The son of Gun Runner is scheduled to work Monday.
FORTE/KINGSBARNS/MAJOR DUDE/TAPIT TRICE – Trainer Todd Pletcher's Kentucky Derby trio of Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Forte, Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable's Tapit Trice and Spendthrift Farm's Kingsbarns all galloped “a mile and a quarterish” over a sealed track at 7:30.
The Hall of Famer and two-time Kentucky Derby-winning conditioner plans to give his charges half-mile breezes in the morning with Forte and Tapit Trice scheduled to work in company but not together. Kingsbarns will work with Spendthrift's Major Dude, who is on the Derby also-eligible list.
LORD MILES – Vegso Racing Stable's Lord Miles worked five furlongs in 1:02.40 Friday morning over the fast main track at Gulfstream.
“He worked well,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said via text. “All being well, we will leave tomorrow.”
Winner of the Wood Memorial (G2) in his most recent start, Lord Miles will be ridden in Derby 149 by Paco Lopez and represent the third Derby mount for Lopez.
MAGE – The Good Magic colt, owned by OGMA Investments LLC, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing LLC and CMNWLTH, is expected to have a final breeze on Saturday morning.
“That's the plan, yes,” said Gustavo Delgado Jr., assistant trainer to his father, Gustavo Delgado. “It would have to be really bad (track conditions) for him not to go out tomorrow.”
The Delgados watched the Florida Derby (G1) runner-up gallop again on Friday morning during the session reserved for Derby and Oaks horses. Regular exercise rider J.J. Delgado was aboard him for a trip to the paddock for schooling, and then a routine gallop. J.J. Delgado is expected to ride him in the planned breeze.
PRACTICAL MOVE/REINCARNATE – Trainer Tim Yakteen worked both of his Kentucky Derby hopefuls at Santa Anita.
Pierre Jean Amestoy Jr., Leslie Amestoy and Roger Beasley's Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Practical Move breezed five furlongs in :59.60.
Later in the morning, Reincarnate breezed a half-mile in :46.40 for the partnership of SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert Masterson, Stonestreet Stables, Jay Schoenfarber, Warren Edge Capital and Catherine Donovan.
The two colts are scheduled to fly to Louisville Saturday.
ROCKET CAN – Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott is going to call an audible, as far as when the colt owned by Frank Fletcher Racing Operations prepares for the Derby with a final breeze on Saturday or Sunday.
On Friday, the Into Mischief colt was out for a gallop with regular exercise rider Guelser Cardona aboard. A final breeze ahead of the Derby is still planned for this weekend, but track conditions will determine the day.
“I'm waiting to see how the track is,” said Mott. “I'd rather wait another day, if we can give him a better track.”
SUN THUNDER – The runner-up in the Risen Star (G2) at the Fair Grounds was out for a gallop on the sealed track with exercise rider Martin Vargas. R.T Racing Stable and Cypress Creek Equine's Derby hopeful breezed a half-mile in :48.60 with jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. on Wednesday.
The Into Mischief colt, a $400,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November Sale in 2020, will have maintenance work looking ahead to the Derby in eight days, said Greg Geier, assistant to trainer Kenny McPeek. He said the fourth-place finisher in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland is training well.
TWO PHIL'S – After putting in his final drill before the Derby on Thursday, Patricia's Hope and Phillip Sagan's Two Phil's had a walk day on Friday at Hawthorne Race Course.
Trained by Larry Rivelli, the son of Hard Spun by the General Quarters dam Mia Torri fired a :59 five-furlong bullet at Hawthorne, where he has been stabled since his win in the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3). He will be piloted by Jareth Loveberry in the Derby, who traveled from Kentucky to Hawthorne especially for Thursday's work.
“The track was fast and tight,” Loveberry said. “He was relaxed the whole work. We took him out with the pony and he stood there nice and calm watching horses for three or four minutes. He broke off from the pony nice and smooth and he worked the last 3/16ths really well.”
Loveberry has ridden Two Phil's in every race but his first, piloted him in every win, and has been aboard for many of the workouts.
“This work was his best, especially breaking from the pony,” Loveberry said. “I usually have to grab him and set him right behind a horse so he gets dirt and relaxes. He was relaxed the whole work yesterday.”
ALSO-ELIGIBLES – Albaugh Family Stables and Castleton Lyons' Cyclone Mischief (No. 21 on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard) galloped 1 ½ miles this morning under Faustino Herrarte and is scheduled to work Saturday morning for trainer Dale Romans with Tammy Fox aboard.
Spendthrift Farm's Major Dude (No. 22) galloped about 1 1/4 miles under Joel Osorio for trainer Todd Pletcher. Major Dude is scheduled to work Saturday morning in company with Kingsbarns.
Hiroaki Arai's Mandarin Hero (No. 23) arrived at Churchill Downs Thursday afternoon after 4 o'clock and settled into the Quarantine Barn.
Runner-up in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) in his U.S. debut, Mandarin Hero walked the shedrow at the Quarantine Barn and is scheduled to go to the track Saturday morning. Mandarin Hero is trained by Terunobu Fujita.
SHAPING UP: THE KENTUCKY DERBY – Here are the horses (with jockeys and trainers) that are qualified for the Kentucky Derby and those on the also-eligible list (in alphabetical order with AEs listed last in preference order):
Angel of Empire (jockey Flavien Prat, trainer Brad Cox); Confidence Game (James Graham, Keith Desormeaux); Continuar (JPN) (Ryusei Sakai, Yoshito Yahagi); Derma Sotogake (JPN) (Christophe Lemaire, Hidetaka Otonashi); Disarm (Joel Rosario, Steve Asmussen); Forte (Irad Ortiz Jr., Todd Pletcher); Hit Show (Manny Franco, Brad Cox); Jace's Road (Florent Geroux, Brad Cox); Kingsbarns (TBA, Todd Pletcher); Lord Miles (Paco Lopez, Saffie Joseph Jr.); Mage (Javier Castellano, Gustavo Delgado); Practical Move (Ramon Vazquez, Tim Yakteen); Raise Cain (TBA, Ben Colebrook); Reincarnate (John Velazquez, Tim Yakteen); Rocket Can (Junior Alvarado, Bill Mott); Skinner (Juan Hernandez, John Shirreffs); Sun Thunder (Brian Hernandez Jr., Kenny McPeek); Tapit Trice (Luis Saez, Todd Pletcher); Two Phil's (Jareth Loveberry, Larry Rivelli); and Verifying (Tyler Gaffalione, Brad Cox)
Also-Eligible: Cyclone Mischief (TBA, Dale Romans); Major Dude (TBA, Todd Pletcher); and Mandarin Hero (JPN) (TBA, Terunobu Fujita).
The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has announced that three-time Grammy Award-winning artist Diplo will headline the 2023 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival entertainment lineup presented by Mohegan Sun with a special performance prior to the Belmont Stakes from 4:15-5:45 p.m. on Belmont Stakes Day, June 10.
Highlighted by the 155th running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets – the final leg of horse racing's Triple Crown – the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival is a three-day celebration of world class racing and entertainment beginning on Thursday, June 8, and culminating on Saturday, June 10.
Born Thomas Wesley Pentz, Diplo is one of the most dynamic forces in music today. He is legend on his own; a member of the now iconic Major Lazer, which most recently released Piano Republik, a collaborative album with Major League Djz of amapiano music; one third of LSD, the psychedelic supergroup with Sia and Labrinth whose debut album has been streamed over three billion times; and half of Silk City with Mark Ronson, whose Platinum-certified “Electricity” with Dua Lipa topped charts worldwide and won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording.
Artists performing throughout the grounds at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival include the “Mike Fox Trio” on Friday, as well as “Black Tie Brass” and “Street Beat Brass” on Saturday.
“The 2023 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival is sure to be another fun-filled multi-day event themed around some of the best horse racing action there is,” said Jeff Hamilton, President & General Manager of Mohegan Sun. “Mohegan Sun is honored to be a supporter of this festival and the incredible entertainment set to be featured. We're looking forward to what will be a thrilling weekend, and can't wait to see who comes out on top at this year's Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets!”
An American tradition inaugurated in 1867 at Jerome Park Racetrack and moved in 1905 to its now familiar home at Belmont Park, the Belmont Stakes has provided fans with some of the most exciting moments in sports history. From Secretariat's spellbinding 31-length victory in 1973 to American Pharoah successfully ending a 37-year Triple Crown drought in 2015, the Belmont Stakes is engrained in the consciousness of sports fans around the world.
2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Secretariat's Triple Crown triumph, which NYRA will commemorate throughout the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.
For additional information on the 2023 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival and details on hospitality offerings, ticket packages and pricing, visit BelmontStakes.com.
Grammy Award-winning artist Diplo will headline the 2023 Belmont Racing Festival with a special performance prior to the Belmont S. The New York Racing Association, Inc. announced Friday.
Highlighted by the 155th running of the GI Belmont S.–the final leg of horse racing's Triple Crown–the Belmont Racing Festival is a three-day celebration of racing and entertainment beginning Thurs., June 8 and culminating Sat., June 10.
Looking back with clear eyes, Jareth Loveberry probably shouldn't have ridden in that race.
His mount was jigging as soon as he got the leg up, and before he could leave the perpetual dusk of the Great Lakes Downs paddock, the horse swung his head back and clocked the rider right between the eyes with the back of his skull. You could tell it rocked the jockey a bit.
At that point, a rider with less constitution might have slumped out of the saddle and hit the wood chips, or at least pulled up his reins for a moment to figure out which way was up. Before he had time to process the certain headache he'd have later, an unsympathetic voice from inside the paddock cried out, “Shake it off and go get that money!”
Given the state of things at Great Lakes Downs at the time, “that money” was his share of a purse that couldn't have been more than $10,000.
His horse never broke stride after the outburst, they continued on to the track, and if there was any fog under Loveberry's helmet, it cleared in time for him to enter the starting gate, finish the race, and ride the rest of the card.
It's no surprise then, that Loveberry, 35, later mounted up for the biggest race of his life on a barely-healed fibula fracture. That time, he got the money, guiding Two Phil's to a blowout victory in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks on March 25 at Turfway Park, and clinching a mount for his first Kentucky Derby – a new target for the biggest race of his life.
In the Derby, Loveberry will be riding for more than just the connections of Two Phil's, and the people that back him at the betting windows. He'll ride for his wife and two kids, who have endured the often-challenging life of a jockey. He'll also ride for the memory of the formative people and places no longer on this mortal coil, and in support of those he feared might join them.
That's a lot to carry under the Derby's 126-pound weight allowance, but he proved at Turfway Park that steady hands can strengthen a healing leg.
The First Rung
Loveberry grew up around horses, but not racing, in Mount Pleasant, Mich. His mother had an elderly Arabian named Chance who guided him through his earliest equine experiences, but the horse's role didn't expand much further than being a pasture decoration.
Rural Central Michigan is hardly known as a hotbed for Thoroughbred activity on the national scene, but it's there if you know where to look and who to ask.
Randy Russell was a regular presence near the top of the trainer standings at Great Lakes Downs in Muskegon. (Don't bother looking for it; it's not there anymore.) He kept a full barn at the track, two stallions at his farm servicing his broodmare band, and crops of foals waiting to go to the racetrack.
The “help wanted” sign was always out at his property, across the road from the Loveberrys' house.
“We didn't have a whole lot, so we had to earn anything that we had, so I worked over there for a summer job to make a little money,” Loveberry said. “I started working when I was 12, and when my younger brother who was two years younger than me turned 12, he started working there, and then my youngest brother started working there when he was 12.”
Loveberry quickly earned a reputation as a young horseman able to convince his charge to match his own level-headed energy. Within a year at the farm, he was breaking horses under saddle.
“From day one, he never got excited about anything,” Russell said. “Some kids, you lead them to the walker or have them cleaning stalls or this and that, and they'd be kind of nervous, but he never was.”
While his younger brothers followed Loveberry to the farm, his older brother Justin Ellsworth joined the Marine Corps. Loveberry viewed Ellsworth as a trusted protector as he navigated his early youth, which made the older brother's career in the service a natural decision, and his promotion to Lance Corporal unsurprising.
On Nov. 11, 2004, Ellsworth was killed by an improvised explosive device while on a reconnaissance patrol in the Anbar province of Iraq. His actions to clear his fellow Marines from the area before the remote device detonated earned him a posthumous Bronze Star medal for heroic service in a combat zone.
Loveberry was cleaning stalls at Russell's farm when he was called home to receive the news from his father.
The horses were only supposed to be a temporary part of the story. Loveberry wanted to attend college to become an architect, and a six-inch growth spurt between his junior and senior years of high school had him hovering around 5'8”.
At 16, he asked Russell for a reference to aid in his search for a college job. Instead, the trainer offered him a spot in his rotation of jockeys, which included Terry “T.D.” Houghton and Federico Mata, arguably the top two riders on the state's haggard racing circuit.
As a five-furlong bullring, Great Lakes Downs was a paradox for a rider, requiring early speed to get out of the gate and secure position for a one-turn half-mile race, while also having enough horse to carry that momentum out of the tight turn. Houghton and Mata were two of the best at solving that puzzle, and they took the fledgling rider under their guidance.
“He was really interested in what we could teach him, and asked a lot of questions,” Houghton said. “He had a good seat on a horse, and he was patient. He would pay attention to where he was out on the racetrack, and noticed where the horses are that are in the race with him, where he'd make his move, and where he'd position himself. He picked up on that real quick.”
Loveberry took his first professional mount on June 16, 2005 – what would have been his brother's 21st birthday.
“He went in the Marine Corps before I ever had a license,” Loveberry said. “He knew I worked at the farm, but I don't remember if he knew I was going to be a jockey or not.”
From the perspectives of pedigree and purse size, the caliber of horses Loveberry was getting on at Great Lakes Downs was about as cheap as they come. Four-furlong races for $4,000 claiming tags were the norm, and the platoon of runners was largely limited to humble state-breds and horses that tumbled down the ladder from other circuits. Some of them were pretty gnarly to deal with.
On those gnarly horses, Loveberry perfected that early-developed specialty of projecting his calmness to his mount, or at least keeping their head screwed on long enough to get through the race. Sometimes, it led to a one-way trip toward the sandy loam while the horse darted away. More often, though, it led to the winner's circle.
“We'd go to a barn, someone would say, 'This one's kind of crazy,' and then I get on him, and that horse was alright,” Loveberry said. “I just grew up around it, so it wasn't different to me. It was just normal.”
“On the bullring, position is a lot,” he continued. “I had to learn when you get to the turn, you're either in or you're out. Sometimes, I'd try to hang in there and went down a couple times. You learn your position more on a bullring than starting on a mile track, and I think that helped me a lot for positioning a horse for the turn and knowing you'd better get in, or you'd better get out.”
When autumn came, Loveberry juggled riding with his formal education, attending Baker College near the track. With Great Lakes Downs typically running night cards during the weekdays, a balanced schedule could be found if regularly scheduled sleep wasn't a priority. By his second year at the track, he was in the top 10 by wins in the jockey standings.
“I could only work horses before the break on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I had math class,” he said. “It was early mornings at the track, back to school in the afternoon, back for the races, back to the dorms to do homework. It was a lot. It was hard to manage both. Being 18 years old and getting a paycheck from the track, I'm like, 'Wow, I'll keep doing this.'”
Making His Own Name
Great Lakes Downs hosted a long meet, running from May to November, but the lake effect snow that rolls off Lake Michigan and pummels the state's west coast are too harsh for winter racing. Loveberry moved his tack to Beulah Park in central Ohio for the winter. (Don't bother looking for it; it's not there anymore.)
He didn't win a lot of races that first season, but that's not why the winters at Beulah Park mattered.
During one afternoon card, Stacie Moore visited the track to deliver a phone charge cord to her mother, a mutuel teller, and she stopped in the paddock to chat with her father, a valet, on her way out. She wasn't a regular sight at the track, occupied instead with school and holding down multiple jobs, so Loveberry had questions for the valet after she left.
“One day she was there, and I saw her and said, 'Oh my gosh, who is that blonde?'” Loveberry said. “They said, 'Oh, that's our daughter.' I was not invited to the house, but I was friends with people at the track, and their house was the hangout house.”
“They brought him around,” Stacie said. “I told them not to bring him back.”
Being in the same social circle over the course of the Beulah meet eventually made Loveberry a more welcome presence. They kept in touch when Loveberry went back to Great Lakes Downs in the spring, and in time, they began dating.
Loveberry became Russell's first-call rider during his second meet in Michigan, and he graduated from being a lanky apprentice to a lanky journeyman with relative ease. His confidence in the saddle improved dramatically, and his win percentage reflected those pieces being put together.
Jareth Loveberry in the paddock at Great Lakes Downs.
When Loveberry returned to Beulah in the winter of 2007, he and Stacie moved into a small apartment together. He came to Grove City, Ohio, with some pain in his shoulder, and he toughed it out through the end of the season at Beulah while Stacie balanced low-paying jobs at a couple restaurants and a hair salon.
At the end of the meet, the pain became too much to stand, and a doctor's examination bore worse news than expected. He'd torn a tendon, and the shoulder surgery to repair it would not only put him on the shelf for six months, but immobilize his arm to the point where he could barely care for himself during recovery.
For a young couple, this was a daunting test.
“We didn't have a whole lot,” Stacie said. “We were struggling, but we would go without ourselves before we'll owe somebody something if we can help it. All of our bills were paid. We weren't behind on anything, but I would go to the store with no money. We would buy canned vegetables because they were 59 cents, and then the little Yoplait yogurts were super cheap, and ramen noodles, and that's what we'd eat. I don't think I bought meat for months because we couldn't afford it.
“We were in Grove City, where all of my family is, and they would have fed us,” she continued. “My parents don't have a lot either, but we always had what we needed. Any of my family would have helped us, but I was 18 and he was 19 or 20, and we were just too proud, because to us, that would be failure, so we were just going to figure it out.”
Jareth and Stacie Loveberry, early in their relationship.
Every jockey colony has its share of lifers who never leave their circuit, whether the reasons are practical or talent-based, and Loveberry could have easily settled in as one of them. When he returned from his surgery, the years that followed were defined by identifying his comfort zones, and choosing which ones to move beyond.
When Great Lakes Downs shuttered in 2007, Loveberry could have followed his familiar home state connections to the recently-built Pinnacle Race Course outside Detroit (Don't bother looking for it; it's not there anymore.) and won plenty of races. Instead, he decided that true career growth meant taking his game on the road.
“I love Michigan,” he said. “Great Lakes was great. It's home, and it's hard to leave home. I was at a point where I needed to get out on my own, get out from the shadow of, 'You just ride for Randy.' I don't know if I would have stayed there or not (if Great Lakes Downs hadn't closed). I don't think so.”
Loveberry ended up at Mountaineer Racetrack, where agent John Costanzo picked up his book. Costanzo was close to Chicago-based trainer Larry Rivelli, a dominant figure in flyover country who isn't afraid to ship a horse to rack up wins. When Rivelli sent runners to Mountaineer to take advantage of the state's casino-enriched purses and softer competition, Costanzo ensured Loveberry got the mounts.
Mountaineer raced 10 months out of the year, which offered stability that many journeyman jockeys are not afforded. Jareth and Stacie married in November 2011, and if they wanted to, they probably could have stuck close to home, carved out a living, and raised a family going between West Virginia and Ohio until Jareth's riding days were over.
Even more, Loveberry picked up his first riding title during Mountaineer's winter/fall 2012 meet; shortly after he and Stacie welcomed their daughter, Kennedy.
Some might have taken this as a license to gather moss, but fellow jockey Francisco Torres convinced Loveberry there was more to be had after a pair of terse conversations; first in the jock's room, and then the next day around the barns.
“I started winning more and more, and in 2012, I won 200 races and thought, 'Man, I think I can do a little bit better.'” Loveberry said. “Cisco Torres came to Mountaineer, and he yelled at me one day. He said, 'Jock, you need to get out of here. You're wasting your time. You're a much better rider than this.' That stuck. Maybe I could make the next step.
“Whenever I see him, to this day, I thank him for it.”
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Loveberry moved his tack to Oaklawn Park at the beginning of 2013, and while the Mountaineer-to-Oaklawn pipeline isn't one that shares a lot of names or horses, he pulled together a handful of mounts and wins, and made a lot of connections.
He continued to base himself on the Ohio/West Virginia circuit for two more summers between meets at Oaklawn before entering uncharted territory once again when he moved to Remington Park to ride for trainer J.R. Caldwell.
Stacie moved from Ohio to Texas, both to be centrally located to her husband's tracks and to be near Jareth's mother for assistance with the kids (their son, Colton, was born in 2016).
Hours-long weekend road trips were the norm to meet at whatever track he was riding for too-quick visits, before having to turn around to get Kennedy to school on Monday morning.
“We've been all over the place,” Stacie said. “We've spent most of our relationship long-distance. We've had two households.”
Loveberry became a top-10 rider in the competitive Oaklawn jock's room, and a regular in the Remington Park winner's circle, before moving to Canterbury Park, where he topped the standings in his first full season riding first-call for trainer Mac Robertson.
Even with Canterbury being a fairly long meet, it still meant a lot of time apart from a young family still based in Texas. A long-term solution presented itself when the name “Larry Rivelli” appeared on Loveberry's phone.
Jose Valdivia Jr. had won a heap of titles as Rivelli's first-call rider at Arlington Park (don't bother looking for it; it won't be there much longer), but in 2020 he moved his tack to California, and the trainer needed a new top guy.
“I knew early in Jareth's career that he was probably a little bit better rider than the circuit, but the money was so good,” Rivelli said about Loveberry during the Mountaineer days. “I knew he was capable of being a good rider, and he was still under the radar enough that he wasn't (a perennial) leading rider at other tracks, and I was going to provide him an opportunity to be the leading rider, unless he came out and sat on the horses backward. I thought the timing was good.”
The Loveberrys bought a house in the Chicago suburbs and for the first time in a long time, they started to settle down. Jareth was winning races in bunches at Arlington, and Stacie took pictures at the track for Coady Photography. With plenty of work coming from the city's biggest trainer on a nearly year-round circuit, and a promising piece of gaming legislation recently signed into law that looked to boost purses in Illinois, moving tack to the Windy City seemed like it could finally provide some solid footing.
Jareth and Stacie Loveberry with daughter Kennedy and son Colton.
The plan worked just fine for about a year. Loveberry ran away with the riding title at Arlington, and finished second in the standings at Hawthorne Race Course that fall. Then, Churchill Downs Inc. announced in early 2021 that it planned to sell Arlington Park, and the rumored suitors – including the NFL's Chicago Bears, who eventually sealed the deal – had no interest in horse racing.
Loveberry became Arlington's final leading rider in 2021, during a season that also saw him win his first graded stakes race aboard Bizzee Channel in the G3 Arlington Stakes. When the lights went out for the last time at Arlington, the odometer started spinning again.
The Big Horse
Between riding his first meet at the Fair Grounds and moving east to pursue opportunities at Colonial Downs in the summer of 2022, Loveberry spent his spring mornings at Hawthorne galloping a new chestnut Hard Spun colt for Rivelli that showed a bit of promise.
Back at the bullring, there were horses whose winning times for a half-mile race never dipped below :47 seconds. That's gate-to-wire, full effort.
When Two Phil's led at every point of call to break his maiden at Colonial with Loveberry in the saddle, his opening four furlongs went by in :44 3/5 seconds. The jockey had barely shaken the reins when they set that fraction.
From a rider's perspective, Loveberry said the effortless manner in which Two Phil's covered ground was the biggest difference between a Saturday afternoon horse and a Wednesday night plodder.
However, there are some ways that approaching a potential graded stakes horse with the same patience and steady hands he employed to solve a nickel claimer can be beneficial.
“The first couple times I worked him, he was very aggressive, and he worked fast early,” Loveberry said. “He was just very speedy. I worked him a couple more times, and it clicked. I had my hands in a certain position, and I said, 'Larry, I found his shutoff spot.' When you put your hands in that certain spot, he just shuts down and goes into a nice high lope, and he just carries himself smooth. Then, you move your hands a little bit, and he picks it right back up. You need that shutoff in a big race, for him to get to that nice, relaxed high cruise.”
Two Phil's was pointed for a follow-up in the Shakopee Juvenile Stakes in September at Canterbury Park. Before the Loveberrys made the trip north to Chicago from Virginia, they made a detour for Jareth to take a few mounts at Kentucky Downs. While in southern Kentucky, they received the news that Stacie's father — Rob Radak, the Beulah Park valet Jareth chatted up to inquire about his future wife — had been diagnosed with Leukemia AML, a rare, aggressive cancer.
The family agreed to keep the diagnosis under wraps until they knew more about the present and future but the shock was harder to keep contained.
“He had been so emotional riding, even when he decided to ride Kentucky Downs, because a lot of those people know my dad,” Stacie said. “One of the valets said Jareth was just beside himself. He felt like he was lying to people (keeping it a secret) because he's just that kind of person.”
After he wrapped up his duties at Kentucky Downs, Loveberry took a rare week off to spend time with his wife and her family in Erie, Pa., where Radak was receiving treatment. At the time, many of them thought they were there to say goodbye.
It took some convincing to get Jareth on the plane toward Canterbury Park. Rivelli told him he'd have the mount next time if he decided to skip the race, but a racetrack family can be persuasive when there's a stakes horse in the barn, and Radak gave his blessing for Jareth to take the mount.
Two Phil's won the race with ease, but for a moment during the post-race interview, Loveberry's signature steadiness took a backseat.
“After that win, he just bawled and told everybody on the Canterbury feed that my dad was diagnosed with leukemia.” Stacie said. “He dropped the bomb. We all made fun of him. We teased him, 'Of course Jareth, his emotional self, couldn't keep it together.'”
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Loveberry booted Two Phil's to the colt's first graded stakes win two starts later in the G3 Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs, and when the jockey settled in for the winter at the Fair Grounds, the horse followed.
Things were going well for both in New Orleans. Loveberry was in contention for the riding title, and Two Phil's kept his name on the Kentucky Derby contender lists with in-the-money efforts in the G3 Lecomte Stakes and the G2 Risen Star Stakes.
Then, Loveberry's ticket to the Derby was nearly pulled from his grasp on a nondescript Wednesday afternoon. Prior to the day's fourth race, his mount Not on Herb reared in the starting gate and left the rider with a hairline fracture to his left fibula on his way down.
Fortunately, the small bone in the leg supports only a fraction of a body's overall weight load. Shortly after the incident, a specialist gave Loveberry a two-week timetable where if the healing was satisfactory, he could ride again.
Two Phil's was set to run in the Jeff Ruby Steaks in three weeks. The margin of error was slim, but he threaded the needle.
The race went about as well as a Derby prep could go. Loveberry kept Two Phil's comfortable about three paths off the rail going through the first turn, the duo sat chilly across the backstretch, and then they locked horns with post time favorite Major Dude at the top of the stretch before effortlessly putting him away by 5 ¼ lengths.
Stacie had made the drive from Chicago to watch the race in-person, with a brief detour in Columbus, Ohio, to visit her dad, who had been relocated ahead of a six-week round of treatments. Two Phil's success had coincided with Radak's battle with cancer, but it also served as one of the family's strongest rallying points.
The tears that flowed from Stacie's post in the winner's circle, and from Radak's hospital room, were a blend of joy, relief, validation, excitement for the future, and a brief distraction from the present.
Jockey Jareth Loveberry embraces his wife, Stacie Loveberry, aboard Two Phil's after winning the G3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park.
But, what does a jockey think about on the solitary gallop back to the grandstand after winning the biggest race of his life?
“My brother.”
Loveberry took a moment to collect himself after he said this. The thought of everything Ellsworth has missed over the past 19 years – growing families, moments of triumph, moments of need, and all the stories from the road – remains heavy on his mind.
Regardless, Ellsworth never stopped being Loveberry's protector.
“In the Jeff Ruby, I told him before the race, 'Justin, help me out if you can,'” he said. “After we won the race, I just put my head down and said, 'Thank you.'”
The First Saturday In May
Loveberry is fortunate. The Kentucky Derby trail is littered with reliable local jockeys who get their horses to the show with good performances in the preps, but are then discarded for a more recognizable name when the classics come around.
It's a natural urge. If someone like Mike Smith or an Ortiz brother wants to ride your horse, it's hard to send that call to voicemail.
Rivelli said the assignment was never in question after the Jeff Ruby.
“Why would you change jockeys?” the trainer said. “The guy's won on the horse, and he's won a million races for me. As far as I'm concerned, if the horse is good enough, he's not going to mess it up.
“Jareth's your guy. You stick with him. That's what you do.”
Jareth Loveberry (left) and Larry Rivelli celebrate following Two Phil's victory in the G3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park.
After winning the Jeff Ruby, Loveberry moved his tack to Kentucky and got an apartment outside Louisville, so he could ride in the mornings at any track or training center within driving distance, then ride the races in the afternoons.
As for the Derby itself, Loveberry has sought guidance from regulars like three-time winner John Velazquez to riders who have only made the big dance once or twice like Channing Hill and Joe Rocco Jr.
“A lot of the best advice is, 'Appreciate it, soak it in,'” he said. “Channing told me, 'I don't think I appreciated it until I hit the eighth pole. I thought I'd be back, and with my injuries, I didn't get back. Just appreciate the whole week, everything.'”
Stacie and the kids remain at their house in Chicago while Jareth rides in Kentucky.
“I try to go home as much as I can,” Loveberry said. “Right now, I go home every week, and it's about 5 ½, six hours (to drive). It's just under five hours from Churchill.”
On Derby day, Stacie will be shooting the races as part of the roughly 30-member Coady Photography team at Churchill Downs.
Last year was her first Derby shooting for Coady, and she knew ahead of time that the electric atmosphere of the race couldn't be replicated by words alone. She was positioned on the roof of the grandstand, and she placed a GoPro camera next to her post so Jareth could hear the race's unique buzz and roar. At the time, Two Phil's was just another rookie in the Rivelli barn, and no one could have known how soon that footage would have a practical use.
Could she have secured a spot in in the grandstand for this year's Derby – perhaps a pretty nice one – if she wanted it? Probably. Honestly, she'd rather be on the roof. If she needs to get to the track surface to move to the other side of the camera, she's got her route planned out.
“For me, I'll do better to have a job and something to focus on that day, and not just be nerves all day long,” she said. “It's a long day when I work it and I have something to do, and it'll be a longer day when I have to sit there with my thoughts.”
Stacie might be several stories above Jareth when he enters the gate for the Derby, but her vantage point for his growth has always been front and center.
The rangy apprentice who took his lumps under the floodlights of Great Lakes Downs is not the same rider that's about to enter the sport's brightest spotlight. Who he rides for and why has evolved over the years, and that progression is a natural part of life. Realizing that to be true is part of what got Loveberry here in the first place.
The steady hands that allowed him to make that progress, though, are the same as they've always been. He'll need them to project that calming influence when he guides Two Phil's into uncharted territory at Churchill Downs.
If only in that sense, there might be no better time for Loveberry to ride like he's back at the bullring.
