Tag: turf paradise

Kato Named Jockey Of The Week After Uniquely Historic Win At Turf Paradise

Akifumi Kato's amazing record of posting at least one win each year for 50 consecutive years was such a unique achievement it earned the journeyman Jockey of the Week honors for Jan. 4 through Jan. 10. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.

Currently riding at Turf Paradise, the unique milestone was celebrated on Jan. 8 when Kato won the fifth race aboard She's A Lady Griz which was also his 69th birthday.  The win was made even more special as the winner is trained by Kato's daughter, Kaylyn Kato.

Kato was born in Japan to a jockey turned trainer. After winning his first race in the United States at Ferndale Fair in northern California, Kato rode primarily at Playfair in Spokane, Wash., where he was the all-time leader with 1,104 victories including two riding titles and four victories in the Playfair Mile.  He is also the only active jockey to post victories at Washington's other racetracks, Longacres, Yakima Meadows and Emerald Downs in addition to Playfair.  He also rode at Portland Meadows.

A member of the Jockeys' Guild for 49 years, Kato's career stats to date include 19,983 mounts with 2,034 wins and $6,360,226 in purse earnings.

Kato out-polled fellow riders Kendrick Carmouche who won a stakes races at Aqueduct, Manny Franco with a stakes victory at Aqueduct, Umberto Rispoli who won the Grade III La Canada at Santa Anita and Drayden Van Dyke who won the Grade 3 Kalookan Queen at Santa Anita.

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Jockey Akifumi Kato Celebrates 50 Years Of Winners On His 69th Birthday

Veteran reinsman Akifumi Kato celebrated a unique milestone on Thursday at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Ariz., the afternoon of his 69th birthday. Kato won the day's fifth race aboard She's A Lady Griz, trained by his daughter, Kaylyn Kato, marking the 50th consecutive year the jockey has recorded a victory in the saddle.

Kato, son of a Japanese jockey turned trainer, was born in Osaka, Japan in 1952. His first winner came at the Ferndale Fair in California, but he rode primarily at Playfair in Spokane, Wash., where he was the all-time leader with 1,104 victories, including two riding titles and four victories in the Playfair Mile.

Kato is the only active jockey to have won a race at the four major Washington tracks past and present—Longacres, Playfair, Yakima Meadows and Emerald Downs.

Kato has won a total of 2,034 races from 19,982 starts, according to Equibase, earning $6,359,385.

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Francia Announces Short-Term Closure Of Grass Track At Turf Paradise

Turf Paradise general manager, Vincent Francia, announced via Twitter this week that the facility's turf track would be closing for about 2 1/2 weeks starting on Dec. 7.

Francia writes that when Turf Paradise shut down in mid March of 2020, so did the watering system for the turf course. This caused a lack of Bermuda grass, which typically grows when the track is watered over the summer, and left only rye grass with no base to keep the track lush and strongly rooted. If Francia had continued to allow racing on the turf, it would soon become unusable and unsafe.

The 2021 meet at Turf Paradise has been in doubt at various times last year after lengthy and contentious negotiations between the horsemen and the racetrack. An air of uncertainty has hung over Arizona's horsemen in recent months due to ongoing disputes over simulcasting signals which have limited wagering in some places in the state.

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Guess Who’s Back: Vitali Saddles First Runner At Turf Paradise

Embattled trainer Marcus Vitali has returned to entering racehorses for the first time since July of 2019, this time at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Ariz. His trainee Be Gone Daddy ran third in Monday's Hank Mills Sr. Stakes, and he has four more horses entered at the track in the coming days.

The Thoroughbred Daily News briefly connected with Vitali Tuesday. The trainer said he had bad cell reception and that he would return the call, but did not do so. The TDN was unsuccessful in attempts to get comment from Arizona commission officials.

Vitali has made headlines many times over the years, first for numerous therapeutic medication violations, then for avoiding sanctions for positive post-race drug tests by turning in his license in Florida. In 2016, reporting by the Paulick Report revealed Vitali was training horses at Gulfstream Park under the name of Allan Hunter; Vitali and Hunter were subsequently barred from the entry box there and at Tampa Bay Downs. Vitali reapplied for a trainer's license in Florida, where state officials credited him with time served for his medication overages.

Vitali sent out just 29 starters in 2017, mostly at Gulfstream and Gulfstream Park West, but returned with a stronger hand in 2018, with 334 starters, also mostly in South Florida.

In 2019, Vitali's license was suspended for one year when he interfered with a search conducted by Delaware Park security of his employee's dorm, bursting into the room and absconding with an object which was never recovered. Vitali claimed the object was a container of marijuana. His employee at the time said it was an unlabeled vial containing a clear liquid of some type which Vitali asked her to keep in her refrigerator. He has completed that suspension.

In 2020, the Maryland Jockey Club told the Paulick Report that it had given trainer Wayne Potts one week to vacate his barn at Laurel Park, where he keeps 30 horses, after track officials say they discovered Potts was program training for Vitali. Vitali reportedly could not get stalls at racetracks in the area. Maryland officials said they discovered the connection between the two when horses based at Rising Sun Training Center in New Jersey were entered under Potts's name at Laurel and turned up with health certificates that had been altered to white out Vitali's name. A cluster of horses appeared at Rising Sun around that time from longtime Vitali clients, primarily from Florida. That cluster included Be Gone Daddy.

After Potts was told to vacate Laurel, Vitali applied for a training license in Illinois afterwards but was unsuccessful in receiving one. The horses formerly based at Rising Sun ran at Arlington Park and Hawthorne under trainer Dino DiZeo. Many of the same group from Rising Sun posted workouts at Turf Paradise in the days before Vitali saddled his first runner there.

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