umberto rispoli | Horse Racing Free Tips

Ce Ce, Smooth Like Strait Work Ahead Of Breeders’ Cup Tries

Two of trainer Michael McCarthy's major Breeders' Cup candidates, multiple Grade 1 winner Ce Ce and Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile winner Smooth Like Strait, moved closer to their goals Friday with four-furlong workouts at Sana Anita Park in Arcadia Calif., Ce Ce timed in :47.80 and Smooth Like Strait in :47.40.

They are being pointed to the Filly & Mare Sprint and the Mile, respectively.

“They'll have two more breezes before the Breeders' Cup,” McCarthy said. “We're on course.”

McCarthy plans to retain their regular riders, Victor Espinoza and Umberto Rispoli, for the Breeders' Cup races.

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Going To Vegas Holds Off Luck In Rodeo Drive Stakes

Like a casino sending gamblers home empty handed, Going to Vegas refused to let the furious rush of Luck prevail on Saturday in the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

Going to Vegas, a 4-year-old Goldencents filly got out early in the 1 1/4-mile turf race, and quickly got to the rail under jockey Umberto Rispoli, and she crossed over from the downhill course to the main oval ahead of Dogtag on the inside and longshot Neige Blanche on her outside hip.

Going to Vegas held a comfortable 1 1/2-length lead over Neige Blanche after an opening quarter-mile in :24.35 seconds, and she maintained that margin as the field went past the finish for the first time. The top three positions went unchanged as they headed into the backstretch, with Rispoli keeping Going to Vegas under light restraint.

The race started to percolate after the three-quarters mark in 1:13.49, with jockey Flavien Prat starting to rouse Luck from the middle of the field. Luck got up to third place behind Going to Vegas and Neige Blanche heading into the final turn, and she was in second after a mile in 1:36.35.

Rispoli started urging Going to Vegas in the straightaway with a right-handed crop, as they worked to hold off a pair of LNJ Foxwoods-owned runners in ground-saving Dogtag and outside-moving Luck.

Luck was gaining ground on Going to Vegas as the wire approached, but she ran out of time and real estate, finishing a head behind the winner. Stablemate Dogtag carried on for third.

Going to Vegas stopped the clock in 1:58.84 over a fast main track. She paid $4.20 as the post-time favorite.

Richard Baltas trains Going to Vegas for owners Abbondanza Racing, Medallion Racing, and MyRacehorse. Saturday's victory improved the filly's record to seven wins in 22 starts for earnings of $634,151.

Bred in Kentucky by J. Kirk and Judy Robison, Going to Vegas is out of the stakes-winning Johannesburg mare Hard to Resist.

To view the Equibase chart, click here.

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Flavien Prat Heads Jockey Colony For Santa Anita’s Autumn Meet

With Southern California kingpin Flavien Prat heading the charge, a full complement of world class jockeys is set to compete throughout the course of Santa Anita's upcoming 16-day Autumn Meet, which is set to open on Friday, Oct. 1. A total of four stakes, three of them Breeders' Cup “Win & You're In” Challenge Race qualifiers, will headline a nine-race program, with first post time at 1 p.m.

Prat, a 29-year-old native of Malun, France, is enjoying yet another tremendous year, having just won the riding title at the recently concluded Del Mar Summer Race Meet. Although based in Southern California, Prat has ridden in major stakes throughout the country in 2021 and he currently ranks fourth among North American jockeys with earnings of more than $16.8 million.

A triumvirate of talented riders, Juan Hernandez, Abel Cedillo and Umberto Rispoli, should again figure prominently in the Autumn Meet standings. Hernandez and Cedillo, former leading riders at Golden Gate Fields, finished two-three at Del Mar, while Italian native Rispoli, regarded as one of the circuit's top turf riders, checked in fourth. (Hernandez and Rispoli rank 12th and 14th nationally, with respective earnings of $7.8 million and $7.5 million).

Legendary Hall of Fame jockeys Mike Smith, Victor Espinoza and Kent Desormeaux are again set to call Santa Anita home beginning next Friday and they'll all be aboard Breeders' Cup hopefuls throughout opening weekend.

“Jersey Joe” Bravo, who relocated to Southern California this past summer, enjoyed a solid summer at Del Mar, finishing fifth in the standings, and he adds considerable depth to a strong jockey colony. Regarded as California's best “gate rider,” Edwin Maldonado is enjoying perhaps the best year of his career and he figures to have plenty of live mounts throughout the 16-day stand.

Brazilian-born Tiago Pereira, who notched his biggest North American win aboard Tripoli in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic Aug. 21, along with Mario Gutierrez, Geovanni Franco, Kyle Frey, Tyler Baze, Ricky Gonzalez, Drayden Van Dyke and Jose Valdivia, Jr., all comprise a deep pool of journeyman talent that fans and horsemen can readily embrace.

Jessica Pyfer, a recent graduate of Azusa Pacific University, continues in her quest to be named America's Eclipse Champion Apprentice Jockey for 2021, while fellow “bug” riders Diego Herrera, Emily Ellingwood and Alexis Centeno all form a solid group of apprentice talent.

A great deal of anticipation surrounds next Friday's Grade 2, $200,000 Eddie D Stakes, named in honor of retired Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye, as it marks a return to Santa Anita's Camino Real Hillside Turf Course. For 3-year-olds and up, the Eddie D will be contested at about 6 ½ furlongs and will likely attract a full field of 10 or 12 runners.

Three Breeders' Cup “Win & You're In” stakes, the Grade 1, $300,000 American Pharoah, the Grade 2, $200,000 Chandelier and the $100,000 Speakeasy will provide their respective winners with fees-paid berths in corresponding stakes over the two-day Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar Nov. 5 & 6.

For additional information on Santa Anita's upcoming Autumn Meet, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

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Kentucky Downs ‘Looks Like Home’ To Jockey Umberto Rispoli

Umberto Rispoli spent most of a week at Kentucky Downs last year in order to ride only two races that wound up five days apart. But even as he jogged around the 1 5/16-mile undulating turf course to keep his weight down, he knew he wanted to come back this year.

Rispoli finished 10th in his first start at Kentucky Downs, the Dueling Grounds Oaks, then five days later made the trip from California worth it financially by winning the $400,000 Music City Stakes aboard Lighthouse. The Music City was part of a card that moved from a Sunday to the following Tuesday because of torrential rain.

But Rispoli — who has ridden all over the world including being a champion rider in his native Italy and a Group 1 winner in Hong Kong — had already made up his mind that he wanted to return to the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs, the richest six days of racing in America and among the most lucrative in the world.

The FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs runs this coming Sunday, Labor Day Monday and Sept. 8, 9, 11 and 12. First post is 12:20 p.m. Central.

Rispoli admits he wasn't happy when some of his anticipated mounts for Kentucky Downs fell through.

“But it was going to be an experience for me, anyway,” he said. “Because I'd never been to Kentucky Downs and I know it's a class track and had a scenery like some of the tracks we have in Europe. So I was excited about it. I just saw some of their races on TV. I didn't know much about the track. I ran around the track to lose some weight, and it was a good time to check out the track. But definitely when you come home with a stakes in your pocket after five days, it was worth it and it was a good experience.

“I hope this time to have more races to ride and more horses with chances…. The agent is going to be very important there. There's a lot of money. They're going to be overfilled in every race probably. But I'm very excited to come back there. This time I hope to bring home some other big winners.”

Veteran jockey agent Scott McClellan said he's got Rispoli riding at Kentucky Downs for the final four days after their Del Mar base closes on Labor Day. His stakes business is expected to include Argentine-bred Belmont Gold Cup runner-up Fantasioso for trainer Ignacio Correas in the $1 million Calumet Turf Cup (G2) and Constantia for John Sadler in the $600,000 The Mint Ladies Sprint.

Rispoli is in his second full year of riding year-round in America. In that short period of time, he has stamped himself among the top few jockeys based in southern California. Rispoli currently ranks 14th in North American purse earnings for 2021 at more than $7 million, including his first and second Grade 1 victories in the United States aboard Smooth Like Strait in the Shoemaker Mile and Rock Your World in the RUNHAPPY Santa Anita Derby.

The jockey says he had no expectations coming into Kentucky Downs last year. The course catches a lot of people by surprise with its undulations, kidney shape and dog-legged stretch rather than American racing's standard flat oval.

“I just knew it was an up-and-down racecourse, which isn't common in the United States,” he said, adding of his close friend and fellow rider Flavien Prat, with whom Rispoli traveled from California last year: “We landed and go to visit the track right away. He turns into the street for the racetrack, and I said, 'Where are we going?' He said, 'This is the track.' I said, 'You're kidding! Well, it's going to be fun.'

“I wasn't disappointed at all. I was laughing. I said, 'OK, it looks like home.' In France sometimes you're driving for hours and you look on the side of the highway and you find the rails and you think, 'Wow, I can't believe there's a racetrack here.' So I wasn't that shocked. But it was funny to approach the track, just watching and seeing it for the first time.”

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