Victor Carrasco | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘I Just Feel Blessed’: Jevian Toledo Records 1,000th Career Win

Pedro Nazario's M. J.'s Lady slipped through an opening on the inside at the top of the stretch and held off Ski Bunny approaching the wire to give jockey Jevian Toledo his 1,000th career victory Friday at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

Making her third career start, all since mid-June, M. J.'s Lady ($12) ran one mile in 1:40.60 for the milestone win. It gave Toledo a sweep of Friday's maiden special weight events for fillies and mares 3 and up, also taking Race 3 with Dontletsweetfoolya ($6.80) for No. 999.

He becomes the second rider this year to reach 1,000 wins at Laurel following his close friend, Victor Carrasco, who did it Jan. 26. Carrasco, the champion apprentice of 2013, is currently sidelined for six weeks with a fractured right elbow.

“Whenever you win a race, you feel happy. When you win a thousand, you feel amazing like all the hard work pays off,” Toledo said. “I just feel blessed. I have to thank God. Without him, we wouldn't be here. I have to thank the owners, trainers, grooms, exercise riders, hotwalkers, my agent – everybody does a great job.”

Toledo leads all riders at Laurel's summer meet in mounts (124) and purse earnings ($578,122) and is third behind Sheldon Russell (20) and Trevor McCarthy (15) in wins. Russell, like Toledo represented by agent Marty Leonard, is out 4-6 weeks with a broken wrist.

M.J.'s Lady had only one horse beat through a half-mile as Peachy Between Us set fractions of 23.27 and 46.98 seconds. Toledo moved the 3-year-old daughter of First Dude between horses on the far turn, shifted down to the rail for running room once straightened for home, wrested the lead from Ski Bunny inside the eighth pole and edged clear to win by three-quarters of a length.

“In the beginning my filly give me everything that she had and I feel comfortable how I was going. By the three-eighths pole, she grabbed the bit and I said I think I have a good chance to hit the board,” Toledo said. “To be honest, at the three-eighths I didn't feel I was going to win the race, but coming to the stretch when I found the hole on the inside, she passed the other horses and kept going.”

A native of Puerto Rico, where Carrasco, Manny Franco and Jorge Vargas Jr. were among his classmates at the famed Escuela Vocacional Hipica jockey school, Toledo won 33 races before coming to the U.S. in the spring of 2013. He earned his first domestic win June 8, 2013 aboard Peaceadaaction at Pimlico Race Course.

He led all Maryland riders in wins in 2015 and 2017 and ranked second in 2016, finishing third in 2018 and fifth in 2014 and 2019. Toledo owns five meet titles at Laurel, the most recent coming at its 2018 summer stand.

Toledo won graded-stakes with Divisidero in the 2018 Arlington Handicap (G3) and Miss Behaviour in the 2014 Charles Town Oaks (G3) and has also regularly ridden multiple stakes winners O Dionysus, Sonny Inspired, Las Setas, Name Changer and Talk Show Man.

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‘Time To Challenge Myself’: Victor Carrasco Moves Tack To Monmouth Park

After nearly seven years as a fixture on the Maryland racing circuit, jockey Victor Carrasco said it was simply time for a change. Because of that desire to shake up things with his career – and even though he continued to have success at Laurel Park – the 28-year-old Eclipse Award-winning apprentice from 2013 will call Monmouth Park home this summer for the first time.

Monmouth's 75th season gets underway on Friday, July 3. First post for the six-race twilight card is 5 p.m.

“I've spent almost my entire career in Maryland. It's time to challenge myself and to try something different,” said Carrasco, who recorded his 1,000th career victory in January. “Things in Maryland were fine. It's just time to try something different, meet new people, and take on a new challenge.

“Hopefully, it leads to better opportunities to ride in better races.”

The Guyama, Puerto Rico, native will find a jockey colony that is both deep and proven when Monmouth Park's 37-day meet gets started with three straight days of live racing over the July 4 holiday weekend.

Returnees include Paco Lopez, coming off a sixth riding title at the track; Joe Bravo, who has a record 13 leading riding titles at Monmouth; Nik Juarez, the runnerup to Lopez a year ago in the standings, and reliable veteran Jose C. Ferrer.

Antonio Gallardo, fresh off a riding title at Tampa Downs, and Trevor McCarthy, both of whom have ridden part-time at Monmouth in the past, are expected on a full-time basis as well.

Wilmer Garcia, Tomas Mejia, Mychel Sanchez, Chris DeCarlo and Angel Suarez add to the depth of the jockey roster.

“I believe I have the talent to compete here,” said Carrasco. “I work hard. The reason I am renting a place close to the track for the summer is because I want to be here every day so the trainers and owners can see how hard I work.

“If I get the right connections who knows what will happen? I'll do my best.”

Carrasco, who graduated from Escuela Vocacional Hipica Jockey School in Puerto Rico before embarking on his riding career, comes from a racing family. His grandfather, now retired, was a long-time trainer in Puerto Rico. His uncle is a trainer on the Mid-Atlantic circuit.

Despite his immediate success as the nation's leading apprentice in 2013, Carrasco has had to overcome his share of devastating injuries, having been in spills that resulted in a broken hand, a broken ankle, a broken scapula and, most recently in a nasty spill at Delaware Park in 2017, a fractured fibula, tibia, ankle and leg.

He has overcome all of the injuries to return to peak form.

“The last one was especially tough,” he said. “Being a person who is active and likes to work out it was tough being forced to stay at home for such a long time, not being able to walk, needing my mother's help to do basic things. But I was determined to come back because this is what I love to do.

“I don't think about the injuries any more. In the beginning it's difficult mentally, especially when you go back to places where you got hurt. But then you gain your confidence back and things get back to normal. I don't even think about that stuff now. It's all behind me.”

In addition to owning an Eclipse Award, Carrasco won the summer riding titles at Laurel in 2015 and 2017 and captured the 2015 Pimlico spring meet riding title.

The $1 million Haskell Stakes will again highlight Monmouth Park's summer meet, with the Grade 1 fixture for 3-year-olds offering points for the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5 for the first time and “Win and You're In” status for the Breeders' Cup Classic. Monmouth Park is also offering a $1 million bonus to a horse that wins the Haskell, Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic.

Post times on Saturdays and Sundays will be 12:50 p.m., with the meet running through Sept. 27.

Admission and parking are free except for Haskell Day.

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McCarthy Wins Four On Laurel Park Card; Outofthepark Takes Feature

Champion jockey Trevor McCarthy swept the late daily double on a pair of Jamie Ness-trained horses to complete a four-win day Saturday at Laurel Park.

McCarthy, 26, split horses at the top of the stretch and went on to win with favored It's a Journey ($4.40) in Race 10, then came with a rally on the far outside to edge Lucky Ramsey and 10-year-old Chocolate Ride at the wire aboard Minister's Strike ($15) in Race 11.

Earlier on Saturday's program, McCarthy finished first with Cal Lynch-trained Eloquent Lady ($5) in Race 3 and Anima Gemella ($6.80), racing first time for trainer Graham Motion, in Race 6.

Minister's Strike, owned by Ness' Jagger Inc., earned his ninth career win in the finale, a 1 1/16-mile starter optional claimer for 3-year-olds and up on the Kelso turf course. The 6-year-old son of champion English Channel, who went 4-for-8 in 2019, emerged from a three-way photo finish on top.

“He kicked pretty good for me at the top of the stretch when I pulled him out, and I just stayed right on Chocolate Ride's heels the whole way. He was the horse to beat. I just was following him every single step,” McCarthy said. “This horse has been such a warrior. We had such an awesome year with him last year. He's a huge barn favorite, my favorite. Usually he doesn't love this kind of ground, but he showed how much of a warrior he is and how much class he's got. He gave it all he had today.”

Represented by agent Scotty Silver, McCarthy is an 11-time meet titleholder in Maryland and the state's four-time leading rider (2013-14, 2016, 2019) who has dominated since returning to the circuit full-time in the fall of 2018.

“It was a great day. I'm super happy. I just want to thank everybody – Graham and Cal and Jamie for the double. Everything went really smooth, so I was very happy with the day,” McCarthy said. “My agent is doing a great job and it was just one of those days. Everything just kind of clicked. I was very privileged to ride some nice horses today and everything worked out well.”

Saturday Feature Sees Connections Hit One 'Outofthepark'
A belated start to 2020 hasn't slowed Hillwood Stable's Outofthepark, who ran his 4-year-old record to 2-0 with a come-from-behind victory over pacesetter Papal Law in Saturday's featured seventh race at Laurel Park.

A Maryland-bred son of 2014 General George (G3) winner Bandbox, Outofthepark ($6.40) was relentless through the stretch to reel in a stubborn Papal Law and edge past near the wire for a three-quarter-length score in the second-level optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds and up over Laurel's world-class turf course.

The winning time for one mile on a firm Kelso course layout was 1:35.57. Victor Carrasco was aboard for trainer Rodney Jenkins and Hillwood's Ellen Charles.

“We were real pleased. Mrs. Charles was with me today and it was exciting,” Jenkins said. “That horse has come a long way since he was a 3-year-old. He was running at the end. He wasn't just playing around.”

Carrasco settled Outofthepark in the clear in fifth as Papal Law, one of three horses entered for a $35,000 tag, led through fractions of 24.96 and 49.07 seconds, pressed to his outside by 35-1 long shot No Bull Addiction. While Papal Law started to gain separation from the field once straightened for home, Carrasco began to roll on Outofthepark around the turn and steadily gained ground on the leader to earn his third win in the last five starts.

Papal Law was a solid second, 1 ½ lengths ahead of 9-5 favorite Taxable Goods, who came on to edge No Bull Addiction by a neck for third.

Winless in his first nine career starts, including a third in the 2018 Maryland Million Nursery second time out, Outofthepark through with a waiver maiden triumph last September, running fourth in the Maryland Million Turf in his subsequent start.

Outofthepark went unraced for seven months before returning with a three-quarter-length score using similar tactics in an entry-level allowance going 1 1/16 miles over a yielding turf at Laurel June 5. Jenkins trained Bandbox to four stakes wins and more than $390,000 in purse earnings for Charles from 2010-14 and hasn't been surprised by his son's development. Since being moved to the turf, Outofthepark has a record of 3-2-1 from seven starts.

“I think that's a Bandbox trait – the older they get, the better they get. They get stronger, they get competitive,” Jenkins said. “I just think it's a growing-up period and if you've got an owner that's patient, you'll see that more than you would with someone that would run this horse at first and then tell the trainer to get rid of him.”

Live racing returns to Laurel Park for programs Friday, July 3 and Saturday, July 4. Post time both days is 12:40 p.m.

Notes: South Bend, owned by Sagamore Farm of Reisterstown, Md., rallied to be second in the $500,000 Ohio Derby (G3) Saturday at Thistledown in Ohio. Laurel Park-based Lebda, a two-time stakes winner over his home track this winter, dueled for the early lead before finishing sixth in the field of 13.

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