West Virginia racing | Horse Racing Free Tips

Phillips: Let Kentucky’s HHR Fight Be A Warning To Others; Forge Contacts With Legislators Now

Racing interests across the country should pay close attention to what almost happened in Kentucky. A state supreme court ruling in September on historical horse racing (HHR) nearly shut down the entire Kentucky racing industry. The ruling said a legislative fix was needed. Racing interests had to scramble — it was a legislative scramble could happen to any racing jurisdiction.

Such a panic in other places would not on the scale as it was in Kentucky, where 60,000 direct and indirect jobs, $5.2 billion in economic impact, and $15 million in fiscal year 2020 for the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund purses were at stake.

To avoid a legislative scramble, building relationship with legislators and policy makers should be in the DNA of everyone associated with racing. It is hard to believe in a place with iconic tracks like Churchill and Keeneland plus the home base of major racing organizations that relationship-building was not an ongoing activity.

Being unprepared is not an option. In today's environment where everything is controversial, it is vital that an infrastructure is in place to influence the outcome of legislative, regulatory or policy issues.

Preparation is the key to success. The absolute first step is to make certain everyone involved from the front office of a racetrack to the backstretch knows who their own legislators are.

A few quick ideas to build legislative relations I have used over the years: introductory meetings, staying in touch, working in political campaigns, attending fundraisers, town hall meetings and other events honoring the legislator. Seek out their opinion, look for ways to mention/publicize the legislator, invite them to meetings and events, give them awards, send out photos to local and social media.

The final important point: do not wait until you need something to get in touch.

Bill Phillips operates Phillips Strategy a consulting firm and he is a former West Virginia Racing Commissioner, Chief of Staff to WV Governor & Members of Congress. Phillips also served as an executive to professional associations, managing their legislative relations.

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Bocachica Named Jockey Of The Week After Winning Half His Races

With more wins than any other jockey last week, Arnaldo Bocachica was voted Jockey of the Week for Oct. 5 thru Oct. 11. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing industry 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.

Bocachica led all North American jockeys with 10 wins from 20 mounts.

The Puerto Rican native started his winning week on Thursday with five victories at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town, his home track. He continued his winning hand on Friday with two victories. Bocachica topped off his week on Saturday night by winning three stakes races during the West Virginia Breeders' Classics, the biggest night for West Virginia-bred horses. He won the West Virginia Tourism Stakes with Star of the Night ($2.40), the West Virginia Triple Crown Stakes aboard That Kenney Kid ($6.40) and the West Virginia Thoroughbred Breeders Association Breeders' Classic Stakes with Penguin Power ($2.40). He also finished third in the West Virginia Vincent Moscarelli Memorial Breeders' Classic with Pilot in Command all for leading trainer Jeff Runco.

In addition to a 50% win percentage, fan favorite Bocachica also hit the board with 65% of his mounts and accumulated $190,380 in purse earnings. He currently sits atop the jockey standings at Charles Town by a wide margin with 136 victories and more than $2.3 million in purses.

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‘It Was A Ride, All Right’: Serrano Gets Himself Out Of Sticky Spot In Mountaineer Ride

Keivan Serrano is not someone who panics when he finds himself in a tight spot.

“One thing I learned is not to panic, because panic can make it a lot worse,” said the young jockey. “I go out there and there's no fear. The day that I'm scared to do what I do, is the day I need to stop.”

That's why, when he saw Side Tracked drift to the right out of the Number One gate in Sunday's third race at Mountaineer, he began weighing his options. At first, Serrano thought he could steer his colt, a maiden named Bungalow Flash, to the right to avoid the domino effect. Then he saw Just Doing to his outside, wandering toward him, and found himself squeezed between two horses and forced out of the tack.

“I thought I was going to fall,” he said. “To be completely hoenst with you, this is one of my main stables and I knew we had a really good shot to win the race. I was going to do everything I could to stay on this horse. The only thing I felt behind me was the eight horse, so I just sort of pushed off him and pushed back in[to the saddle].

“It was a ride, all right.”

Serrano said he was able to work his feet back into the stirrups while remaining mindful of the colt's mouth, not wanting to balance against the reins and check the horse.

In the end, his patience paid off – Serrano finished third, just a nose behind runner-up Juliano.

“I came into the race with all the confidence in the world in this horse,” he said. “Up until we did finish the race, I thought I was going to get the second.”

It isn't the first time he's used this move of pushing off a rival to pop himself back in the tack – just last year, he found himself in a similar position out of the gate in a turf race at Mountaineer and got himself righted again.

Cheating gravity is all in a day's work for Serrano, 22, who said he's living out a longtime dream of becoming a professional jockey. Growing up in Puerto Rico, Serrano said he always had horses and had hoped to go through the island's popular Escuela Vocacional Hípica, but found he ultimately didn't qualify. He moved to New York at the age of 18 and wandered the backstretch looking for someone to give him a job as an exercise rider. He had never galloped a horse before, but didn't mention that.

“I had never touched a racehorse in my life,” he said. “I went around telling people, 'Yeah, I'm an exercise rider.' I'd ridden horses before, just not racehorses. I'm 18, I'm thinking it's the same thing. I remember getting on horses and the first one I got on was a tank – big, tall. I had never been that high off the ground. Of course, it ran off with me. I didn't know what I was doing.”

That was in September 2016. Serrano later went to Ocala, as many aspiring jockeys do, to sharpen his skills with young horses just learning themselves. He got his license and began riding in March 2017.

Serrano said he learned to ride Thoroughbreds by feel. Horses were not a foreign language to him. As a kid, he studied jockeys on television and picked up a $100 horse to practice riding, honing his position as best he could from what he saw. By the time he got to New York, his sense of balance was well-developed, as was his sense of horsemanship.

Serrano said he still maintains contact with one particular four-legged teacher back home in Puerto Rico – a filly out of a mare he rescued when she was pregnant. The mare foaled uneventfully, but not long after that, things started to get complicated.

“At about two and a half months old, the mare started rejecting the foal and I had no idea why,” he said. “I finally pulled her away and started bottle feeding her until she could nibble on grass, on grain. She'd follow me around my hometown like a puppy. I could take her to the beach and run around, she'd jump in the water with me. That was pretty cool.

“Before I left Puerto Rico, I had five horses. I sold them all except her. I donated her to this place in San Juan where they could use her as a therapy horse for kids with special needs. I thought that was something she could fit perfectly in. I get updates on her — she's three now and she does her job very well.”

These days, Serrano can be found predominantly at Mountaineer, where his unconventional route to the saddle is paying off — he's the meet leader by earnings.

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