Reigning Eclipse Award winner Joel Rosario made the most of closing weekend at Churchill Downs over the Thanksgiving holiday, winning three graded stakes including the prestigious Grade 1 Clark, and then travelled back to New York for a win in Sunday's stake race at Aqueduct.
Rosario's impressive four stakes haul earned Jockey of the Week honors for Nov. 21 through Nov. 27. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, honors jockeys for riding accomplishments and who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.
Trainer Phil Bauer gave a leg up to Rosario on Played Hard in the G3 Falls City, the traditional Thanksgiving Day feature for fillies and mares at Churchill Downs. Breaking from post four in the field of six, Played Hard lead all the way to post a one-length win in 1:49.39 as the odds-on favorite.
“She keeps getting better,” said Rosario. “She fought hard on the lead and didn't want to give it up.”
On Friday, Rosario was aboard Bubble Rock for reigning Eclipse Award trainer Brad Cox in the G2 Mrs. Revere for 3-year-old fillies on the Churchill Downs turf. Off as the favorite in the field of 10, Bubble Rock went wire-to-wire for a 1 1/4-length victory in 1:45.05 for 1 1/16 miles.
“The whole time, she was enjoying what she was doing,” said Rosario. “When I got to the front, I just wanted to let her be happy and hopefully she'd have a little kick for the end.”
Rosario's riding acumen was on full display aboard Proxy for trainer Mike Stidham in the prestigious G1 Clark, Friday's feature race. Off as the second favorite in the compact field of six, Proxy was kept close to the pace set by favorite West Will Power. Those two separated themselves from the others at the top of the stretch and raced in tandem until Proxy began to edge away in deep stretch to win by three-quarters of a length in 1:48.89 for the 1 1/8-mile dirt contest.
“I knew West Will Power was really the only horse that had early speed in the race so I didn't want to let him get away easily,” said Rosario. “He was very tough on the lead (West Will Power) and I had to work pretty hard to get by him.”
Rosario was back at Aqueduct for racing on Saturday and on Sunday. He was in the irons aboard Sweetlou'sgotaces for trainer Ray Handal in the Tepin Stakes, a one mile turf test for 2-year-old fillies.
Off as the 2-1 favorite in the field of 10, Sweetlou'sgotaces lead the field into the final turn for a four-length win in 1:38.49.
Rosario's competition for Jockey of the Week included Kendrick Carmouche with two graded stakes wins at Aqueduct, Flavien Prat with three graded stakes at Del Mar, Kevin Radke who posted his first graded stakes win at Golden Gate, and Luis Saez who captured his first Churchill Downs riding title and won six races on the Saturday card.
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