JC / Railbird

Jockeys Archive

Gomez to Ride for Pletcher

– Jockey Garrett Gomez will replace injured rider John Valazquez as trainer Todd Pletcher’s first call rider. “Garrett is coming in to kind of pick up the pieces,” said Pletcher. “Mike Luzzi and Chris [DeCarlo] will also be riding for us. We’re trying to keep things pulled together.” Gomez’s agent, Ron Anderson, said the jockey will fly to Kentucky on Monday and begin riding at Keeneland on Wednesday. Valazquez, injured in an accident at Keeneland last Friday, returns to New York on Monday to recover at home. “I’m feeling as best as can be expected considering what happened,” said Velazquez.
– Apprentice rider Martin Garcia, leading the jockey standings at Golden Gate with 101 winners to jockey Russell Baze’s 84, will ride at Hollywood Park after the Golden Gate meet ends. “I’ve got a lot of people who have promised me that they will give him a good shot at Hollywood Park,” said Roger Olguin, Garcia’s agent. “They know he can ride. He really likes it here, but I told him he had to try down there because that’s where the big money is.”

Posted in Jockeys on April 23, 2006

Velazquez Injured

Jockey John Velazquez suffered two broken ribs and a fractured shoulder on Thursday when his mount, Up An Octave, broke down just yards past the wire after winning the Forerunner Stakes over the turf course at Keeneland. The horse fell, throwing Velazquez to ground, and rolled over the rider. Velazquez was taken to the University of Kentucky hospital for evaluation and X-rays and remained there overnight. “He’s pretty sore everywhere, but he’s very lucky,” said Angel Cordero, a retired Hall of Fame jockey and Velazquez’s agent. “That is one of the ugliest spills I’ve ever seen.”
With his injuries, Velazquez could be out for three to five months, and trainer Todd Pletcher will need to name a replacement rider for WinStar Farm’s Bluegrass Cat, who is still a possible Kentucky Derby starter. “We’re looking around [for a replacement] right now,” said WinStar vice president Elliott Walden. “We’re considering Ramon Dominguez, but it’s still undecided.”
Up An Octave, a three-year-old colt trained by Pletcher, sustained a compound fracture of his left foreleg and had to be euthanized on the track.
“It’s the nature of the business for the jock, the owner and trainer,” said jockey Willie Martinez, who finished well behind Velazquez in the Forerunner. “Here we are: ‘How was your day?’ ‘I won a stakes race, and three jumps after the wire I broke my shoulder and the horse was put down.'”

Posted in Jockeys on April 21, 2006

Napravnik Magic

Apprentice Rosie Napravnik, favorite of the Bug Boys, pulled off a big upset on Saturday at Laurel when she “guided an apparently hopeless 74-to-1 long shot named Our Peak past seven horses in the stretch to score a stunning victory by a neck in the $85,000 Private Terms Stakes.”

Posted in Jockeys on March 26, 2006

Personnel Matters

Bill Finley doesn’t let jockey Garrett Gomez off easy for his recent firing of agent Jim Pegram, who helped Gomez become one of the West Coast’s hottest jockeys this year after he returned to riding following a two-year absence caused by drug addiction:

Pegram is now working for Kent Desormeaux; Gomez has hired Ron Anderson as his new agent.
—
Churchill Downs’ fired starter Roger Nagle says he was let go because he wouldn’t agree to use techniques to load the gate that he considered unsafe. “I don’t give a damn if I have to eat cat food, I’m not going to do something that might get somebody hurt,” said Nagle. Churchill Downs isn’t commenting, which Tote Board Brad finds totally in keeping with the track management’s “brash, arrogant” style.

Posted in Jockeys on February 22, 2006