01/27/2013 6:00PM

Aqueduct: Cohen celebrates return to New York with three-win day

By David Grening
Email
Adam Coglianese/NYRA
David Cohen collects his third win on Sunday's card aboard Celtic Chant (2) in the Cagey Exuberance Stakes.

It was a happy homecoming for jockey David Cohen, who returned to New York for the first time since last fall and won three races on Sunday’s card at Aqueduct, including the $75,000 Cagey Exuberance Stakes aboard Celtic Chant.

 Cohen, the seventh leading rider on this circuit in 2012, went 3 for 5 on the card. He won the opener on Irish Lion ($3.90) and the fourth on Quick Money ($11.40) - both for trainer David Jacobson. After finishing fifth in the fifth on Tancredi, Cohen guided Celtic Chant ($10) to a front-running neck victory over 4-5 favorite Delightful Quality in the Cagey Exuberance. Cohen’s bid for a fourth win on the card came up short as he finished third on File Gumbo in the ninth.

 Celtic Chant, a 5-year-old daughter of Songandaprayer, won for the eighth time in 22 starts for Waterville Lake Stables, which owns and bred her. She is trained by Chris Englehart.

 Celtic Chant ran six furlongs in 1:10.36 and hung on over Delightful Quality, who didn’t change leads until very late in the race.

 Cohen had finished second in the Aqueduct inner track standings in two of the last three winters. He decided to move his tack to Kentucky last September shortly after dead-heating for win in the $1 million Travers on Golden Ticket for the Kentucky-based trainer Ken McPeek.

 Things didn’t pan out in Kentucky as Cohen won just 11 races combined at the Keeneland and Churchill meets. He won just 5 races from 64 mounts at Gulfstream, including a second-level allowance aboard Golden Ticket on Saturday.

$259 longshot triggers carryover

Earlier on Sunday’s card, Julissa Laredo guided Take the El Train to an upset victory that created a pick-six carryover of $31,203 into Wednesday’s card.

Take the El Train, trained by David Prine, returned $259.50, usurping Firstbellathenkk ($230) as the longest-priced winner of the meet. Laredo also rode Firstbellathenkk.

 That wasn’t the only upset on Sunday’s card. Equally as surprising, neither Jose Ortiz nor Irad Ortiz Jr. won a race. In the seven racing days from Jan. 16-26, they combined to win 34 of 63 races run.

* Formal Attire became the sixth racing-related fatality at the meet when he suffered two slab fractures of the right knee in a maiden $16,000 claiming event. He was a 3-year-old gelding by Stanislavsky owned by Dare to Dream Stable and trained by Englehart.

 

 

Mark Scheider 10 months ago
Guy finally realized hes not winning unless hes in NEw York saddled on a Jacobsen horse.
James A. Poulos, III 10 months ago
I have no real evidence, but it can not be good standing in a stall 22-23 hours a day for many months without a return to the farm or a break from this routine. Standing in a stall in my opinion does makes for a sound horse. I would think that this practice leads to more break downs then the so called weakening of the breed, slasix or track conditions (unless the track conditions of course are wretched). One also has distinguish between line breeding and in-breeding. Nearco (1935) 14 starts, 14 wins has St Simon 4 times in is pedigree. Go through the stud book. See how many stallions who raced more than 10 times had a horse like Northern Dancer for instance appear in their pedigree more than twice. Look at Tizway.
riconap 10 months ago
@James -Perhaps the breakdown increases over the years is in part due to the exponential inbreeding which leads to inrenal weaknesses in all animals and humans. Also, there is a constant floating/sealing of wet tracks which tends to compress the top layers with the base and thereby create a less forgiving surface. This is doubly true in the winter when freezing takes place. It is also true that racetracks tend to groom the ir surfaces to enhance final times/speed ratins as a boost to the horses credentials and what th management believes their fan base wants to see. The latter is the furthest from the truth since most serious handicappers want to see a fair playing surface with little or no bias.It's also quite a boring game when a parade of wire to wire winners at either short prices or intenable prices rounds out the daily race card.
James 10 months ago
I was a groom in New York when they held their first winter meet and I dont recall the breakdowns like theyre having now....Did the horses have stronger bones with better breeding or maybe we had better horseman.....Something has changed thats for sure...Im in California these days where there are still alot of breakdowns as there has been since I got on the track in 68 at Del Mar...Somebody is not doing their job right!!
wolves 10 months ago
Pablo Fragoso needs to get a new agent. He is far superior to the Ortiz brothers and Cohen....
Bruce Baudoux 10 months ago
I'll buy some of that stuff you're smoking if you don't mind
Elijah Allison 10 months ago
yea right....where did the pablo thing come from lol
Anil 10 months ago
I agree 100% ..... Pablo Fragoso is one of the better jocks on this circuit .... Just not getting good mounts.... He was one of the best apprentice to pass thru New York . Hope he picks up some more mounts so I win some more money on him.
Vince 10 months ago
his best year was 13%
Slew32A 10 months ago
May I ask? How are you related to Pablo? Didn't he have the mounts on Shadwell or Darley and blew it.
wolves 10 months ago
I think he may have ridden a few Darley maidens over the inner dirt as an apprentice, but the guy you are probably thinking of is Fernando Jara
M D 10 months ago
He couldn't even make it at monmouth or penn national.
robert 10 months ago
He isnt even a good excersize rider and has no heart, cohen and the ortiz brothers juggle him on their boots in fact id take davis over him
wolves 10 months ago
I'll best my last dollar you've never had a profitable year betting horses
robert 10 months ago
you would lose that bet and i dont care who is riding, im still betting who i feel the best horse is, that said fragoso still sucks, lets put it this way if he was the last jock left in the jocks room and i needed a rider i would scratch my horse.
riconap 10 months ago
Jockeys don't make horses win, they make them lose. In other words, a good jockey allows his mount to run its' best race possible with positioning, timing and reading the bias. If there is another horse or horses that are set to perform better, there is nothing the jockey can do to make his horse win. If the best horse is a victim of a poor ride he will often lose. Fragoso was given the same opportunities most others get in any endeavor and his placing today is what he has earned.
wolves 10 months ago
positioning is amplified on the inner dirt. If you don't consider jockeys when analyzing pace, you should. The strength of jockeys can also be the difference between winning and losing. You bet on your opinion, I'll be on mine
riconap 10 months ago
I did cite "positionong" but until a jockey makes an inferior horse (slower on a given day) win a race against a faster horse who gets an equal or better trip - I'll maintain my stance that a jockey can not make a horse win, only make him lose - and I'll stay with my philosophy which is generally supported by almost all great trainers and handicappers. that means that the better jockeys give their mounts the better opportunities to win, but they can't do more than that.
April Murdock-Smith Woodhouse 9 months ago
If jockeys make them lose then who's riding the winner?
Vince 10 months ago
stop ..please
riconap 10 months ago
ok
Robert Pandolfo 10 months ago
Pablo Fragosa had a fine year last year, winning 13% of his rides. At the Monmouth Park meeting he won 27 races for almost a million in purses. Not everyone has to be Jerry Bailey. Fragosa had a good year and is a good rider.
April Murdock-Smith Woodhouse 9 months ago
IGod Ortiz