Gustavo Rodriguez rides claiming game to successful meet
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While his brother Rudy Rodriguez is about to wrap up Aqueduct’s 2021-22 winter meet trainers title, Gustavo Rodriguez has put together a solid season of his own.
Gustavo Rodriguez, nine months into his own training career after working as an assistant to his brother for many years, enters the final week of racing this winter with seven wins, 11 seconds, and five thirds from 40 starters. He is vying for the top prize of $16,000 in the Under 20 Claiming Challenge, a contest restricted to barns with 20 horses or fewer. Trainers earn points in claiming races from Dec. 9 through the end of the Aqueduct spring meet on April 24. According to the most recent standings, Rodriguez has earned 68 points, placing him first.
“I think we’re having a nice run,” said Rodriguez, who gets the chance to work alongside his 24-year-old son, Blake.
No points will be offered in Saturday’s New York Claiming Championships, a 10-race program made up primarily of starter stakes. Rodriguez entered just two horses but believes both Ok Honey in the $55,000 Videogenic and Shesalittle Edgy in the $75,000 Xtra Heat are in with excellent chances.
Rodriguez claimed Shesalittle Edgy for $62,500 on March 4, but the fact she ran for $15,000 a year ago at Turfway Park makes her eligible for the Xtra Heat. Shesalittle Edgy ran a solid second the day Rodriguez and owner Ben Modello took her.
“We love the way she’s training,” Rodriguez said. “We just got to hope for the best.”
On Jan. 2, Rodriguez claimed Ok Honey for $25,000 and she came back to win a first-level allowance for New York-breds by 8 1/2 lengths on Feb. 13. Though that victory came going a mile; Rodriguez opted to cut her back to six furlongs for the Videogenic. She was also eligible to the Sis City going a mile.
“I think she’s better going long, but we’re going to be all right in that spot,” Rodriguez said. “The one-mile race is going to be tougher.”