Hawthorne notes: Apprentice Rose enjoys three-win day
STICKNEY, Ill. – In one afternoon, apprentice jockey Heidi Rose booted home more winners than she had during the first 2 1/2 months of her career.
Rose had won with just two of her first 66 mounts since she began her race-riding career in August at Arlington, but with just four mounts on the Sunday card at Hawthorne, Rose won three of the nine races there. Rose won the second race with Retour ($29), the fifth with Silver Prince ($27), and the ninth with Scappare ($17.20). The successful afternoon put an end to Rose’s 10-pound weight allowance, and she now will ride as a seven-pound bug.
“It was pretty unbelievable,” Rose said. “It was so exciting.”
Rose just turned 28 and got a late start to her career as a jockey. A Michigan native, she started working at the track at age 16 at Great Lakes Downs and has done all the regular stable jobs, from hot-walking to galloping to a three-year stint as an assistant to trainer Louie Roussel. When Rose’s association with Roussel ended this spring, she decided it was time to fulfill her long-held dream of becoming a jockey.
“Originally, I was like, ‘I’m too old to do this,’ but it was something I couldn’t let go of,” she said. “If I still wanted to do it after so much time, I decided it was something I should try. It’s very different than galloping, but it feels so right that I can hardly believe I ever did anything else.”
Rose has looked more comfortable in races during the last several weeks, and she is getting on more horses at Hawthorne who appear to have a decent chance than the huge longshots who provided the backbone of her Arlington business. Longtime agent and former trainer Pat Cuccurullo is booking mounts for Rose at Hawthorne. Hawthorne’s next entry day is Wednesday, and soon Rose will know if her thrilling Sunday was merely a blip on the radar or an afternoon that altered the arc of her late-starting career.
Two allowances Wednesday
Welcome to winter – at least the early version of it. There was a chance of light snow around Chicago on Tuesday through the night, and the high temperature for the nine-race Wednesday program at Hawthorne is forecast to touch all of 45 degrees.
The racing, though, is decent, particularly early in the card, which begins with a second-level turf allowance and has race 5, an open allowance for female sprinters, as a feature.
Seven were entered in race 5, including a Scott Becker-trained entry of Awesome Symmetry and Algonquin Posse. Both fillies have a chance, but the pick is Maude S, who is capable of much better than she showed when a fading fifth Oct. 5 in the Marie Hulman George, a two-turn dirt race run in the Indiana Downs slop.
Race 1, at 1 1/16 miles on turf, is tricky because there’s no speed. Cavalero is a horse who’s probably best being taken back and making one big run, but he has been ridden to the lead with modest success in the past and might be best suited by going forward again Wednesday.