Jockey title will come down to the wire
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It may take the 29 races scheduled from Friday through Sunday at Del Mar to determine the leading rider of the autumn meeting.
Through Thursday, with three days of racing remaining, Umberto Rispoli led all riders with 14 wins, with Antonio Fresu (11), Mirco Demuro (10), Armando Ayuso (9) and Hector Berrios (8) rounding out the top five.
Juan Hernandez, who has won five consecutive riding titles at Del Mar’s summer and autumn meetings since the summer of 2023, has seven wins, leaving him in a tie for sixth-place with Tiago Pereira.
Sunday is closing day of the Del Mar meeting. Los Alamitos begins a two-week meeting on Dec. 5.
There are nine-race programs at Del Mar on Friday and Sunday, and an 11-race program on Saturday, plenty of opportunities for the top-ranked riders to snag the title.
Fresu will be the busiest with 25 mounts, including 10 on Saturday. He rides all eight stakes from Friday through Sunday. Rispoli has 21 mounts, seven each day and also rides all eight stakes. Hernandez is booked on 20 runners. Armando Ayuso has 18 mounts, slightly more than Demuro (17) and Berrios (14).
Demuro, who relocated from Japan to California during the summer, had an outstanding first half of the meeting through Nov. 16, winning 10 races, including two three-win days on Oct. 30 and Nov. 9. He is winless with his last 14 mounts, beginning midway on the Nov. 16 program.
After Sunday’s program, Rispoli is booked to travel to Hong Kong to participate in the Longines International Jockeys’ Championship at Happy Valley Racecourse on Dec. 10.
Rispoli will ride against Mickael Barzalona, Hugh Bowman, William Buick, Hollie Doyle, Vincent Ho, Rachel King, Christophe Lemaire, James McDonald, Joao Moreira, Zac Purton, and possibly Ryan Moore, the European star who has not ridden since the summer because of injury.
The riders will compete in four races, with standings determined by points based on top three finishes. The winner receives a cash prize of more than $77,000.
Rispoli, 37, moved from Hong Kong to California in late 2019. He has won 691 races in the United States through Thursday.
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