Landeros finding success with busy schedule
Chris Landeros has ridden at Churchill Downs, Canterbury Park, Thistledown, Delaware Park, Indiana Grand, Saratoga, Colonial Downs, and Ellis Park.
And that’s just in a recent 30-day span.
Indeed, from June 23 to July 23, Landeros was legged up at all eight of those tracks – all while contending for the top spot at what currently qualifies as his “home” track, Ellis in western Kentucky.
As another three-day week begins Friday at Ellis, Landeros is tied for second with Florent Geroux with 11 wins apiece in the jockey standings, behind only Brian Hernandez Jr. (14 wins). The hectic schedule being maintained by Landeros and his agent and brother-in-law, Brodie Wilkes, included the 33-year-old jockey winning a $100,000 stakes Monday at Colonial, as well as in-money finishes in stakes at Canterbury and Delaware.
A turning point in Landeros’s fortunes occurred over the winter when, with Wilkes as his newly hired agent, he decided to forgo Gulfstream Park, where he had ridden in recent winters, to ride instead at Turfway Park. Landeros thrived, and now he has more winners in 2021 (53) than he did in 2020 (40), when the pandemic and altered racing schedules had him in something of a slump.
“The thing about Brodie and I is that we are not only family, but really good friends,” Landeros told Ellis publicity last weekend. “He puts me in my place when I need it, and I help him along the way when he needs it. We’ve got a good relationship as far as work goes, and friendship on the side. We’re kind of growing together, and it’s been fun.”
Wilkes is the brother of Landeros’s wife, Shelby, and the son of Ian Wilkes, the highly accomplished Kentucky-based trainer, and Tracey Wilkes, who is heavily involved in the family stable.