Late jockey change for Belmont Stakes will cost owners of Max Player

ELMONT, N.Y. – The owners of Max Player will have to pay a double jockey’s fee for the Belmont Stakes after making a late switch from Dylan Davis to Joel Rosario, according to the stewards. Thus, whatever Rosario earns, Davis will also get.

The stewards said that Davis had a call with trainer Linda Rice to ride Max Player in the Belmont. On Sunday, Rice said Rosario would ride Max Player, leaving Davis without a mount for the race.

George Hall, who owns majority interest in Max Player, said he wanted the experience of Rosario, who won the Belmont last year on Sir Winston.

“We will honor what the stewards think is appropriate,” Hall said. “I hadn’t had any direct discussion with Dylan Davis or the stewards. In this race, Joel Rosario is the right guy for this horse given his experience, so I think he is my first choice for this horse.”

Davis rode Max Player to victory in the Grade 3 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 1. The horse was pointing to the Grade 3 Matt Winn at Churchill Downs on May 23. In order to ride the horse in that race, Davis, who had been riding at Gulfstream, went to Kentucky a week early to serve a track-mandated quarantine period due to the coronavirus. Ultimately, Max Player didn’t run in that race.

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Mike Migliore, Davis’s agent, said that Davis gave up calls on seven horses that won at Gulfstream Park during that week. Migliore notified the stewards of his call with Rice.

“I had to look out for my client,” Migliore said.

In the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Rosario was on the other side of a jockey switch when owner Charles Fipke took him off Forever Unbridled in favor of John Velazquez. Forever Unbridled won and Fipke had to pay Rosario the same amount that Velazquez earned.