Leading owner Arriagada eyeing trainers' title as well
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Juan Arriagada has been the leading owner in wins at the last three Tampa Bay Downs meets. This year, he would like to add leading trainer to his résumé as well.
Arriagada won two races on Sunday’s card at Tampa – the 63rd day of the 90-day season – pulling him to within three wins, 30 to 27, of Juan Avila. Arriagada is the leading owner with 18 wins, five more than his nearest competitor. Last year, his 42 training victories were second only to Kathleen O’Connell.
“At Presque Isle last year I was leading owner and trainer, so I want to try hard to do the same thing at Tampa,” Arriagada said Sunday after Redbird Nation won an $8,000 claimer two weeks after being disqualified from a win in this same condition. “I like the challenge, I like the competition, the action. I don’t care how much money I pay for horses, I try really hard to do my best to win the title this year.”
Perhaps the big question is whether Arriagada will have enough horses to compete over the final seven weeks of the meet. His horses are popular at the claim box. Five of the last 12 horses he’s started at the meet have been claimed, including three who have won. He said he is down to 22 horses.
“Everybody likes my horses,” Arriagada said. “In the last two days, I lost two or three horses. I never worry about that. I worry about running my horses in the right spot. I like to win races, that’s it.”
Arriagada has just one entry on Wednesday’s card, Coalminer’s Kitten, in race 4, a starter allowance/optional $8,000 claiming event at six furlongs. Arriagada claimed Coalminer’s Kitten for $10,000 on Feb. 18 out of a race in which the gelding finished fifth of seven as the favorite. Before that, Coalminer’s Kitten won a $5,000 claimer by 11 1/2 lengths, his eighth win from 27 starts.
“He knows how to win, I like horses that know how to win,” Arriagada said. “I think he’ll be tough in that race.”
His main challenger will likely be Guapo Again, trained by Avila. Guapo Again finished third in a similar condition as this on Feb. 12. Before that, the 7-year-old Seek Again gelding won a $5,000 claimer by 8 1/4 lengths.
While Arriagada deals mostly with claimers, he has a nice turf allowance runner in Noble Factor. Claimed for $25,000 on Dec. 12, Noble Factor has a win and a third in three starts for Arriagada, posting back-to-back Beyer Speed Figures of 86.
“That horse is a good horse, believe me, a very talented horse,” said Arriagada, who is hoping to get him back in entries perhaps as soon as this weekend.
Jockey Morales retires
Jockey Pablo Morales, who was spending this winter at Tampa Bay Downs, announced his retirement from the saddle in a Facebook post on March 13.
Morales, a native of Peru, rode for 21 years, winning 2,858 races, including on his last mount, Equine Authority on Feb. 20 at Tampa. He was a nine-time leading rider at Presque Isle Downs. He won four graded stakes in his career, including the Grade 2 Nearctic last October at Woodbine.
Morales, 37, in his post, wrote that a career interrupted by injuries and having lost clients and support from people took a toll on him mentally. He also wrote he wanted to spend more time with his family, wife Erin and teenaged children Sophia and Camilo.
“I realized that this career, for all it gave me, was pulling me away from what I truly needed: to serve God with my family,” Morales wrote. “It was the flaws in the industry that made it easier to see that I needed to refocus on my spiritual life – with my wife, my kids, and a deeper calling.”
Morales, in an interview with Tampa Bay publicity, said he has not made any plans for the future other than to dedicate himself to his family.
“I’m taking it one day at a time, definitely,” said Morales, who is moving from the Tampa area to South Florida. “Once I get there and am settled in, I’ll be happy doing anything, and doing it without all the pressure.”
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