Praise and Honor paying Rocco back

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Joe Rocco Jr. was sidelined three months this winter because of a hand fracture suffered in a starting gate incident Dec. 9 at Turfway Park. Rocco was aboard Praise and Honor when the mare broke through the gate prematurely, throwing the 40-year-old jockey.

“She only got loose for a few yards before the outrider caught her,” said Rocco. “I injured my hand, so they had to get another rider,” John McKee, who then guided her to a fourth-place finish.

Some four months later, Rocco was back aboard Praise and Honor when the 6-year-old mare stunned a big crowd here last Friday by winning the eighth race, a $121,723 allowance going 6 1/2 furlongs. Her $98.90 win mutuel was the highest of the first seven cards of the 15-day meet.

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“She’s paying me back,” Rocco said with a grin, “slowly but surely.”

Praise and Honor, owned by Tommy Town Thoroughbreds, is trained by Jonathan Wong, who, like many top California trainers, is now maintaining a string in Kentucky because of the larger purse structure. Wong had his first two Keeneland wins last fall.

◗ Luis Saez said he will not ride regularly following Derby week at the upcoming Churchill spring meet and will return instead to the New York circuit to be with his family. Saez was the leading jockey at the 2022 Churchill fall meet with 23 wins.

Saez is in a tight race for leading rider at the 15-day Keeneland spring meet. He is second with nine wins, one behind Tyler Gaffalione. Irad Ortiz Jr. is third with eight wins.

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