Rispoli ranging up alongside Prat

Nine months into his American career, jockey Umberto Rispoli is positioned to win the riding title at the Santa Anita autumn meeting, which begins on Friday, if he can get past his friend and rival Flavien Prat.

At the Del Mar summer meeting, which ended earlier this month, Prat was leading rider with 50 wins, one more than Rispoli.

“If you had said before the meeting that I would have almost 50 winners, I wouldn’t believe it,” Rispoli said on Wednesday. “I was looking for the big races and a nice meeting.”

The 16-day fall season at Santa Anita runs through Oct. 25 and, unlike at Del Mar, will allow jockeys to return after riding at a different venue. Riders who compete at other tracks must undergo a 72-hour quarantine and provide a negative coronavirus test upon returning to California.

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With numerous stakes at Keeneland that have implications for the Breeders’ Cup races there on Nov. 6-7, several leading Santa Anita jockeys are expected to ride there. Rispoli, who previously rode in Hong Kong, said he plans to ride there for the first time in his career from Oct. 2-4.

Prat, a native of France, was the runaway winner of the riding title at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, which ended in June, with 90 wins. Rispoli, a native of Italy, finished third with 50 wins, 11 fewer than Abel Cedillo, who is also expected to contend for the riding title at the Santa Anita fall meet.

Rispoli changed agents in May. Ron Anderson, who was instrumental in launching Rispoli’s career in the United States last winter, worked on behalf of the rider from late December to March. When racing resumed at Santa Anita in May after a seven-week break caused by the coronavirus, Anderson had relocated to the East Coast and Scotty McClellan began booking mounts on behalf of Rispoli.

Jockeys in Hong Kong do not have agents and arrange mounts for themselves.

“I couldn’t ask for better,” Rispoli said of Anderson and McClellan. “It was tough when I swapped agents. The role of the agent is very important here in America.”

It seems Prat and Rispoli cannot get rid of each other, often by choice. They traveled to Kentucky Downs together and their young families are friends away from racing.

Rispoli rode two races at Kentucky Downs, winning the Music City Stakes with Lighthouse on Sept. 15.

“It was good to be at Kentucky Downs and have a winner there,” Rispoli said. “It was nice to get the new experience.”