Rosario turns sights on earnings record after successful Breeders' Cup
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fresh from a Breeders’ Cup weekend during which he drew within striking distance to the all-time record for mount earnings in a single year, star jockey Joel Rosario will ride the next three weeks at Churchill Downs.
After boarding a red-eye Saturday night from San Diego to ride Sunday at Belmont Park, where he had one winner from eight mounts, Rosario now turns his focus to Churchill, where he will be available at Churchill “every single day, with possibly one exception,” agent Ron Anderson said. The fall meet runs through Nov. 28.
Rosario is named on five mounts here Wednesday, four Thursday, and three Friday as he seeks to break the record of $34,109,019 set two years ago by Irad Ortiz Jr. According to Daily Racing Form statistics, Rosario enters the week with $30,763,407 in mount earnings for 2021, tops among all North American riders.
Rosario won two Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar last weekend, the $2 million Juvenile Fillies with Echo Zulu and the $6 million Classic with Knicks Go.
As for December, Rosario likely will ride the first week at Aqueduct, said Anderson, with the Grade 1 Cigar Mile and three other graded races set for Dec. 4. The balance of the month is still to be determined, with Oaklawn Park and Gulfstream among the tracks in play.
Hernandez bounces back
Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. rebounded from his fourth spill in a 17-day period by sweeping the early double Sunday at Churchill with Ultimate and Champagne Sister.
Hernandez and Adam Beschizza both hit the dirt Saturday evening midway through the turn in the six-furlong Bet On Sunshine when Beschizza’s mount, Vertical Threat, clipped heels and fell, also causing Rough Entry and Hernandez to fall. Both jockeys escaped injury. Vertical Threat had to be euthanized.
On Oct. 17, Hernandez was involved in a morning spill at Churchill; on Oct. 18, he was in a spill in the first race at Keeneland; and on Oct. 30, closing day of the Keeneland meet, he was thrown to the slop during the last race.