Talamo keeping busy as he nears 2,000th win

With a little success in the final days of the Los Alamitos meet this week, Joe Talamo will put himself in position to win the 2,000th race of his career early at the Santa Anita autumn meeting, which begins on Sept. 27.

Through Sunday, Talamo had 1,992 wins. He will have plenty of opportunities to add to that total before the meeting ends on Sunday.

“It’s crazy,” he said of the approaching milestone. “It never crossed my mind. It’s hard to have time to think about it. You work hard, ride, and repeat.”

On Friday’s nine-race program, Talamo has four mounts. He rides the 3-year-old colt Stretford End for trainer Simon Callaghan in a maiden special weight at six furlongs. Stretford End has not raced since February when he finished seventh in a similar race on a sloppy and sealed track at Santa Anita at odds of 2-5.

Talamo figures to be busy through the weekend and during the opening days at Santa Anita, which are loaded with preps for the Breeders’ Cup races. The Breeders’ Cup will be held at Santa Anita on Nov. 1-2.

Talamo, 29, has a solid book of rides in leading stakes at Santa Anita next week, including Mr Vargas in the Grade 2 Eddie D Stakes on Sept. 27, the same day he is scheduled to ride Collusion Illusion in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes.

On Sept. 28, Talamo’s mounts are expected to include Draft Pick in the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes. Draft Pick was second in the $1 million Pacific Classic on Aug. 17.

On Sept. 29, Talamo is tentatively scheduled to ride Mucho Gusto in the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park.

Wednesday at Santa Anita, Talamo was aboard Mucho Gusto for a five-furlong workout in 59.60 seconds.

“He’s training really, really good,” Talamo said.

Mucho Gusto, a four-time stakes winner, was second in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 20 and third in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 24, with Talamo aboard in both races.

Talamo finished the Del Mar summer meeting with 23 wins, fourth behind leader Flavien Prat, who won 42 races. Talamo won three stakes during the meeting, including the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes on Collusion Illusion.

Through Sunday, Talamo was third in the standing at Los Alamitos with five wins, one fewer than joint leaders Assael Espinoza and Jorge Velez. Several of the leading jockeys in Southern California are not riding or riding sparingly at Los Alamitos this month. Talamo has taken a more active approach.

“We had a lot of momentum from Del Mar,” Talamo said. “We had a good meeting down there. I thought it was important to keep that going, especially with the Breeders’ Cup out here.”