Talamo staying in Kentucky this winter to ride at Turfway
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jockey Joe Talamo will forgo another winter at Oaklawn Park to stay closer to home by riding instead at Turfway Park, the northern Kentucky track where purses are projected to be at an all-time high.
Talamo has settled in Louisville after moving with his wife and two young sons multiple times since they left their longtime California home nearly two years ago. He rode 53 winners during his first full Oaklawn meet in 2020, just seven behind perennial leader Ricardo Santana Jr., and also rode most of last winter at the Arkansas track.
Turfway officials on Tuesday were prepared to release the first condition book for four months of winter racing that will begin Dec. 2 with a new grandstand still under construction. Turfway racing secretary Tyler Picklesimer said maiden-special races will start at a minimum of $60,000, including bonuses for registered Kentucky-breds, and a more traditional stakes schedule is being restored after several years of cutbacks.
Turfway purses have been boosted substantially by revenues from historical horse racing machines that have proliferated at all Kentucky tracks. The combined holiday and winter-spring meets run through April 3. Oaklawn, meanwhile, is beginning its 2021-22 meet some six weeks earlier than usual, expanding to a five-month meet that starts Dec. 3.
Because of the bigger purses at Turfway, many top Kentucky trainers are planning to maintain strings there while taking their top horses to warmer destinations. Picklesimer said trainers who have applied for stalls include Mike Maker, Wesley Ward, Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox, Dale Romans, and Brendan Walsh.
“With so many big outfits keeping horses here, and with the big purses and my family situation, this makes the most sense for me at this time,” said Talamo, a 31-year-old New Orleans native who has racked up 2,186 wins, including 126 in graded stakes, since his career began in 2006.
Talamo has ridden 98 winners at Kentucky tracks – including three at the current Keeneland meet – since moving from California, where he rode regularly for more than 13 years. His California tenure included a lengthy span during which synthetic tracks were in use. Tapeta is the only racing surface at Turfway.
At the 2021 winter-spring meet at Turfway, the top five jockeys by wins were Gerardo Corrales, Rafael Bejarano, Santiago Gonzalez, Chris Landeros, and DeShawn Parker.