Vazquez eyes first riding title at Oaklawn, will base at Churchill in fall

Jockey Ramon Vazquez has won riding titles at a number of tracks like Santa Anita and Remington Park, but never at his home base of Oaklawn.

He’s hoping that might change when the season starts anew in December.

Vazquez, who has been based in New York, said over the weekend that following the close of Saratoga he will be riding in Kentucky, then head to Oaklawn. He has a house in Hot Springs, Ark.

“That’s home for me,” Vazquez said from New York. “I’ve been at Oaklawn for 10 years and never finished as the leading rider at my house. I’ve been second, third in the standings, never been the leader.”

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Agent Bill Castle said while in Kentucky, Vazquez would be based at Churchill Downs.

Vazquez said the last time he rode regularly at Churchill was in 2011 and 2012. Since then, he’s spent time in Southern California, where he won a title at Santa Anita and five at Los Alamitos. He also has titles from Lone Star Park and Prairie Meadows and is a winner of more than 3,600 races.

The move to Kentucky is a strategy to strengthen relationships with trainers who plan to winter at Oaklawn. Pat Pope, the racing secretary in Arkansas, has said about 40 percent of the Oaklawn backstretch is made up of outfits from Kentucky.

“Ramon’s won all these titles, but never won one in his backyard,” Castle said. “That’s the goal, to the best of our ability.

“That’s really the purpose of trying to go to Kentucky early, to get in correctly with people on the backside of Kentucky that will go to Oaklawn – and there’s many.”

Vazquez won the Grade 2 Golden Rod at Churchill in 2021, aboard Dream Lith. He’s also won graded stakes with Practical Move in last year’s Santa Anita Derby, Un Ojo in the 2022 Rebel at Oaklawn, and Lone Rock, a marathon specialist who won stakes from Belmont Park to Del Mar.

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