Zozos looks to bounce back in allowance
After Zozos finished fifth as the 13-10 favorite Jan. 21 in the Grade 3 Louisiana Stakes, his trainer, Brad Cox, rued the decision to run in stakes competition rather than await a third-level allowance race.
Zozos on Dec. 17 had scored a strong second-level allowance win while making his first start since the Kentucky Derby. In retrospect, Cox wondered whether Zozos might still have been recovering from that effort just as he was thrown into deeper waters, and whether a more incremental approach to the colt’s early 2023 campaign might have proved more prudent.
Now Zozos gets his chance to fatten up on allowance competition as one of six entrants in the featured sixth race Thursday at Fair Grounds. Carded for a mile and 70 yards on dirt, the race has two allowance conditions, including the “nonwinners of three other than,” and an $80,000 claiming option. Zozos is 6-5 on the morning line but figures to be an odds-on favorite despite his tame showing in the Louisiana Stakes.
Bettors for good reason jump all over the Cox-trained horses at Fair Grounds. Over the last month, his New Orleans string has gone a remarkable 23-9-1-6. Even more remarkable is that Cox’s local strike rate declined during the same period. His barn has put together a couple win streaks of five and six during the meet, and the Cox record between Dec. 15 and Jan. 7 at Fair Grounds will look like a misprint: 19-13-3-1. In dirt-route allowance races this meet, Cox-trained runners have gone 7-2-2 from 13 starters.
What about Zozos in particular? Is he any good? His second-place finish behind Epicenter in the 2022 Louisiana Derby says his baseline ability is high. He cruised in his comeback win 10 weeks ago, which produced a 92 Beyer Speed Figure, but the Louisiana was pretty ugly. Zozos tracked a dawdling pace, came under pressure before hitting the homestretch, and hit the wire five lengths behind victorious Happy American. He’s come back with four subsequent works, a good sign, and probably doesn’t even need to improve upon his Dec. 17 performance to win. His projected trip stalking the speed of Rightandjust and Five Star General is favorable, and jockey Corey Lanerie has been riding lights-out this winter.
Mailman Money, 2-1 on the line, finished second in a race at this level to Warrant, another Cox-trained horse. But that’s about as good as Mailman Money can do, and it likely won’t be enough.
The uncertain variable is Olliemyboy, who just came into trainer Al Stall Jr.’s barn in February after readying for his first start since June at Gulfstream Park. Olliemyboy, who starts for the $80,000 tag, won consecutive dirt-route allowance races over the Fair Grounds track, but those came way back in January and February 2021, and the second of them marks Olliemyboy’s most recent win.
Loveberry enjoying strong meet
Reylu Gutierrez keeps getting on live mounts and is pulling away in the race for leading jockey this Fair Grounds meet. He comes into this week’s racing action with 55 winners, nine more than the next-highest total. Holding down the second spot with 46 wins, and holding firm throughout a strong Fair Grounds meet, is Jareth Loveberry. Riding just his second Fair Grounds meet, Loveberry has easily exceeded his 2021-22 season, when he rode 36 winners and finished ninth in the rider standings.
“I finished strong last year, and I was hoping it would carry over,” Loveberry said.
Loveberry has gotten steady action from trainer Ron Faucheux, who has 25 winners at the meet, and has branched his business out into new barns. Loveberry, 35, works horses nearly every morning, and the breezing he has done for trainer Brendan Walsh has led to race mounts. Walsh and others have taken note of Loveberry’s adept turf riding. Loveberry has seven winners, tops among the jockey colony, from 23 turf rides this meet.
“I love grass races. In 2017 I was at Canterbury Park and started getting really comfortable on it. I just feel really confident,” Loveberry said.
Loveberry, riding first call for perennial leading trainer Larry Rivelli, had a couple of excellent Arlington Park seasons. Arlington, of course, exists no more. Loveberry rode at Colonial Downs last summer. With about a month left in the Fair Grounds season, he’s weighing options – Chicago, which means Hawthorne now, or a move to Kentucky. Either way, Loveberry said he plans to stick with his longtime agent, Steve Leving.
“I stay loyal to the people who’ve helped me, and we’ve done really well together,” he said.
◗ The Louisiana State Racing Commission passed a rule requiring the coupling of same-owner entries in races. The rule took effect last week.
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