The rookie class of jockeys in 1989 included Garrett Gomez, Joe Bravo, and Corey Nakatani. At the head of the class, however, was Mike Luzzi, who won the Eclipse Award that year as the nation's leading apprentice jockey.
While Gomez, Bravo, and Nakatani may have gone on to become more high-profile riders, Luzzi has put together a solid career - he has 2,965 career victories - built on consistency and reliability with a couple of touches of Grade 1 success.
Aqueduct canceled the final six races of Wednesday's scheduled nine-race card when the jockeys refused to ride because of high winds. According to weather.com, the winds were 35 miles per hour with gusts up to 42. Otherwise, conditions were ideal for winter, with the temperature in the low 40s and sunny skies.
The wind was blowing in the jockeys' face coming into the stretch.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Tuesday morning at dawn, Santa Anita looked like a racetrack again.
Dark skies gave way to an orange-pink sunrise, storm clouds began to break apart, and for the first time in nearly a week, the damp Santa Anita main track was operational for morning workouts.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Kristin Crawford, an authorized agent and assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen, on Sunday filed an appeal with the Arkansas Racing Commission challenging the Oaklawn Park board of stewards' decision to disqualify Rated Fiesty from first to third in last weekend's $50,000 Dixie Belle Stakes. Stewards said the case could be heard before the commission on Saturday.
It was an unusual sight Monday in New Orleans. Horses actually were racing on the Fair Grounds grass course.
Yes, off-the-turf has become the phrase of the month in January, with rain basically putting a kibosh on turf racing during the last two weeks of the Fair Grounds meet. Races have been rained off the turf on eight of the last 10 programs, and since Jan. 1, there have been more off-the-turf racing days (11) than days on which grass racing could be conducted (9).
For the first time since its second running in 1983, Bay Meadows's signature race, the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby, will be run for a purse of less than $200,000. The 1 1/16-mile race, which has produced winners of all three Triple Crown races, will be run March 8 for a $150,000 purse. It is the second year in a row the El Camino Real has had its purse cut by $50,000.
ALBANY, Calif. - Jockey Russell Baze will have five mounts Thursday at Golden Gate Fields as he zeroes in on another milestone. Baze is just three victories shy of 10,000 wins for his career.
He will be the first North American rider to reach that figure. The Brazilian jockey Jorge Ricardo recorded his 10,000th victory on Jan. 9 in Argentina.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The work that will be needed to repair Santa Anita's soggy main track will now have to be done in two steps because of recent wet weather, and will not be completed until the end of next week, according to both Ron Charles, the president and chief executive officer of Santa Anita, and Ian Pearse, the founder of the synthetic surface Pro-Ride.
Pearse said he would need two days this week to make the track level again before adding his polymers and fibers next week.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Cave's Valley will seek to rebound from his first career defeat, suffered last month, and hopefully put himself on the Triple Crown trail when he runs in Saturday's $75,000 Whirlaway Stakes at Aqueduct.
After winning his first three starts - including a pair of two-turn stakes at Delaware Park - to begin his career, Cave's Valley finished seventh as the second choice in the $1 million Delta Jackpot last month at Delta Downs.
Brax overcame a troubled trip to win the $125,000 Pepsi Cola Handicap at Sunland Park. Bred, owned, and trained by Cliff Lambert Sr., Brax stalked the early pace in the six-furlong event for New Mexico-bred 3-year-olds. He had to wait for room behind horses and then had to check again into the lane. He found a lane and closed well to get up for the neck win. Run Like Fire, the even-money favorite, looked like the winner when he surged to the lead midstretch but was caught by Brax in the final yards. Playingwithchimes rallied to be third in the field of 10.
