Arlington-based apprentice
jockey Constantino Roman had already ridden one winner Saturday and appeared on
his way to a riding double when the horse he was aboard veered in sharply and
almost collided with the tiring frontrunner.
Fortunately, Roman sensed the
impending collision prior to impact and pulled his horse up sharply – losing
the momentum he needed to win the race but averting potential disaster at the
same time.
“I’d ridden the horse once
before and he hadn’t done anything like that,” said Roman Sunday morning,
speaking on the Arlington
apron during training hours. “And yesterday, he’d run a straight course
all the way down the stretch, but when I hit him with the whip in the last
strides he switched lead suddenly and started ducking in sharply. I had
to pull him up, then. If I hadn’t had to pull him up, I might have won
the race.”
However, even without the
benefit of that second winner Saturday, Roman is by far Arlington’s
leading apprentice this season, and should have a bright future in front of him
after the local season ends Sept. 25. Where might that be?
“I don’t know right now,” said
Roman, 20, a native of Guerrero,
Mexico.
“Mr. Cooper (Roman’s agent Dennis) hasn’t told me yet. I’d like to go
back to Kentucky
and maybe ride at Keeneland and Churchill. They have some very good
riders there and I can learn a lot from them. I was there last spring and
a few of the guys there really helped me a lot. I look at (the replays)
all the races every day with the other riders and try to get better each
day. I try to learn something new every time I go out there.”
When Roman first came to the United
States as a teenager, he galloped horses for three years
for legendary Arlington
trainer Harvey Vanier. Now that Vanier’s
son-in-law Brian Williamson runs that stable, Roman rides a lot of horses for
him. He has two older brothers, Jorge and Alfredo, who are too big to be
jockeys but work as grooms for Williamson. Two sisters and his mother
remain in Mexico,
but Roman remains in contact with them frequently by telephone. There is
no time for a girlfriend.
“I have to remain
focused on my job,” said Roman. “I get here at 5 o’clock in the morning
every day to work as many horses as I can. I like all the trainers – like
Brian Williamson and Moises Yanez – that ride me on their horses. They are
giving me the chance I need to get better, and I want to do the best job I can
for them. I want to learn to be a very good jockey. If I can do
that, maybe someday I can ride the best horses in the country.”
In another conversation later
Sunday morning, Dennis Cooper was asked what his plans were for Roman after Arlington’s
2011 meeting comes to a close.
“Oh, I’m going to take this
kid with me to Kentucky,”
Cooper said. “He’s a prince to work for, this kid. He has the right
attitude to make it in this business. Jesus (Castanon, Cooper’s
Preakness-winning jockey) likes him, too, and he helps him out a lot down in
the room when they’re riding together. No matter how many horses I get him on,
Constantino always wants to work more horses in the morning and ride more
horses in the afternoon. He really does have the ‘eye of the tiger.’”
Cooper was also asked about
Castanon and that rider’s upcoming engagement in next Saturday’s Grade I
Travers at Saratoga
aboard the Preakness winner Shackleford, owned by Mike Lauffer and Bill
Cubbedge.
“Jesus worked (Shackleford)
yesterday over that racetrack (five furlongs in 1:00.80) and said he liked that
racetrack and was getting over it real well,” Cooper said. “That’s very
important up there.”
GRAHAM RIDES SATURDAY HAT TRICK
The race for leading rider
honors at Arlington
Park’s 2011 racing season
tightened up once again Saturday when current runner-up James Graham rode three
winners while leading rider J. Z. Santana failed to reach the winner’s circle.
Santana still holds a one-win
advantage with 57 trips to the winner’s circle through Saturday’s races, but
Graham’s riding triple brought his win total to up to 56.
Graham took Saturday’s opener
aboard David Earnest and James Gulick’s Wildcat Miss for trainer Jim Gulick and
returned to the winner’s circle after the third race astride Bridget Kerbel’s
Volturi for conditioner Tim Ice. The Irish-born reinsman completed his
hat trick with a win on Gold Mark Farm’s Wicked Uno for trainer Tom Amoss in
Saturday’s seventh race of the afternoon.