Joel Rosario became the first jockey to win three consecutive Del
Mar riding titles in 57 years with a 49-42 win margin over Joe Talamo
for the 2011 crown. Leading by only two with three days remaining,
Rosario won four races on Sunday and three more Monday of Labor Day
weekend to pull away.
Rosario, a 26-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, won the 2010
title over Rafael Bejarano with a victory in the final race of the
meeting after a dominating performance in 2009 when he recorded 56 wins
to 32 for runner-up Tyler Baze.
Not since 1954, when legendary Bill Shoemaker won his sixth straight
championship (1949-54) had a rider notched as many as three straight
titles. Laffit Pincay Jr. (1976-77), Chris McCarron (1980-81, 1983-84),
Patrick Valenzuela (1990-91, 2002-03), Kent Desormeaux (1992-93) and
Victor Espinoza (2005-06) had all doubled post-Shoemaker but failed to
triple.
The training title for Mike Mitchell, achieved 25-24 over John
Sadler, was Mitchell’s seventh at Del Mar, and his first since 1996. It
gave Mitchell, 63, titles in three different decades, those of the
1980s (1981-84), 1990s (1995-96) and 2010s. Like Rosario, Mitchell
produced a spurt over the Labor Day weekend, expanding a one-win lead to
three entering the final day and held on when Sadler won two on closing
day but saw his bid to tie come up short his final starter of the
meeting, Courtside in the ninth race, tired in the stretch and was
passed by Chiloquin in the closing strides.
In the fourth week of the meeting, in the fifth race on Friday,
August 12, Mitchell saddled Backwoods Belle to a victory that was the
437th of his career at Del Mar and pushed him past Ron
McAnally atop the track’s all-time list for trainers. Mitchell ended the
season with 454 career wins, McAnally has 437.
Jockey Standings
(Current Through Wednesday, September 7, 2011 Inclusive)
|
Jockey
|
Mts
|
1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
Win%
|
Money Won
|
|
Joel Rosario
|
240
|
49
|
50
|
36
|
20%
|
$2,971,599
|
|
Joseph Talamo
|
221
|
42
|
26
|
22
|
19%
|
$2,188,381
|
|
Rafael Bejarano
|
221
|
34
|
37
|
38
|
15%
|
$2,460,469
|
|
Garrett Gomez
|
154
|
33
|
22
|
30
|
21%
|
$2,179,259
|
|
Martin Pedroza
|
165
|
23
|
16
|
13
|
14%
|
$879,189
|
|
Patrick Valenzuela
|
159
|
22
|
26
|
11
|
14%
|
$1,788,144
|
|
Victor Espinoza
|
171
|
20
|
30
|
24
|
12%
|
$1,342,109
|
|
Alonso Quinonez
|
169
|
17
|
11
|
18
|
10%
|
$827,231
|
|
Chantal Sutherland
|
106
|
12
|
9
|
11
|
11%
|
$683,957
|
|
Martin Garcia
|
96
|
11
|
8
|
13
|
11%
|
$927,173
|
Trainer Standings
(Current Through Wednesday, September 7, 2011 Inclusive)
|
Trainer
|
Sts
|
1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
Win%
|
Money Won
|
|
Mike R. Mitchell
|
81
|
25
|
10
|
8
|
31%
|
$997,365
|
|
John W. Sadler
|
97
|
24
|
16
|
16
|
25%
|
$1,658,576
|
|
Peter Miller
|
67
|
11
|
11
|
9
|
16%
|
$407,220
|
|
Doug F. O'Neill
|
121
|
10
|
21
|
11
|
8%
|
$631,414
|
|
Mike Puype
|
53
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
17%
|
$513,171
|
|
Bob Baffert
|
68
|
8
|
11
|
10
|
12%
|
$1,085,070
|
|
Peter Eurton
|
25
|
8
|
7
|
2
|
32%
|
$483,625
|
|
Jerry Hollendorfer
|
75
|
6
|
12
|
15
|
8%
|
$620,369
|
|
Thomas F. Proctor
|
23
|
6
|
5
|
4
|
26%
|
$492,068
|
|
Robert B. Hess, Jr.
|
26
|
6
|
3
|
2
|
23%
|
$143,710
|
Winning Favorites Report
(Current Through Wednesday, September 7, 2011 Inclusive)
Winning favorites -- 99 out of 324 -- 30.56%
Winning favorites on Polytrack -- 70 out of 231 -- 30.30%
Winning favorites on turf -- 29 out of 93 -- 31.18%
Winning odds-on favorites -- 15 out of 39 -- 38.46%
In-the-Money favorites -- 226 out of 324 -- 69.75%
In-the-Money odds-on favorites -- 27 out of 39 -- 69.23%