With back-to-back victories aboard Scorpion Time ($23.80) in Friday’s
seventh race and Bourbon Bay ($6.60) in the Cougar II, jockey Joe Talamo
reached 10 wins for the meeting to tie Rafael Bejarano atop the rider standings.
Talamo has done it with four fewer mounts (42-46) and therefore has a higher
win percentage (24-22) than Bejarano.
But while pleased with the success, Talamo’s agent, Scott McClellan, has
looked into the second condition book and is taking a realistic attitude about
the days ahead. While several trainer/ clients had horses ready for the first
two weeks of the meeting, the quantity of opportunities could drop, McClellan
said.
“I’m a little lean at the start of the book,” McClellan said. “Later on, I’m
all right. It’s just the way things work out and it seems like it happens every
year here.”
Jockey Martin Pedroza strung together three straight wins from the third to
fifth races Friday, scoring with Jet Set Girl ($19.60), Gutshot Straight
($4.40) and Carmichael ($18.80).
“They were three live horses that we thought we had good shots with,” said
Richie Silverstein, agent for Pedroza. “That they were in three straight races
was (a function of) the way the card was written.”
Records aren’t kept, but it’s not unusual for a jockey to win three races in
a day, somewhat less common to win three in a row. Pedroza, with over 3,300
victories in a 29-year career, has done it several times.
“I know he’s (swept) the Pick-4 at Pomona a dozen times or more,” Silverstein
said. “These days, it’s hard to get mounts in three consecutive races, and
usually we say you get three (live mounts) and it gives you one winner.”
RIDER ON THE HORIZON
Ron Ebanks, agent for Joel Rosario, reports that a new jockey will be
joining the Del Mar colony soon. Kennel Pellot, who retains a seven-pound
apprentice allowance, has recorded 30 wins at the PARX Racing (formerly
Philadelphia Park) meeting and will head west when it ends on August 7.
Ebanks said Pellot comes with a recommendation from Hall of Fame jockey
turned agent Angel Cordero Jr.
McANALLY/MITCHELL WATCH
With a victory by Warning Song in Friday’s second race, Mike Mitchell moved
within three of Ron McAnally atop Del Mar’s all-time list for training wins.
McAnally, who has 435 wins, will try to add to his total with
Sugarinthemorning, the 7-5 morning line favorite in today’s first race, the
Fleet Treat Stakes. Mitchell, with 432, has Bab At The Bowster (7-2) in
the fifth and Lordgivemealift (3-1) in the 10th.