AMERICAN GRADED STAKES STANDINGS brought to you by Keeneland: JOCKEYING FOR A TRAINER
By Ray Paulick
While Todd Pletcher is distancing himself from the pack in the trainer standings for most American Graded Stakes winners saddled in 2010, the jockeys race is wide open through the first 4 1/2 months of the year. Two of the sport’s top young jockeys, Rafael Bejarano and Julien Leparoux, are at the top of the standings with 11 American Graded Stakes winners each, followed by veteran Eclipse Award winner Garrett Gomez, with 10. John Velazquez is next with nine while Joel Rosario has eight.
Seven of Bejarano’s AGS wins have come for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, including three victories aboard star 3-year-old filly Blind Luck, most recently the narrow winner of the Kentucky Oaks. He’s won also won three AGS races for trainer Neil Drysdale aboard Bourbon Bay in California.
Leparoux has scatted his 11 AGS victories among eight different trainers, with Eddie Kenneally giving him a leg up on three of them, all on different mounts.
Bejarano is based California, with Leparoux on the East Coast.
Gomez has won four AGS races for trainer Bob Baffert, who opted to replace him aboard Lookin At Lucky in this Saturday’s Preakness Stakes. He’s won for six other trainers in California, Florida, and Kentucky.
The aforementioned Pletcher, who has 19 AGS wins, nearly twice as many as his nearest competitor, has put Velazquez up on six of the rider’s nine Graded Stakes wins this year. Of course, the biggest of all of Pletcher’s 2010 winners, Super Saver in the Kentucky Derby, was not ridden by Velazquez, his “go to” rider but by Calvin Borel. Borel is further down in the standings with five AGS wins for five different trainers.
Trainer John Sadler has been Rosario’s biggest booster, putting him up on four of his eight AGS winners thus far this year.
Martin Garcia, who was named by trainer Baffert to replace Gomez on Lookin At Lucky in the Preakness, has seven AGS victories to his credit this year, five of them saddled by Baffert.
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Tags: American Graded Stakes Standings, Bob Baffert, Calvin Borel, eclipse award, garrett gomez, joel rosario, john sadler, john velazquez, julien leparoux, Keeneland, kentucky derby, lookin at lucky, Paulick Report, rafael bejarano, Ray Paulick, Super Saver, todd pletcher
May 13th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
Ray,
It would be nice to see a second list of trainer stats that reflects just total Graded Stakes wins by trainers. As it is now, a trainer like Jerry Hollendorfer who trains the top two horses on the list (Tuscan Evening and Blind Luck) with a total of 7 wins doesn’t make your trainer’s list because his 7 wins have come from 2 winners, while William Mott does make your list because his 4 wins have come from 4 winners.