Gaffalione follows in father’s footsteps
NOTEBOOK
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Jockey Tyler Gaffalione is eager to make his father proud by riding the Todd Pletcher-trained Patch in tomorrow’s $2 million Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
The 22-year-old rising star is the son of Steve Gaffalione, a former jockey who enjoyed a lot of success during a stint as the first-call rider for trainer Charlie Assimakopoulos at Suffolk Downs and Rockingham Park in the 1990s. He retired in 1998 with 842 career victories in 20 years of riding.
“I’m sure it means the world to him. I’m sure he’s more excited than I am,” said Tyler Gaffalione, who has ridden nearly 550 winners in less than four years. “It’s great to be able to share this with him. It’s such a great opportunity.
My whole family is coming. We have a group of 12. Everyone’s excited.”
The Davie, Fla., native, who has ridden primarily in South Florida, won the 2015 Eclipse Award as North America’s top apprentice jockey and has continued to excel while catching the attention of prominent national trainers, including Pletcher, Chad Brown, Christophe
Clement and Mike Maker. Gaffalione was active on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, riding the Maker-trained Fast and Accurate to victory in the $500,000 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park and guiding Patch to a second-place finish in the $1 million Louisiana Derby. When Pletcher gave him the call on Patch, he gladly accepted.
“It’s a dream come true. Everyone says it, but it’s true,” he said. “At such an early age, it’s all I could think about. It’s an amazing opportunity.”
Patch’s left eye was removed last year due to a mysterious inflammation that wasn’t cured by treatment.
“You really couldn’t tell he had one eye. He’s really straightforward. He’s very mature. He’s a horse you can get along with. He’s pretty cool,” Gaffalione said. “I didn’t know about it before the race.”
Gaffalione will be the youngest rider in the Derby, while Patch will be the most lightly raced horse in the 20-horse field. Patch, who was named before his eye was removed, didn’t race as a 2-year-old and broke his maiden in his second career start at Gulfstream Feb. 18. He went directly to the Louisiana Derby, in which he closed from fifth to finish 11⁄ lengths 4 behind favored Girvin.
“The horse was a little green. It was his first time going around two turns. He handled it very well,” Gaffalione said. “He took a lot of dirt and had to go between horses, but he finished really well down the lane. I think that should really help him.”
Gaffalione’s Derby assignment got tougher when Patch drew the far-outside No. 20 post position.
“One plus is: I don’t think we’ll get bounced around. I think he’ll get a clean trip,” He said. “With a little bit of luck, who knows?”
Call to posts
Although the No. 17 post position draw seemed like a good one for speedy Wood Memorial winner Irish War
Cry, it has yet to produce a winner from 38 starters since the starting gate was introduced in 1930.
Classic Empire, the 4-1 morning-line favorite, will break from the post position
that has gone the next longest without producing a winner. The last horse to win from the No. 14 stall in the starting gate was Carry
Back in 1961.
Gunnevera has drawn the post position that historically has produced the highest percentage of winners and the highest percentage of 1-2-3 finishers. Nine horses (11.3 percent) have won from the No. 10 stall in the starting gate, tied for the most with No. 5 (10.3 percent). Thirty percent of 80 runners from Post 10 have finished 1-2-3.
Looking at Lee will break from the dreaded No. 1 post, which has produced eight winners but has not been occupied by a winner since
Ferdinand (1986). Dubai invader Thunder Snow doesn’t have recent history on his side either, since the No. 2 post last yielded a Derby winner in 1978 (Triple Crown champion Affirmed).