Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Rock Your World will have Rosario aboard in Ky. Derby
ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Umberto Rispoli won the first Grade 1 race of his career in the United States aboard Rock Your World in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 3. It turned out to be a temporary partnership.
Trainer John Sadler informed Rispoli on Saturday that Rock Your World will be ridden by Joel Rosario in the $3 million Kentucky Derby on May 1 at Churchill Downs.
Rosario rode the undefeated Rock Your World to a win in a maiden special weight race on turf in January. Rispoli rode Rock Your World to stakes wins in the Pasadena Stakes at a mile on turf Feb. 27 and the colt’s lone start on dirt in the Santa Anita Derby.
“It was not in my hands,” Rispoli said during morning training Sunday.
“I was blessed to be on the horse in the Santa Anita Derby. It will be tough to see him going in the Kentucky Derby without me on his back.”
Rispoli expressed concern that he may run out of time to find a Kentucky Derby mount.
“I wish we had known earlier,” he said. “It would give us a better opportunity to find something else.”
Rock Your World, owned by Pete and Kosta Hronis and Michael Talla, is rated as a leading contender for the Kentucky Derby. Sadler described the decision to change riders as “never easy.”
Sadler said the recent defection of Concert Tour from the list of Kentucky Derby hopefuls triggered the decision to change riders.
Concert Tour, trained by Bob Baffert, finished a quiet third with Rosario aboard in the Arkansas Derby on April 10 at Oaklawn Park, the colt’s first loss in four starts. Rosario was aboard Concert Tour in all of those races, including stakes wins in February and March.
Rosario and Sadler have teamed to win 242 races together in the last 15 years. This year, Rosario has won six races from 28 mounts on Sadlertrained runners.
Rosario was away from California on the days of the Pasadena Stakes and Santa Anita Derby. On Feb. 27, Rosario rode at Oaklawn Park and won a stakes. By April 3, Rosario had relocated to Keeneland for the spring. Rosario won four graded stakes at Keeneland that day.
Rosario has ridden in the Kentucky Derby nine times, and won the race in 2013 with Orb.
Rispoli, a native of Italy, began riding in the United States in late 2019, having relocated from Hong Kong. The Santa Anita Derby is his biggest win in the United States. Through Saturday, Rispoli ranked third in the jockey standings at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting.
Earlier on Saturday’s program, Rispoli and Sadler teamed to win the Mizdirection Stakes on Constantia, their eighth win from 21 mounts at the meeting, which began Dec. 26.
“He’s doing well for me,” Sadler said. “He’s an up-andcoming rider and he’ll have more opportunities on our circuit. It’s not an easy situation.”
Whip rules up for vote
The California Horse Racing Board may vote on enhanced penalties for excessive whip use at a teleconference meeting Wednesday, the second time in as many months the issue has come before the board.
In March, the racing board voted 4-3 to table the matter for future discussion. Wednesday’s meeting is the first opportunity to re-address the issue.
Since October, California jockeys have been limited to six underhanded strikes in a race and are allowed two strikes before pausing to allow their mounts to respond.
Under the proposed rule changes, a jockey would be fined a minimum of $500 and face a possible three-day suspension for violations. The current sanctions are a maximum fine of $1,000 and possible three-day suspension. The proposed rule does not set a maximum fine and states that tougher penalties can be issued for “egregious or intentional” violations.
Egregious violations could include riders who are repeat offenders, instances in which a rider greatly exceeds the allowed number of strikes, or when a rider uses the whip in an overhanded motion, according to racing board documents.
In addition, violations that occur in trial races would lead to the jockey being suspended from a race final, a scenario more likely to arise in top Quarter Horse races.
One proposed rule change introduced in March is not part of the proposed language to be discussed Wednesday – a clause that would penalize jockeys 50 percent of earnings for violations that occur in graded stakes when the rider’s mount finishes among the top three positions.
In March, racing board chairman Greg Ferraro described the financial penalties in graded stakes “as a little harsh.”
Retired Hall of Fame jockey and racing board commissioner Alex Solis criticized the proposed changes in their entirety last month and supported a motion to table the issue, which passed in a narrow vote. Solis described the financial penalties in graded stakes as “unfair.”
Since the new rules began Oct. 1, stewards have fined jockeys $28,300 for violations occurring on the daytime Southern California Thoroughbred circuit at Del Mar, Los Alamitos, and Santa Anita. At the current Santa Anita meeting, which began Dec. 26, there have been 32 rulings against riders, involving $17,750 in fines and seven three-day penalties for violations.