WHAT A PAIR!
Jockey, agent continue amazing run with I’ll Have Another at Belmont
Unlikely jockey and agent poised to make history with I’ll Have Another in the Belmont
LOS ANGELES — The ex-Marine slowly ambles up the steps and orders a cup of vegetable soup at the take-out window of Clockers’ Corner, a greasy spoon near the quarter pole at Santa Anita Park. The track’s racing season has recently concluded, but trainers (including Hall of Famer Bob Baffert), horse owners, agents, exercise riders and railbirds are in abundance, mingling in the early-morning sunshine, while dozens of thoroughbreds are being galloped under palm trees and the gorgeous backdrop of the San Gabriel mountains.
Ivan Puhich’s gait is slow and measured, but he still shakes hands like a Marine, with a vice-like grip. And he is getting plenty of practice extending his right hand these days, because after nearly five decades in the jockey agent business, the 85-year-old Puhich has bagged the proverbial elephant with his most recent and lone client: Mario Gutierrez. One of the most unlikely pairings in the Sport of Kings — the Mexican-born Gutierrez is 60 years younger than Puhich — began only four months ago at a Los Angeles-area barbecue. A friendly introduction between the two men led Puhich to come out of semi-retirement and represent the littleknown Gutierrez, who had done the bulk of his racing in western Canada.
Now the two men are on the doorstep of the sport’s Holy Grail. When Gutierrez climbs aboard I’ll Have Another on Saturday in the Belmont Stakes, he has a chance to become the first Triple Crown-winning jockey in 34 years, after guiding the chestnut colt to thrilling wins in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. Not a bad scenario for the young jockey who got his start on the “maiz” (Spanish for “corn”) race tracks in Veracruz, Mexico, and the World War II veteran Puhich, who took a work hiatus two years ago to battle colon cancer and whose itinerant career stretches back to Toots Shor’s days in Manhattan, where he rubbed elbows with Joe DiMaggio and Bobby Kennedy. “Mario has ridden (I’ll Have Another) four times and won four times,” says Puhich, referring to the colt’s victories in the Robert Lewis Stakes, Santa Anita Derby and the first two Triple Crown legs.
“Let’s make it five out of five.”
Gutierrez, who returned to Vancouver last week to “clear my head a little bit” and will arrive at Belmont Park on Monday, adds that he has “100% confidence” in I’ll Have Another and that he’s feeling no excess pressure to deliver on the grand New York stage .
“Whatever is meant to happen, it will happen,” says Gutierrez. “If it’s going to be for me and the horse, then we’re going to be there. What do I win if I get nervous? I don’t win anything. It will just bother my race and bother the horse.”
Growing up in tiny El Higo, a town within the state of Veracruz on Mexico’s eastern coast, was a catch-as-catch-can childhood, says Mario Gutierrez, who is one of four children.
“If you ask about my background, it was very bad,” he says. “We didn’t have any money. Sometimes we didn’t have food to eat. My dad was the only one who took care of the family. It was tough. Very tough.” Little Mario took to horseback as a toddler, watching as his father trained and rode. By the time he was 12, Gutierrez was racing on the “maiz” tracks, the Mexican equivalent to U.S. bush tracks where jockeys like Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux cut their teeth. Gutierrez moved away from his family to Mexico City when he was 17 to race on formal tracks and then moved on to Canada at 19. He spoke no English, had no contacts and zero name recognition.
“Being away from my family (in Mexico City), I knew how to handle being alone already,” says Gutierrez. “The difficult part was how to communicate with people. It was hard. I couldn’t say anything. Canada is not like the United States, which is full of Latin people and everybody speaks Spanish. Canada is not the case.”
He watched English-speaking movies, listened to English-speaking music to learn the language. “I would sing the songs. That’s how I started picking up the words. It was tough,” he says. “I made myself learn the language. I wanted to communicate, so the only thing to do is learn.”
Glen Todd and Troy Taylor, the syndicate manager and head trainer, respectively, of the syndicate North American Thoroughbred Horse Co., took Gutierrez under their wing after the young jockey began compiling victories at Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver. Gutierrez has stayed with Todd for
much of the last six years in Canada. “I always see Glen and Troy like a second family. I call Troy, ‘Grandpa,’ and Glen is like a second dad,” says Gutierrez.
Two years ago, Ivan Puhich had surgery to treat colon cancer, and the experience left him uncertain about whether he would continue working as a jockey agent. The Reston, Wash., native — one of six boys (one died at birth) whose father emigrated from Croatia — grew up during the Depression and fought on Okinawa during World War II. His other four brothers also served in that war (four in the Marine Corps, including Ivan, and one in the Army), and all five men survived.
A long career in horse racing had brought many indelible memories — hanging with celebrities at venerable New York watering hole Toots Shor’s — but never a victory in any of the Triple Crown races. The chance meeting with Gutierrez earlier this year stirred a new fire in Puhich.
“Being an agent is a job you can do the rest of your life. And it’s very boring not working,” says Puhich. “Time off doesn’t suit me at all. I introduced myself to Mario at this barbecue and said, ‘I’ll watch you ride. If I like you, maybe I’ll go work for you.’ He never had an agent. He won a couple races and that’s when I came out of retirement.”
Around the same time, Canadian thoroughbred owner J. Paul Reddam was looking for a jockey to ride I’ll Have Another, and watched Gutierrez in several races at Santa Anita.
“I liked the way he looked,” says Reddam of Gutierrez. “I asked (trainer) Doug (O’Neill) about him. I wanted to see if he and Doug had chemistry. First time I met Mario was in the walking ring for the (Robert) Lewis Stakes and he was calm, cool and collected. He rode the horse absolutely perfectly, and I said, ‘We have our jockey.’”
The lives of both Gutierrez and Puhich have been in fast-forward ever since. After a thrilling come-from-behind victory in the Derby — when I’ll Have Another overtook the Baffert-trained Bodemeister — Gutierrez repeated the feat in even more stunning fashion at the Preakness, again coming from the rear of the pack and this time beating Bodemeister by a neck.
“They were good races. The first, I thought Bodemeister went a little fast, maybe got tired,” says Baffert. “The last race, he ran his race and got beat. If they beat you like that ... I mean, he just ran us down. I’ll Have Another is a very good horse. And Mario is a nice kid. He’s ridden him beautifully.”
But both Baffert — who has come up short in the Belmont in three different Triple Crown tries — and jockey Mike Smith (who rode Bodemeister, and who will ride the Baffert-trained horse Paynter in the Belmont) point out that the Belmont is a beast of a race. At 1 ½ miles, it is the longest of the three Triple Crown legs and the most daunting.
“The Belmont can be intimidating because of its size,” Smith says before to a race at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif. on Thursday. “We call Belmont the Big Sandy, and when you get outside and see it, it’s like, ‘You’ve got to go all the way around this?’ But Mario has done everything the way he’s supposed to. He rode (I’ll Have Another) with a lot of confidence both races. Yeah, I want to win the Belmont, without a doubt. But if I’m not fortunate enough to, I wish Mario all the best.”
Baffer t says that t he Belmont atmosphere on Saturday will be “a zoo” because of the possibility of a Triple Crown winner. “Win, lose or draw, you’re just glad when (the Belmont) is over. It’s an odd distance and everything has to go just perfectly right. The horse has to run his race.”
While Gutierrez won’t say how long he plans to stay in New York after the Belmont, Puhich says he will arrive on horse owner Mike Pegram’s private jet the day of the race and will leave for California that night. Hopefully with a smile on his face.
“I’ve learned a long time ago not to count your chickens before they’re hatched. I think he’ll win,” says Puhich, who has outlived his two sons and three brothers. His daughter lives in San Diego and older brother in Reston, Wash. “But the smile’s going to be there whether we win or lose.”
Gutierrez laughs when asked if Puhich has given him any advice about how to handle the New York glare for the first time. There have been a lot of firsts in Gutierrez’s life since he came to Canada in 2006, but nothing can compare to competing on the sports stage in New York with the Triple Crown on the line.
“I’m going to do my homework,” says Gutierrez. “I’m going to race a couple horses (before the Belmont). Everything will be fine.”
The jockey’s family — two older sisters and a younger brother and his parents — will not be able to attend the Belmont because of visa issues, but Gutierrez says he is in regular communication with them, especially his father. He is grateful to Puhich for “coming to work with me when nobody else did,” and he feels “happy” that the two may be part of history.
“Ivan took the time to watch me. He was retired, and offered to work for me,” says Gutierrez. “Look where we are now.”