Walcott, Diodoro to reunite at Derby
It won’t be announced until the post position draw Wednesday morning, but the inquiry light would have been flashing if it hadn’t happened.
The dynamic duo will be back together again.
Rico Walcott will ride for trainer Robertino Diodoro in the 90th Canadian Derby Sunday at Century Mile.
But which horse?
Diodoro looks to have two from Minnesota’s Canterbury Park in the $250,000 Grade 3 race — Senor Friday and Miltontown.
Betting on the backstretch is Walcott will get Miltontown.
All will be revealed at the draw and press gathering, where details will be revealed for what is expected to be an exceptional field full of highly regarded three-year-olds from both the U.S. and Canada and easily the top two racing cards of the year. Both days are expected to feature 10 races with hopes of an average of 10 horses in each, including a dozen in the Derby itself.
Walcott has finished first in five Derby races and combined with Diodoro to be first to the wire in four of the last six with Broadway Empire in 2013, Edison in 2014, Chief Know It All in 2017 and Sky Promise last year — although the 2017 race remains before the courts.
For a while there, it looked like Walcott would never ride again when he was rushed to hospital with four seizures and underwent surgery to remove a golf ball-sized brain tumour.
But Walcott returned to the track a month ago hoping to be ready to defend his Canadian Derby title and hoped that former Edmonton trainer Diodoro, now based at Canterbury Park and Kentucky’s Churchill Downs, would make his annual August trip home to bring a first-rate horse for the Barbados jockey to ride.
Walcott has been the dominant jockey over the last decade, having brought home 1,292 winners in 5,491 starts. He finished his Northlands Park run with a 58 per cent win-place-show in-the-money record and an earning total of $17,275,889. Walcott has gone to the post 50 times since returning and has won 11 races.