Santana, Vazquez scrambling to protect their turf
HOT SPRINGS — This season’s race to the Oaklawn Park jockey title isn’t a walkover.
Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. has won the track’s past four riding titles, at times by wide margins, and he leads again with five days left in the track’s 2017 meet.
Three victories on Friday’s card gave Santana a 4443 lead over Ramon Vazquez, who has finished second to Santana the past two seasons and was third in 2014.
This time, however, there are two other riders involved in the chase, and four men are separated by three victories.
Santana, a winner of 80 races at Oaklawn last season, 38 more than anyone else, has won 44 this year. He leads Ramon Vazquez by 1, with Geovanni Franco (41) and Alex Canchari (40) in close pursuit.
Winning riding titles is something every jockey strives for, but other matters, such as getting mounts in the big races, is more of a concern to Santana than it once was, especially after winning the Arkansas Derby last year with Creator.
He has excelled long enough in the day-to-day grind that the quality prevails over quantity on his wish list.
Earlier this season, Santana rode Steve Asmussen-trained 4-year-old filly Terra Promessa to victories in the $125,000 Pippin and the Feb. 18 Bayakoya helping him reach the $2 million mark in purse earnings through 51 race days.
Last season, topped off with his victory aboard Creator in the Arkansas Derby, Santana earned an Oaklawn record purse share of $4,064,073.
A five-day suspension carried over from last season to start the 2017 meet, two days away to race at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, and seven missed race days from a shoulder injury incurred in a fall in a race on March 2, have limited Santana’s opportunities.
“He’s missed a lot of days, but as close as he is, I’m happy,” said Ruben Munoz, agent for Santana and Vazquez, a veteran of 16 seasons who has more career victories (2,427) than his three younger competitors combined.
Munoz said Santana had been named to ride seven horses for seven different trainers in the first three days after his injury, but he was unable to ride.
“Each of those horses won,” he said. “If Ricardo had had those seven wins, it would not have been close.”
Canchari, in his seventh season as a pro, is a relative newcomer to the upper level of Oaklawn’s jockeys, and Franco is bonafide first-timer to title contention.
Trainer Robertino Diodoro said he first noticed Franco’s talent at Turfway Park near Phoenix, and both shared in a streak of success to begin this season at Oaklawn.
Diodoro, among others, said he believes each of Oaklawn’s four top riders share common characteristics.
“When you look at the top four, they’re all pretty young guys,” Diodoro said. “When you look at them ride, they’re all hungry. When they hit the top of the lane, they’re all riding hard. It’s exciting to watch. Even watching them on TV, it’s fun to watch. When they hit the top of the lane, their all riding hard.”
All four of have ridden winners for trainer Ron Moquett, and he said horses are in good hands with any of them, but he also said they have different qualities.
“But they’re all very good, and very talented,” Moquett said.
Conchari, 22, born and raised in suburbs of Minneapolis-St. Paul, is the youngest of the four. Canchari played ice hockey and soccer through high school, but part-time jobs at Arlington Park near Chicago, beginning at the age of 10, cultivated his love of horse racing. He first raced at Hawthorne
Race Course, another Chicago-area track, shortly after he graduated from high school. His first winner came at Oaklawn in 2012.
Franco, a 26-year-old from Mexico City, has soared up the Oaklawn leaderboard this season for the first time.
Franco (641 career victories) and Canchari (597 victories) seem genuinely excited by the possibility of winning an Oaklawn riding championship.
“For me, it would be a dream come true,” Canchari said. “To be mentioned with guys like Ricardo Santana and Ramon Vasquez is such an honor.”
“A riding title would be a cherry on top of this season,” Franco said.
Canchari’s agent Gene Short, a veteran of 35 years in the racing business, said his client is still maturing.
“He’s a great kid, and he’s very, very talented,” Short said. “He just hasn’t quite grown up yet, but he will, and he’s getting better. I’ll say this: if you gave me the choice of all the riders here, I would pick him every time. When the light switch finally goes on, he can do anything we wants.”
Canchari does not shrug off Short’s criticism, and Canchari said his agent has been played a big role in his success.
James Giannone, Franco’s agent, said his client has improved his work ethic, one thing that had been holding him back from reaching the elite level.
“He’a really improved as a rider since I first took his book,” Giannone said. “His work effort has really gone the right way. His effort in every race now is always the best that he can give, and that’s all you can really ask of a rider. He has a lot of talent, and now that his work ethic is in place, his talent is beginning to show.”