Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Lane Luzzi tries Remington
It’s a long way from Floral Park, N.Y., to Remington Park in Oklahoma City, but the 20-year-old jockey Lane Luzzi has made the journey looking to establish himself in a new market. Luzzi, the son of New York-based rider Mike Luzzi, was an Eclipse Award finalist for the outstanding apprentice of 2016.
Lane Luzzi arrived more than two weeks ahead of the start of the Remington season to work horses and get acquainted with regulars on the circuit. He grew up near Belmont Park in Floral Park, and prior to Remington had been riding at Laurel Park in Maryland.
“I had the opportunity to come down here from my agent, Bradley White,” Luzzi said. “He actually reached out to me and wanted to hear my thoughts about coming down. And I just thought at this time in my career – I lost my bug, and now I’m a journeyman – I think being in a new place where I could be a new face is important for me. I think I need to build some new connections and meet some new people.”
Luzzi won for the first time on Dec. 4, 2015, at Laurel. During his apprenticeship, he won three stakes, with two of them coming last fall at Gulfstream Park aboard Diamond Bachelor. He pursued a riding career in earnest after he graduated from high school, prepping for his career at Belmont.
“I actually got a late start,” Luzzi said. “I hadn’t really sat on a horse until I turned 16 years old. Just where I’m from – I was born and raised on Long Island, N.Y. – there’s not really much opportunity to even see any horses [other than] going to the racetrack.
“I really learned at the racetrack. There’s a two-furlong pony track there, and I would take a horse out two minutes before the track closed, and I would go gallop around there a few times. I would do that every day till I finally got out of school and I took my first job on the racetrack. My parents wanted me to finish school, and I wanted to finish, too.”
Aside from his father, Luzzi has an uncle who rode races and a great-grandfather who trained.
“I grew up around the sport my whole life,” Luzzi said. “This is always what I wanted to do, and I look up to my father as my biggest hero, my role model. The reason I always wanted to do this was because of him. Now that I’ve been riding a little while, he’s taking it a little bit easier on me. He’s my biggest teacher, and he’s my best friend. This is something we both enjoy as a passion.”
Luzzi said his father might come see him ride at Remington when he finishes riding the meet at Saratoga. Mike Luzzi, an Eclipse Award winner closing in on 3,500 career wins, has had one mount at Remington, riding the Oklahoma Derby in 2014.
Lane Luzzi has made an impression at Remington as an articulate professional with maturity beyond his years.
“I think just being yourself is a huge, important thing in this game,” he said. “It’s important on and off the racetrack, and that’s always what my dad tried to teach me. I’m myself on the back of a horse. I’m myself when I leave the track. And I think it’s important as a jockey. My riding style is my riding style. I can’t ride exactly like my dad. I can’t ride exactly like the leading rider at Remington. I’ve just got to be me, and that’s the most important thing I can do.”
Sam Houston spared by Harvey
Sam Houston Race Park in Houston escaped significant damage from Hurricane Harvey and is accepting displaced horses for stabling, said the track’s president, Andrea Young.
“We were very fortunate,” she said.
There is not yet a timetable for resuming simulcasting at Sam Houston, which does not have a live meet until January.
“We’ve been closed since Sunday,” Young said Wednesday. “It’s very dangerous to be on the road right now. It’s still raining.”
Young characterized the damage to the track facilities as “fairly minor” and said some of the track’s “great staff” rode out the storm at Sam Houston. She said the objective now is simply to help those in need in Houston.
“We’re doing what we can for our citizens and our employees,” Young said. “We had a lot of employees that have been impacted. Some have had to be taken by boat out of their homes. So, our primary focus is taking care of each other right now.”
Young said there are about 100 horses on the grounds at Sam Houston.
Delta Downs in Vinton, La., has opened its backstretch to horses from a nearby training center that flooded, Chris Warren, the director of racing for Delta, said on Wednesday. He said Delta’s facilities have fared well through the hurricane.
◗ Ruidoso Downs on Thursday was to draw post positions for its two richest races, the $3 million All American Futurity on Sept. 4 and the $1.3 million All American Derby on Sept. 3.