Loss of father weighs heavy on Justify’s exercise rider

BALTIMORE – Humberto Gomez, the exercise rider of Kentucky Derby winner Justify, will be watching Saturday’s Preakness with a heavy heart after his father, Ulpiano Portela Gomez, died Tuesday in Mexico. He was 86.

“It was tough because he’s the one who brought me to the horse industry, but at least he got to watch the Kentucky Derby,” Gomez said Wednesday after arriving in Baltimore from Kentucky with Justify. “I guess he was proud of me.”

Gomez was unable to return to Mexico for his father’s funeral. He said the service was held on Wednesday, his father was cremated, and his ashes will be taken to Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Roman Catholic Church north of Mexico City.

Ulpiano Portela Gomez took his son to the races in Mexico, where Humberto Gomez fell in love with the speed of the Thoroughbred. Gomez said his father was supportive of his desire to become a jockey.

“He was a big fan of racing,” Gomez said. “We’re from the city, so I went to the races with him. It got my attention seeing the speed of the horses. That’s how I became a jockey. He took me to the jockey school and everything.”

Gomez said he rode more than 700 winners between riding in Mexico and a brief stint in Canada where stats show he won 12 races between Hastings Park and Kamloops in 1999.

“I think of him every time we go to a big race because he believed in me,” Gomez said. “When a lot of other people were telling me I wasn’t going to make it as a jockey, that I was too tall, I made it and he always believed in me.”

Over the last 19 years as an exercise rider, Gomez has worked for Bobby Frankel, Doug O’Neill, and John Shirreffs, in addition to Baffert. He has been aboard horses such as Aptitude, Medaglia d’Oro, and I’ll Have Another.

– David Grening

Diamond King faces tough test

Diamond King, in his first morning at Pimlico on Thursday, jogged two miles the wrong way – clockwise – around the track under exercise rider Efrain Santana. The track was sloppy and a steady rain was falling.

Diamond King, a winner of four of six starts, will taking a big step up in class in the 143rd Preakness, and trainer John Servis is realistic about his chances of winning. Diamond King is doing exceptionally well, however, and comes into the race off a four-week break following his victory in the Federico Tesio Stakes on April 21.

“He’s doing great, but we’re up against it, that’s all” Servis said. “This is by far the toughest he’s faced.”

Although Diamond King has never raced on an off track, Servis worked him five furlongs in the slop at Parx in 1:01.40 on Sunday. Diamond King appeared quite comfortable over the wet footing Thursday.

“I’m sure glad I got that work in Sunday,” Servis said as the rain picked up at Pimlico.

With his training for the Preakness complete, Diamond King was scheduled to jog again Friday. – Jim Dunleavy

Jeannine Edwards honored

Jeannine Edwards, who worked as an in-house television anchor for the Maryland Jockey Club tracks at the outset of her brilliant 22-year career as a racing and sports reporter, was honored Thursday morning with the Special Award of Merit at the annual Alibi Breakfast in the Pimlico clubhouse.

Edwards worked as an exercise rider, jockey, and assistant trainer prior to entering the television field. She retired early this year.

Other breakfast honorees were Chris Dachille, executive sports producer at WBAL-TV, the Old Hilltop Award; Tom Law, the David F. Woods Memorial Award for best Preakness story of 2017; and Rick Buckley, the Jerry Frutkoff Preakness Photography Award.

Also, Edgar Prado, who earlier this week notched his 7,000th career riding victory, was named Honorary Postmaster. Prado spent much of his Hall of Fame career on the Maryland circuit.

Chalk dominant in Preakness

There have been 142 runnings of the Preakness, and a little more than half of them (72) have been won by favorites, according to the Maryland Jockey Club media guide. The last winning favorite was American Pharoah ($3.80) in 2015, preceding defeats for Nyquist at 7-10 in 2016 and Always Dreaming at 6-5 last year.

Although Justify surely will be an odds-on choice this year, he most likely won’t threaten the record of the two lowestpriced favorites in race history, Citation (1948) and Spectacular Bid (1979), both of whom returned 10 cents on the dollar, or $2.20 for a $2 win bet. The lowest winning mutuel since Spectacular Bid was $2.40 on Big Brown in 2008.

The longest shot to win the Preakness is Master Derby, who paid $48.80 in 1975.

Big multi-race pools Saturday

The Preakness, the 13th of 14 Saturday races, is the final leg in a pair of multi-race wagers with seven-figure guaranteed pools. Pimlico is guaranteeing a $2 million pool in the late pick four (races 10-13) and a $1 million pool in the late pick five (races 9-13).

Last year, handle for those wagers was $2,665,640 in the pick four and $1,869,866 in the pick five.

Earlier Saturday, there also will be pool guarantees of $500,000 for the middle pick four (races 6-9) and $250,000 for the early pick five (races 2-6). Last year, handle on those respective pools was $877,039 and $405,127.