MATCH series consolidated into five stakes-rich cards

The format of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships has been tweaked this year to increase horsemen’s participation by consolidating the series into five event days. In 2018, the races were spread out over 14 racing programs.

The MATCH Series, which was held last year for the first time since 2001, will consist of four divisions, one fewer than a year ago. Each division will have five $100,000 stakes, with horses earning points based on their finishing positions. Total purse money up for grabs is $2 million.

The owners and trainers of the top three horses in each division will share a bonus pool of $75,000. The owner of the top overall points earner in the series will receive an additional $50,000, and the horse’s trainer will earn an extra $25,000.

Last year, Jessica Krupnick, who competed in the filliesand-mares dirt-sprint division, was the top MATCH points earner for trainer Tres Abbott and the Sycamore V Racing partnership.

The bonuses total $375,000. To be eligible to earn a bonus, a horse must start in at least three races in a division.

Breeders’ awards of $5,000 will be paid to the top pointsearning male and female horses bred in Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and to the top Delaware-certified runner.

This year’s divisions are 3-year-olds and up sprinting on dirt and turf, fillies and mares sprinting on dirt, and fillies and mares going long on turf. The latter division replaces the fillies-and-mares turf-sprint category from a year ago.

The division for 3-year-olds and up going long on dirt has been dropped. Page McKenney was the only horse to participate in enough divisional races to qualify for a bonus in 2018.

Each event day will include four MATCH stakes, one in each division. The series will be held at Laurel Park on April 20, at Penn National on June 1, at Delaware Park on July 13, and at Parx Racing on Sept. 2. The MATCH championship races will be at Monmouth Park on Sept. 28.

Consolidating the series into five race cards should make it more convenient for trainers to ship horses and participate in multiple divisions. The spacing between races also will be more consistent.

Presque Isle Downs participated in the series in 2018 but is not this year. The sale of Presque Isle to Churchill Downs Inc. closed last week.

Alan Foreman, the chairman and chief executive of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, created and oversees the MATCH Series.

“We learned a lot in our return last year and have tried to make changes that are the product of numerous conversations with series participants, horsemen, track management, and fans,” Foreman said. “We think the 2019 series will be a credit to Mid-Atlantic racing and generate tremendous interest and enthusiasm throughout the racing industry.

“MATCH is an enormous undertaking, and the remarkable collaborative effort of all of the MATCH partners is unprecedented.”

Vargas, Ocasio finding success

At tracks with year-round racing, jockeys can get pigeonholed and need to change circuits to find fresh opportunities. That certainly has been the case for Jorge Vargas Jr. and Luis Ocasio, who rode at Parx but are now finding success elsewhere.

Vargas, 23, rode at Parx from 2013 through 2017. He finished third in the standings in 2015, fourth in 2016, and sixth in 2017. When Trevor McCarthy moved to New York a year ago, Vargas teamed up with McCarthy’s longtime agent, Scott Silver, and began riding in Maryland full time.

The result is that Vargas had career highs in mounts (822), wins (144), and purse money earned ($5.45 million). Prior to 2018, he had 10 career stakes wins. Last year, he won 13.

Vargas was the leading rider at the Laurel Park winter meet, which ran from Jan. 1 to May 6, and finished in a four-way tie for second behind McCarthy, who has reunited with Silver, at the recently concluded Laurel fall meet.

Vargas was the winningest rider at Laurel and Pimlico last year with 110 wins, four more than Wes Hamilton, a finalist for the apprentice jockey Eclipse Award. Vargas is 8 for 16 in 2019 and won two races Saturday, including the $100,000 Fire Plug aboard Home Run Maker for trainer Jeremiah Englehart.

Between races on Saturday at Laurel, Vargas was honored alongside Claudio Gonzalez, who repeated as Maryland’s leading trainer in 2018.

“I feel blessed because this colony is strong, and to lead it is huge for me,” Vargas said. “I’d like to thank all the trainers and owners and my agent, Scott.”

While Vargas moved his base of operations down the I-95 corridor, Ocasio and agent Gersom Rodriguez have relocated to Golden Gate Fields in Northern California.

Ocasio, 21, won the Eclipse Award as North America’s leading apprentice rider in 2016, when he finished second in the Parx rider standings. He slipped to eighth on the Parx leaderboard in 2017 and had a tougher go of it last year.

He has been riding at Golden Gate since Thanksgiving.

“We’re branching out,” said Rodriguez, who has worked for riders on the East Coast since 2002. “I think Ocasio was getting overlooked at Parx. We got an offer to come here and ride for Jonathan Wong, and it’s been working out very good.”

Wong won the training title at all three Golden Gate meets in 2018. His stable is off to an 11-for-46 start and tops the standings at the meet that began Dec. 26.

On Sunday, Wong had six starters at Golden Gate. Ocasio went 3 for 3 for him.

Ocasio is 17 for 78 (22 percent) at Golden Gate. He and Wong have been clicking at a 29 percent clip, and Ocasio is tied for third in the rider standings.

Stakes incentives on offer

The Maryland Jockey Club is offering stakes incentives to Grade 1 winners throughout 2019.

With the exception of the Preakness Stakes, Grade 1 winners within 12 months of a stakes will have their entry and starting fees waived. Additionally, Grade 2 winners within the last 12 months who start in the $150,000 Bald Eagle Derby or $200,000 Laurel Futurity on Sept. 21 will have their entry and starting fees waived.

The Bald Eagle Derby is a 1 1/2-mile turf race for 3-yearolds. The Laurel Futurity is a 1 1/16-mile turf race for 2-yearolds.

“We’re hoping these incentives will strengthen our stakes schedule and help us build some stakes to the graded level,” said Chris Merz, racing secretary at the Maryland Jockey Club.