Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Rosario trains his sights on purse record after BC success
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fresh from a Breeders’ Cup weekend during which he drew within striking distance to the all-time record for mount earnings in a single year, star jockey Joel Rosario will ride the next three weeks at Churchill Downs.
After boarding a red-eye Saturday night from San Diego to ride Sunday at Belmont Park, where he had one winner from eight mounts, Rosario now turns his focus to Churchill, where he will be available at Churchill “every single day, with possibly one exception,” agent Ron Anderson said. The fall meet runs through Nov. 28.
Rosario is named on five mounts here Wednesday, four Thursday, and three Friday as he seeks to break the record of $34,109,019 set two years ago by Irad Ortiz Jr. According to Daily Racing Form statistics, Rosario enters the week with $30,763,407 in mount earnings for 2021, tops among all North American riders.
Rosario won two Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar last weekend, the $2 million Juvenile Fillies with Echo Zulu and the $6 million Classic with Knicks Go.
As for December, Rosario likely will ride the first week at Aqueduct, said Anderson, with the Grade 1 Cigar Mile and three other graded races set for Dec. 4. The balance of the month is still to be determined, with Oaklawn Park and Gulfstream among the tracks in play.
Hernandez bounces back
Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. rebounded from his fourth spill in a 17-day period by sweeping the early double Sunday at Churchill with Ultimate and Champagne Sister.
Hernandez and Adam Beschizza both hit the dirt Saturday evening midway through the turn in the sixfurlong Bet On Sunshine when Beschizza’s mount, Vertical Threat, clipped heels and fell, also causing Rough Entry and Hernandez to fall. Both jockeys escaped injury. Vertical Threat had to be euthanized.
On Oct. 17, Hernandez was involved in a morning spill at Churchill; on Oct. 18, he was in a spill in the first race at Keeneland; and on Oct. 30, closing day of the Keeneland meet, he was thrown to the slop during the last race.
Murrill to the fore
While most of the top Churchill jockeys were traveling to and from the Breeders’ Cup during parts of last week,
Mitch Murrill rode 11 winners to take command atop the local standings.
Murrill rode at least one winner each day from Nov. 3-7, including a three-win Saturday capped by a terrific ride on laterunning Necker Island in the $300,000 Bet On Sunshine.
Six of the wins for Murrill, a 27-year-old native of Alabama, came for longtime client Chris Hartman, including Necker Island. Hartman leads the current trainer standings with six wins and is a combined 23 for 63 (36.5 percent) at the three Churchill meets in 2021.
Eight in Wednesday feature
The second five-day week of the dirt-only fall meet at Churchill begins with a Wednesday card anchored by a five-furlong allowance with wide-open conditions. Momos, with Joel Rosario riding for Mike Trombetta, is a lukewarm morning-line choice, clashing with seven other 3-year-olds for a $160,000 purse in the ninth of 10 races. First post is 1 p.m. Eastern, with the feature going under the lights at 5:06.
Purses for all non-claiming/ starter races include substantial bonuses restricted to registered Kentucky-breds.
◗ The $300,000 Dream Supreme, the filly-mare counterpart to the Bet On Sunshine, serves as the lone stakes of the coming weekend with its 16th running Saturday. Bell’s the One, Sconsin, Club Car, and Frank’s Rockette are among those likely to be entered in the six-furlong race when entries are drawn Wednesday. Rosario will ride Club Car.