Jockey Katie Davis Credits New Agent for Recent Success
Jockey Katie Davis Credits New Agent for Recent Success
Summer Meet Riding Title On the Line Entering Final Weekend
Market Analysis Working His Way Back to the Races for O’Dwyer
Mandatory Payouts Scheduled for Saturday’s Closing Day Program
Preakness Weekend Stakes Nominations Close Thursday, Sept. 17
LAUREL, MD – After going a month between starters, jockey Katie Davis is making up for lost time.
The 28-year-old fiancée of fellow rider Trevor McCarthy has registered seven wins with her last 15 mounts including a hat trick Sept. 12, the last live racing day at Laurel Park. She is named in three of 10 races when action resumes Thursday at Laurel, and two of nine races Friday.
A Maryland regular since late 2016, Davis rode three programs at Colonial Downs in neighboring Virginia before the meet was closed down Aug. 14 with a number of positive coronavirus results. One of them was McCarthy, and though she tested negative she joined him in quarantine for two weeks.
With agent John DiNatale handling her book, Davis returned to action Sept. 3 and rode at least one winner each day that weekend including a two-win day Sept. 4. She has also finished third twice during her recent stretch.
“When I came back from the quarantine I was kind of lost and confused on what I wanted to do, because all the agents were pretty much taken. I really needed somebody to push me,” Davis said. “You can only do so much with yourself. I got very lucky. Trevor kind of put the word out for me a little more.
“Frank Saumell, the clerk of scales, said he had a longtime friend that had been in the business for 30-some years, 40 years. He used to be a trainer but he really wanted to get back in the game and become an agent,” she added. “That was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.”
DiNatale won 145 races and more than $1.5 million in purses in a training career with stops and starts between 1976 and 2009. One of his best horses was Stonewall Sue, who ran fifth in the 1994 Maryland Million Distaff and 1995 Shamrock Stakes at Laurel.
“A lot of people do know him, people that have been in the game a lot longer. Just picking him up really gave me that confidence that I needed,” Davis said. “Not that Trevor didn’t give me confidence in that way, but the confidence in my own business to succeed and ride smart and keep going. That’s what really lifted me up off my feet.
“Even the first week John and I were together he was like, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing, don’t change a thing. You’re riding smart and giving your horses every opportunity to win.’ That alone shows that I can do this. I can perform well with the horses.”
Davis has 229 wins from 1,882 career starters and purse earnings of more than $6.1 million. She is one of six children that grew up around the sport while their father, Robbie, was winning 3,382 races between 1981 and 2002 primarily on the New York circuit. Older sister Jackie and younger brother Dylan are also professional jockeys, respectively based in Pennsylvania and New York.
In addition to her agent, Davis continues to lean on her father for his input. His mother, Davis’ grandmother, passed away Sept. 1.
“Recently we’ve been talking a lot more. I really sat him down and said, ‘C’mon, it’s time to look at my races now. You’ve been looking at Dylan’s for far too long,’” Davis laughed. “I sent him all my races, even if I finish last or got in a bad spot and ask him what he thinks I can do differently. He told me I was doing good and riding smart and my left hand was amazing. It’s important to use both hands.”
Summer Meet Riding Title On the Line Entering Final Weekend
As Laurel Park gears up for the final weekend of its extended summer meet with a 10-race program Thursday, Sept. 17, veteran jockeys Horacio Karamanos and Jevian Toledo are locked in a battle for the riding title that figures to go down to Saturday’s season finale.
Karamanos takes a 41-38 lead into Thursday, where he is named in five races to Toledo’s six. On Friday’s nine-race card, Karamanos is named in five races and Toledo four. Charlie Marquez, a 16-year-old apprentice, is third in the rider standings with 32 wins.
Toledo holds the edge in purse earnings, ranking first for the meet at $1.458 million with Karamanos second at $1.311 million. Toledo (249) and Karamanos (229) also sit 1-2 in total number of starters.
Karamanos’ last Maryland meet title came in 2017 when he shared the Preakness Meet at Pimlico crown with Feargal Lynch and Kevin Gomez. He also won the Pimlico title outright in 2003 and 2010.
At Laurel, Karamanos won the 2007 fall and 2002 summer crowns. A native of Argentina, where he won more than 1,500 races before coming to the U.S. in 2000, Karamanos landed full-time in Maryland in 2002 and tied a Laurel Park record with seven winners on a single card that October. He also owns multiple riding titles at Colonial Downs in neighboring Virginia.
Laurel was also the site of Karamanos’ 2,000th career victory aboard Liquid Aloha on Father’s Day, June 17, 2017. Over Labor Day weekend, he won the $100,000 Twixt for trainer Ferris Allen on Wicked Awesome.
Maryland’s leading overall rider in 2015 and 2017, Toledo’s 2018 summer title was the most recent of his five Laurel meet riding championships. He has ranked among the state’s top five riders since 2014, finishing second in 2016, and earned his 1,000th career victory aboard M.J.’s Lady July 24 at Laurel.
Toledo, 26, is a native of Puerto Rico, where he won 33 races before coming to the U.S. in the spring of 2013 and earning his first domestic victory that June on Peaceadaaction at Pimlico. His classmates at the famed Escula Vocacional Hipica jockey school included 2013 Eclipse Award-winning apprentice Victor Carrasco, also a member of Maryland’s jockey colony; New York-based Manny Franco, regular rider for Florida Derby (G1), Belmont (G1) and Travers (G1) winner Tiz the Law; and Maryland’s 2018 riding champion Jorge Vargas Jr.
Cancer survivor Claudio Gonzalez leads Laurel’s summer meet trainer standings with 26 wins, 10 more than runner-up Damon Dilodovico. The Chile native also ranks first in purse earnings with $941,458 and starters with 134.
Gonzalez has horses entered in four races Thursday and two Friday. Dilodovico has horses entered in one race each day.
The 43-year-old Gonzalez led Laurel’s truncated winter meet with 40 wins and more than $1.1 million in purses earned when live racing was paused in Maryland for 2 ½ months amid the coronavirus pandemic, returning May 30.
Gonzalez has won nine of the last 10 meets in Maryland dating back to Laurel’s 2017 spring stand and owns or shares 12 titles overall, leading the state in victories three consecutive years (2017-19). He won three stakes over Labor Day weekend at Laurel, the $100,000 Deputed Testamony with Harpers First Ride and $100,000 Polynesian with Eastern Bay Sept. 5, and the $100,000 Laurel Dash with Completed Pass Sept. 7.
Eastern Bay and Completed Pass are both owned by Robert D. Bone, who leads the owner standings with 13 wins and $415,353 in purse earnings.
Following Laurel, live racing moves to Baltimore for the six-day Preakness Meet at Pimlico, which runs Sept. 24-26 and Oct. 1-3. A total of 16 stakes, nine graded, worth $3.35 million in purse earnings will be offered over Preakness weekend highlighted by the 145th Preakness (G1) and 96th Black-Eyed Susan (G2) Oct. 3.
Market Analysis Working His Way Back to the Races for O’Dwyer
Trainer Jerry O’Dwyer recently added an intriguing horse to his barn in the 3-year-old Honor Code colt Market Analysis, an impressive debut winner in January that has gone unraced since March.
Originally purchased as a yearling for $250,000 by China Horse Club and Maverick Racing and trained by Todd Pletcher, Market Analysis won a seven-furlong maiden special weight on Pegasus World Cup day Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park by three-quarters of a length as the favorite.
He was stepped up to stakes company in just his second start, the March 7 Tampa Bay Derby (G2), where he went off as fourth choice in a field of 12 and ran sixth behind 49-1 upset winner King Guillermo.
Market Analysis went to the sidelines and wasn’t seen again until posting a three-furlong breeze Aug. 13 at The Thoroughbred Center in Lexington, Ky. Purchased for $19,000 by O O Racing out of Fasig-Tipton’s July Horses of Racing Age sale, his two most recent works have come at Laurel including a five-furlong move in 1:02.40 Sept. 12.
“He’s a gorgeous, gorgeous big horse and he’s got a nice way of going, and he seems to have a bit of talent,” O’Dwyer said. “I haven’t found a hole in him yet. If we get him back to anything like his old form we’ll be in good shape.
“It looks like he’s coming back good. He had a bevy of issues there so that’s how I ended up getting him. The owners bought him cheaply,” he added. “We’ll have to wait a while to see. I haven’t had him that long yet. He’s one I’ll probably run here sooner rather than later. Horses coming back from injury, I tend to not overwork them for their first one back. Just give them enough under them so they don’t hurt themselves.”
O’Dwyer said he is considering 4-year-old filly Philipine Cobra for the $100,000 The Very One for females 3 and up sprinting five furlongs on turf Oct. 1 at Pimlico Race Course. Another recent addition to the barn, Philipine Cobra is a two-time winner in her native England that has yet to race in the U.S.
Multiple stakes winner Needs Supervision recently rejoined O’Dwyer’s Laurel string and he expects to step up her training in the coming weeks. Unraced since finishing third in the Nellie Morse Stakes March 14 at Laurel, the 4-year-old filly won the Imagining Safely Kept last fall at Laurel and the 2019 Silverbulletday at Fair Grounds.
“I’ve got Needs Supervision back in and she’ll be back on the work tab next week, but she won’t be ready for anything real soon,” O’Dwyer said. “I’ve got a lot of maidens to run. I’m going to try to be the leading trainer at Pimlico.”
Mandatory Payouts Scheduled for Saturday’s Closing Day Program
There will be mandatory payouts in the 20-cent Rainbow 6, 50-cent Late Pick 5 and $1 Super Hi-5 wagers when Laurel Park brings the curtain down on its extended summer meet Saturday, Sept. 19.
After going unsolved during the last live racing day Sept. 12, the Rainbow 6 saw its carryover jackpot swell to $16,668.56 for Thursday’s 10-race program. The Super Hi-5 will begin with a carryover of $5,878.04 in the opener, with a 12:40 p.m. post time.
The Rainbow 6 jackpot is paid out only when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 60 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners while 40 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool. However, on days when a mandatory payout is scheduled, the entire pool is shared by those holding tickets with the most winners.
Thursday’s Rainbow 6 begins in Race 5, a one-mile waiver maiden claiming event scheduled for the Kelso turf course which attracted 16 entries. An open entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds and up, also going a mile on the Kelso, in Race 8 and a six-furlong allowance sprint for Maryland-bred/sired fillies and mares 3 and older in Race 9 are also part of the sequence.
Following Laurel, live racing moves to Baltimore for the six-day Preakness Meet at Pimlico, which runs Sept. 24-26 and Oct. 1-3. A total of 16 stakes, nine graded, worth $3.35 million in purse earnings will be offered over Preakness weekend highlighted by the 145th Preakness (G1) and 96th Black-Eyed Susan (G2) Oct. 3.
Preakness Weekend Stakes Nominations Close Thursday, Sept. 17
Excluding the main event, the 145th running of the Preakness Stakes (G1), all Thoroughbred stakes nominations for Preakness weekend, Oct. 1-3 at Pimlico Race Course, close Thursday, Sept. 17.
A total of 16 stakes, nine graded, worth $3.35 million in purses will be contested over the three-day span at Pimlico, led by the $1 million Preakness for 3-year-olds Oct. 3. For the first time this year, the Preakness is being presented as the final jewel in a refashioned Triple Crown and a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 7 at Keeneland.
Preakness Day, Oct. 3, will feature an all-stakes program of 12 races, seven graded, worth $2.7 million in purses including the 96th running of the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2), one of the country’s premiere events for 3-year-old fillies, and the 119th edition of the $250,000 Dinner Party (G2), previously contested as the Dixie, on the grass.
Other graded events on Preakness Day are the $200,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3), $150,000 Miss Preakness (G3) and $150,000 Gallorette (G3), along with the $100,000 UAE President Cup (G1) for Arabians. UAE President Cup nominations close Saturday, Sept. 19.
The historic $250,000 Pimlico Special (G3) for 3-year-olds and up, returned to 1 3/16 miles after being contested at 1 ¼ miles in 2019, is the centerpiece of a Friday, Oct. 2 card that also serves as Claiming Crown Preview Day. Preakness weekend will kick off Thursday, Oct. 1 with three stakes led by the $200,000 Chick Lang (G3) for 3-year-olds at six furlongs.
For the fourth straight year, the Maryland Jockey Club will be offering $100,000 in bonus money for trainers who accumulate the most points in Thoroughbred stakes races over Preakness weekend, with $50,000 going to the winner.
All nominations can be forwarded to Racing Secretary Jillian Tullock at Pimlico Race Course, Hayward & Winner Aves., Baltimore MD 21215, e-mailed to stakes coordinator Coley Blind at cblind@marylandracing.com, or by calling 410-542-9400 or 800-638-1859.
