TurfPublicists: BELMONT PARK NOTES: Friday, June 22, 2012

Friday, June 22, 2012

Contact: NYRA Press Office

718-659-2351

BELMONT PARK NOTES

Top SoCal jock Joel Rosario to begin riding at Belmont on Wednesday
Agave Kiss works for G3 Victory Ride
Mucho Macho Man expected to work this weekend; Ritvo still thinking about G2 Suburban
Unstoppable U pointing to G2 Dwyer
Expensive Euro import Banimpire set to face tough group in G2 New York; Tamarind Hall to defend G3 Bed o’ Roses title

ELMONT, N.Y. – Joel Rosario, winner of 10 riding titles in Southern California, will begin competing in New York on a full-time basis beginning Wednesday. The native of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic was named to ride Searchingforahero in race 2 and Handsome Jack in race 8, the $85,000 Track Barron overnight stakes.

Rosario’s agent, Ronnie Ebanks, said the jockey will ride at Betfair Hollywood Park through Sunday before flying to New York on Tuesday. Rosario, who won the Santa Anita riding title for the second straight year in 2012, is third in the Betfair Hollywood Park spring/summer meet standings with 24 wins through Thursday, trailing Rafael Bejarano (47 wins) and Joe Talamo (31).

Ebanks said he and Rosario had been considering moving east for a while, and with John Velazquez – the recent winner of the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes and Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap who is currently 10^th in the Belmont standings – expected to miss the next 4-6 weeks with a broken collarbone they decided now would be the best time to make the change.

“[Rosario is] 27, he’s in the prime of his riding career, and with a top rider out for a while it seemed like this was the right time to make the move,” said Ebanks. “We’ll arrive here Tuesday and start kissing babies and shaking hands and try to build up our business before Saratoga.”

Rosario’s biggest win in New York so far came in 2010 when he piloted Blind Luck to a neck victory over Havre de Grace in Saratoga Race Course’s Grade 1 Alabama. He won the 2009 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita with Dancing in Silks and the 2010 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Churchill Downs with Dakota Phone. In addition, he has captured Grade 1 races such as the Blue Grass, Eddie Read, Gamely, Humana Distaff, La Brea, Las Virgenes, Malibu, Matriarch, Pat O’Brien, Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, Santa Anita Oaks, Santa Monica, Triple Bend, and Yellow Ribbon, among others. On June 9, he guided Teeth of the Dog to victory in the Easy Goer on the Belmont Stakes undercard.

“They’ve seen him win the Alabama, Breeders’ Cup races and other Grade 1s, but I think they’ll gain a new appreciation for him when they begin to see him ride on a day-to-day basis,” said Ebanks.

Through Thursday, Rosario was sixth in the 2012 North American jockey standings by earnings ($6,169,966) and 10^th by wins (116). His most lucrative season to date came in 2010 when his mounts earned $15,897,538, placing Rosario third in the North American standings behind New York riders Ramon Dominguez and John Velazquez.

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Undefeated Agave Kiss worked five furlongs in a bullet 1:00.43 this morning at Aqueduct Racetrack as she continues preparations for her next start, the Grade 3, $150,000 Victory Ride on July 7. The six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies will be making its Belmont Park debut after an eight-year run at Saratoga Race Course and will share the card with the 127^th running of the Grade 2, $350,000 Suburban Handicap.

Agave Kiss has won all six of her starts in front-running fashion by a combined margin of 30 lengths, most recently a 5 ½-length score in the Miss Preakness at Pimlico on May 18.

“We’re very happy with the way she’s been doing,” said Rudy Rodriguez, who trains the New York-bred Lion Heart filly for Flying Zee Stables, LLC. “The Victory Ride is the next spot for her, and after that, we’ll keep our fingers crossed and point for the [Grade 1, $300,000] Prioress at Saratoga [August 4].”

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Trainer Kathy Ritvo reported Friday that Mucho Macho Man was likely to work Saturday or Sunday at Saratoga Race Course, after which a decision will be made about whether the 4-year-old son of Macho Uno will compete in the Grade 2, $350,000 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park on July 7. The Suburban is contested at 1 1/8 miles.

“We’re not sure yet,” said Ritvo, who trains Mucho Macho Man for Dean and Patti Reeves. “He’s on schedule to work either tomorrow or the next day and we’ll make a decision. He came out of the Alysheba super and he’s doing great.”

A dual graded stakes winner, Mucho Macho Man was most recently third in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 4. Earlier this year, he won the Florida Sunshine Millions Classic and the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap. As a sophomore, he competed in all three Triple Crown races, with his best finish a third in the Kentucky Derby. Given time off after running seventh in the Belmont, he finished his 3-year-old year with an easy allowance victory at Aqueduct last November.

Mucho Macho Man shipped down to Belmont Park last Friday from Saratoga with a pair of horses Ritvo was running that day and turned in his first breeze since the Alysheba, covering four furlongs over the training track in a bullet 46.75. It was recently announced that, effective June 1, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing had acquired Dream Team One Racing Stable’s ownership interest in Mucho Macho Man.

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Unstoppable U, who in his third career start finished sixth in the 1 ½-mile Belmont Stakes, will likely return to the races next Saturday in the Grade 2, $200,000 Dwyer. The gray son of Exchange Rate will have his first breeze since the Belmont either tomorrow or Sunday in preparation for the 1 1/8-mile Dwyer, said Ken McPeek’s assistant, Lars Becdelamotte.

“He’s been doing great since the Belmont,” said Becdelamotte of Unstoppable U, who is owned by Susan McPeek and Mojallali Stables, Inc. “He was more mad than anything else. He missed the break and got tangled up with another horse and it was the first time he’d ever been behind horses, first time around two turns, 1 ½ miles … I thought he ran a pretty good race, considering everything.”

Unstoppable U broke his maiden over a sloppy six furlongs at Aqueduct on March 31, and returned on April 27 to take a one-mile optional claimer at Belmont.

“We’ll see how he does in the Dwyer,” said Becdelamotte. “If he runs well, then he can take the next step to other stakes races.”

Unstoppable U is expected to face Teeth of the Dog, a 3 ¾-length winner of the Easy Goer on the Belmont Stakes undercard, and Preakness fourth-place finisher Zetterholm. Monarchic and Morgan’s Guerilla are also probable, with Done Talking questionable.

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Belmont Park will present two graded stakes in addition to the Dwyer next weekend: the Grade 2, $200,000 New York on June 30 and the Grade 3, $150,000 Bed o’ Roses Handicap on July 1.

The New York – for fillies and mares at 1 ¼ miles on turf – is expected to serve as the North American debut for Banimpire, a five-time group stakes winner in England and Ireland who was purchased for approximately $3.1 million at auction in Ireland last November by new owner Martin Schwartz. Slated to face the 2011 Group 1 Irish Oaks runner-up are Aruna, Hit It Rich, and Principal Role, the top three from Belmont’s Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay on May 26; Mystical Star, who was third under the wire in the Sheepshead Bay before being disqualified and placed eighth, The Underling, a distant third in the Heatherten overnight stakes on May 2 at Belmont, and Upperline, winner of two straight Grade 3 races. Laughing is questionable.

Tamarind Hall will aim for a repeat victory in the Bed o’ Roses, a six-furlong dash for fillies and mares. Now trained by David Fawkes for owner Brinker Hill Farm, Tamarind Hall won the 2011 Bed o’ Roses for Jeremiah Englehart and owner Eklektikos. Catch a Thief, Catinatree, and Island Bound are slated to face Tamarind Hall, with Aquitania, C C’s Pal, and Honchis’n Ponchis also under consideration.

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