CRUZ AND ESPINOZA ADD DEPTH TO ALREADY-SKILLFUL COLONY
Jockeys Alex Cruz and Assael Espinoza recently shipped their tack to Golden Gate Fields and are the newest additions to the growingly gifted jockey colony in the Bay Area.
A native of Puerto Rico, 27-year-old Alex Cruz won the recently concluded 2020 Emerald Downs meet riding title with 72 wins from 38 racing days. With that, Cruz is no stranger to winning riding titles; he also won the most races out of any jockey last year at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Arizona. He and his wife are expecting a baby in January and have opted to move to Northern California in hopes of a permanent stay in the Golden State.
“He’s a very talented jockey,” said Cruz’s agent, David “Marbles” Singer, who represented jockey Rocco Bowen at Golden Gate in 2017 and 2018. “Alex has impressed me. He can ride any type of horse. He can go to the lead. He can put up well-timed rides and come from off the pace. He’s the whole package. He won at least one race every day for the last 25 days at Emerald and finished out the meet with a 5-win afternoon on Closing Day. He’s coming to Golden Gate in good form…with confidence.”
Meanwhile, 20-year-old Assael Espinoza began working horses at Golden Gate last week and will be represented by agent Fernando “Shoes” Navarro. Espinoza, who is the nephew of Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza, was born and raised just miles from Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, California.
“I’m really excited to be working with Assael,” said Navarro. “He’s a young, enthusiastic guy with a good head on his shoulders. I’ve watched him ride and he definitely has talent.”
Espinoza had a fine season as an apprentice and rode for top Southern California trainers like Bob Baffert, Peter Miller, and John Sadler during his stay on the aforementioned Southern California circuit. After a brief stint as a journeyman at Santa Anita, Espinoza opted to move North.
“Assael is a hard worker,” said Navarro. “He’s really eager to get to work every morning and has enjoyed going by the barns and meeting everyone here. It might take a week or two to get his business really rolling but that’s normal for a jockey at a new place. If he is given the right opportunities, I really do believe he can do very well at Golden Gate.”
EXHALTING LOOKS TO CONTINUE WIN STREAK IN GOLDEN NUGGET ON SATURDAY
Six entrants-five locally based contenders and one from Southern California-are set to go postward in the feature race of the week on Saturday: the $50,000 Golden Nugget Stakes for 2-year-olds on Tapeta. The six-furlong Golden Nugget is a potential springboard for the $75,000 Gold Rush Stakes on December 5 and goes as Race 7 on a 9-race program this Saturday.
The one to beat is Exhalting, who enters the Golden Nugget with a 3-race win streak intact. The son of Chitu most recently defeated a group of allowance foes three weeks ago and, three weeks earlier, won a starter allowance at low odds. He broke his maiden on September 26, meaning he will be making his fourth start in just seven weeks.
“With all of his races pretty close together, he’s really fit,” said trainer Jonathan Wong. “We’re just keeping him happy. He’s ready go. It would have been nice to have another week or two of rest before this race but he’s doing really well. His best weapon is speed and we don’t want to take that away from him, so I’d imagine he’ll be forwardly placed again.”
A number of impressive maiden winners enter the Golden Nugget in search of a stake trophy. Mischievous Path, an eye-catching eight length maiden winner on October 4, is one that will likely get bet. Although trainer Greg James admits that he was not surprised that his star 2-year-old won on debut, he was taken aback by the margin of victory and “how he won.”
“I didn’t expect him to win like he did the other day,” said James. “He won going away and he had more in the tank. We’ve always thought he was a really nice horse though. Some of these younger horses…you work them and train them and it’s clear when you see the good ones because they do things the right way. [Mischievous Path] has always done things the right way and he’s always worked like a really nice horse. He has a great mind and continues to train beautifully heading into this race.”
Mischievous Path is a son of California stallion Curlin to Mischief, a royally bred son of Curlin who is a half sibling to Grade I winners Into Mischief, Beholder and Mendelssohn.
Run Snappy, a Runhappy colt trained by Southern California conditioner John Sadler, draws the inside post position for his first career start over a synthetic surface. He was purchased for $230,000 as a yearling and is a half sibling to Grade 3 winner Heavenhasmynikki and stakes winners Dougs Buddy and Floral Sky. Ben Wade, in the meantime, is a Nick Alexander California-homebred trained by Steve Miyadi who comes off a three-quarter length win against maiden special weight foes at Golden Gate and draws post position two.
Mando, who cuts back from a route to a sprint, is the only horse with stakes experience. Mando broke his maiden sprinting at Golden Gate in the spring and, one race later, finished fourth in the Everett Nevin Stakes at Pleasanton.
Longshot Coriscan rounds out the field. He picked up his first career winners circle photo in a maiden special weight race two months ago, albeit over firm turf. His only other race, an off-the-board finish behind Exhalting, indicates improvement is needed for him to take home the gold prize.
Race 7 on Saturday: the $50,000 Golden Nugget Stakes (6 furlongs on Tapeta for 2-year-olds)
#1 Run Snappy (Jockey Irving Orozco, trainer John Sadler)
#2 Ben Wade (Kyle Frey, Steve Miyadi)
#3 Mischievous Path (Frank Alvarado, Greg James)
#4 Exhalting (Evin Roman, Jonathan Wong)
#5 Coriscan (Santos Rivera, D. Wayne Baker)
#6 Mando (Catalino Martinez, Andreas Psarras)
CLAIMS REPORT
Below is a list of all horses claimed last week.
Thursday
Race 1: Sizzling Jamie (New trainer Isidro Tamayo…new owner Johnny Taboada)
Race 3: Avalon Ride (Marcia Stortz…Mojarro Racing LLC)
Race 3: Buttie (Owner/Trainer John Martin)
Race 4: Gooch Express (Owner/Trainer Felix Rondan)
Race 7: Midnight Luck (Sammy Calvario…Rhonda Kirby)
Friday
Race 2: Boundforjamaica (Bob Hess Sr…David Milburn and Donald Muldoon)
Race 7: Respect My Candor (Owner/Trainer Steve Miyadi)
Saturday
Race 2: Hydrogen (O.J. Jauregui…Charles Gerson and Angel Valadez)
Race 2: Sarni (Owner/Trainer Jose Bautista)
Sunday
Race 1: Debt Monger (Marcia Stortz…Gustavo Adolfo Tirado)
Race 8: Tough It Out (D. Wayne Baker…Baker, Bergounous and Decamilla)
Race 8: Tyler’s Tek (Jonathan Wong…Madden Racing and MJVET Stables)
Race 9: Miss You Mom (Andreas Psarras…Ronald Baldwin and Andreas Psarras)
FINISH LINES: Windy City Red, who finished off the board for trainer Jonathan Wong in the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint last Saturday at Keeneland, exited the race in good order and is possible to race in the one-mile Gold Rush Stakes at Golden Gate in early December…Piston, a full sibling to Grade 3 winner Mr. Bowling, returns to the races for trainer Jamey Thomas in Race 8 on Saturday, an allowance for 3-year-olds and upward. The son of Istan broke his maiden impressively on debut in February…Grazen Road, a half-sibling to 500k earner and Grade 3 winner Just Grazed Me, makes her career debut for trainer Victor Trujillo in Race 3 on Saturday, a maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies…The Golden Pick Six jackpot carryover has climbed to $22,342 heading into Thursday afternoon’s race card…The last leg (Leg E) of the Stronach 5 wager goes as Race 3 on Friday at Golden Gate…Happy birthday to trainers Gloria Haley and Bill McLean, both who celebrate birthday’s this week.