Wednesday, November 22, 2017
JOCKEY OROZCO WINS TEN RACES IN TWO DAYS AT PORTLAND MEADOWS
Jockey Kevin Orozco has become best friends with The Portland Meadows winners circle in recent weeks. In just six racing days, Orozco has won with 19 of his 35 mounts at the Portland, Oregon racetrack; that equates to a miraculous 54% win percentage. He has finished second or third with an additional 11 mounts, which adds up to 30 of his 35 rides having finished in-the-money.
Kevin flies up to Portland Meadows every “weekend” to ride races on Monday’s and Tuesday’s. For Orozco, this past Oregon race week was a two-day stint that any jockey would dream of having at any racing venue. The 21-year-old native of Victorville won with all four of his mounts on Monday and proceeded to win six more races on Tuesday.
Kevin is the younger brother of Irving Orozco, who won The 2017 July/August Summer Meet jockey title. Both Orozco’s are represented by agent Tom “Bomber” Doutrich. Vito Lucarelli, the brother of trainer Frank Lucarelli, has Kevin’s book at Portland.
Last Sunday, the younger Orozco picked up his first win of the 2017 Golden Gate Fall Meet with She Sang, a 3-year-old filly who defeated six other rivals in the nightcap for trainer Andy Mathis.
“Hopefully that first win helps Kevin’s business here,” said Doutrich. “He is a likeable kid, has a great work ethic and has plenty of talent.”
“I have to give a lot of credit to Vito [Lucarelli],” continued Doutrich. “He saw there was business [at Portland] and asked Kevin to ride. I give Kevin a lot of credit, too, for being willing to fly up there, ride hard, compete and work to get better. So far, it’s paid off. ”
Before competing at the Golden Gate Fall Meet, Orozco won 63 races and finished third in the jockey standings at Emerald Downs in Auburn, Washington. Emerald Downs runs a six month meet every year from April to September. For the majority of the meet, Orozco rode as an apprentice and lost his bug in very late August.
“He has improved greatly from last year to now,” stated Doutrich. “It’ll be interesting to see where he’s at in six months to a year. In my opinion, he has a ton of upside.”
BERKELEY AND GOLDEN GATE DEBUTANTE HIGHLIGHT THANKSGIVING WEEK RACING
Two stakes races highlight Thanksgiving week racing at Golden Gate Fields: The $50,000 Golden Gate Debutante for two-year-old fillies and the Grade 3, $100,000 Berkeley Handicap for older horses.
The Golden Gate Debutante goes as Race 7 on the nine-race card this Friday. In a field of ten, the 5-2 morning line favorite is She’s No Drama, a filly from the Jeff Bonde barn who won an allowance race by over a half dozen lengths in October. Abel Cedillo, who rode the Florida-bred filly last time out, retains the mount. Southern California invader Steph Being Steph, who was last seen finishing second in The Anoakia Stakes at Santa Anita, is the second choice on the morning line at 7-2. Aaron Gryder picks up the mount for trainer Brian Koriner. Bettors who like to make hunch plays may want to place a few bucks on Steph Being Steph; the filly is named after Steph Curry, the star point guard for The Golden State Warriors.
The Berkeley Handicap, which goes as Race 7 on Saturday’s program, drew a full field of 14 entrants. Leading contenders in the mile and a sixteenth contest include Grade I winner Hard Aces, shipping up to Golden Gate from Southern California, and the Jerry Hollendorfer stakes winning trio of G. G. Ryder, Point Piper and Seattle Serenade. Force, conditioned by John Martin, is a stakes winner who recently won an allowance race against salty company and is likely to get good support at the betting windows.
Saturday’s card looks especially enticing for horse players. 95 runners were entered in races on Saturday, resulted in an average field size of 10.5 horses per race.
FINISH LINES: Celebrate Thanksgiving with a day at the races! Golden Gate Fields will conduct live thoroughbred racing with an 8 race card this Thursday, November 23; first post time 11:15 AM. The front gates and Turf Club open at 9:30 AM…Jockeys Juan Hernandez and Frank Alvarado continue to battle for the top spot in the jockey standings. After five weeks of live racing, Hernandez has a 2-win lead over Alvarado…Congrats to trainer Jeff Bonde, who saddled three winners from four starters last week. One of his victories came with 3-year-old gelding Right Hand Man, who pulled off an 8-1 mild upset in The $50,000 Oakland Stakes for older sprinters on Saturday…Trainer Cliff DeLima also had a fine weekend; the 85-year-old horseman saddled three winners from six starters on Saturday and Sunday…Northern California native Kyle Frey flies up to Golden Gate Fields on Saturday to ride Hard Aces for trainer John Sadler in The $100,000 Berkeley Handicap. Frey also picked up two additional mounts (in Races 2 and 8) on the Saturday card. Last year, Kyle was a regular rider at Golden Gate Fields and won 38 races at the Winter/Spring meet, his biggest win of the meet coming aboard Zakaroff in The Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby. Kyle’s father, Jay Frey, is a jockey valet…Southern California rider Brice Blanc also ships his tack to Golden Gate this Saturday, with a commitment to ride Editore for trainer Paulo Lobo in The Berkeley Handicap.
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