JOCKEY CATALINO MARTINEZ PICKS UP CAREER WIN 1,000
Journeyman Catalino Martinez scored his 1,000th career victory as a jockey when 4-year-old filly Barbello won the Saturday opener for maiden claimers. Martinez, who has ridden in the Bay Area for over a decade, was quick to praise his supporters following the milestone win.
“It felt great,” said Martinez. “At the 3/16ths pole I knew I was the winner. There have been a lot of people who have supported me throughout my career and I want to thank all of them. I feel very blessed.”
After the tradional winners circle photo, Martinez was drenched with champagne and water by fellow riders, and was soaking wet while being interviewed by TVG’s Joaquin Jaime.
“That was fun,” said Martinez. “We have a good group of riders here.”
Catalino has ridden in races since 2004. Some of his recent stakes successes include victories with Bella Luma and Fast and Foxy. Bella Luma won the Golden Poppy Stakes with Martinez aboard last year while Fast and Foxy was victorious in multiple stakes’ at Golden Gate and earned the status as the top female sprinter in Northern California from 2016 to 2017.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RIDERS FLOCK TO GOLDEN GATE FOR TWO WEEKS
With Santa Anita taking a 2-week hiatus from live racing, Golden Gate Fields has seen a number of Southern California riders ship their tacks north to ride in races.
Apprentices Heriberto Figueroa and Jorge Velez, both represented by agent Nelson Arroyo, rode in a number of races last week and are slated to compete in more races over the next four live racing days. 19-year-old Figueroa, along with Geovanni Franco and Mike Smith, are all currently tied for third in the Santa Anita jockey standings with 23 wins apiece.
“Both of my riders are very talented young men,” said Arroyo. “They both have the physical, raw talent-I have no doubt about that. They work hard and are good listeners. They take in advice and absorb it. They want to get better. They are also very kind, genuine young men, and down-to-earth…easy to talk to. They are very likeable.”
“Trainer Bill E. Morey had some mounts for Heriberto and Jorge up here and we were very excited for that opportunity,” continued Arroyo. “We’ve picked up some other business from other trainers along the way. Hopefully, when we go back down to Santa Anita and Del Mar and trainers from Northern California run horses there, they will consider my riders for their horses. In the meantime, it’s great to be here at Golden Gate. Golden Gate is a lovely racetrack and the people here have been good to us.”
Ruben Fuentes, another Southern California rider, is on the same schedule as the two aforementioned apprentices. Most of his mounts have come from Southern California trainers Jeff Bonde and Alfredo Marquez.
“Jeff Bonde asked if we could come up here and ride in some races for him,” said jockey agent Saul Marquez, who represents Fuentes. “We’ve very happy to be here at Golden Gate for a couple of weeks.”
“Ruben is a really talented up-and-comer,” said Marquez. “He has an ‘A+’ work ethic. He works as hard as anyone. He is always eager to wake up early, go work for trainers in the mornings and improve his craft whenever he gets a leg up on a horse. He wants to be the best rider he can be and he is only getting better. I’m excited to see his future. I think he Is just going to continue to progress.”
Fuentes has won 11 races from 84 mounts at the current Santa Anita meeting and picked up his first Southern California graded stakes victory in January with Escape Clause in the Grade 3 La Canada. Fuentes also guided Ohio to a second place finish in the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes last month.
Veteran rider Aaron Gryder, a winner of over 3,800 races including the 2009 Dubai World Cup with Well Armed, rode in 3 races last week and is slated to ride in more races this week. Gryder rode at Golden Gate Fields in 2018 and, although currently competing at the Santa Anita Winter/Spring meet, has set up shop at racetracks all over the world since beginning his riding career in 1987.
Another notable is Tyler Baze, who flies up Friday to ride Meal Ticket for trainer Matt Chew in Race 4. Meal Ticket, a 5-year-old mare making her 2019 debut, has beaten salty allowance company in Southern California and most recently ran fourth in the Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar.
GOLDEN GATE FIELDS TO OFFER LEGS C AND E OF STRONACH 5 WAGER THIS WEEK
The 100k guaranteed Stronach 5 wager, a $1 minimum bet with an industry low 12% takeout, features two Golden Gate races in the sequence this week. Race 5, a one-mile and a sixteenth maiden special weight for 3-year-old fillies, drew a group of 11 and goes as Leg C (the third leg) of the Stronach 5. Race 6, a starter allowance with ten 3-year-olds entered to sprint six furlongs, is Leg E (the last leg) of the Stronach 5.
The first leg goes as Race 9 at Laurel Park, which is the “host track” for the Stronach 5 every week. Leg B is Race 9 at Gulfstream Park while Leg D is Race 10 at Gulfstream.
FINISH LINES: El Camino Real Derby winner Anothertwistafate continued his path to the March 24 Sunland Derby with a workout on Sunday. Timed in 1:01 flat, the drill was the fourth fastest of 67 recorded works at the 5 furlong distance. “He went beautiful,” said trainer Blaine Wright…Jerry Hollendorfer saddles Galilean and Gunmetal Grey in two separate divisions of the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park this Saturday. Galilean races in Division 1 and faces Los Alamitos Futurity winner Improbable while Gunmetal Grey will go up against Breeders Cup Juvenile winner Game Winner in Division 2…Leading rider Abel Cedillo has a 69-52 lead over Juan Hernandez in the jockey standings while Jonathan Wong has a massive lead in the trainers standings with 50 trips. to the winners circle at the current meeting. The second place trainers, William E. Morey and Jerry Hollendorfer, have recorded 16 wins each…Regardless of the time change early Sunday morning, please note that first post remains at 12:45 PM PT…The Golden Pick Six Jackpot pool has climbed to over 38k heading into Thursday’s card… Golden Gate was lucky enough to have TVG on-site for live coverage of our races last week, and we are very pleased and excited to host them this week too. Joaquin Jaime will, once again, be back reporting throughout the racing week, and he’ll be joined over the weekend by Todd Schrupp, Simon Bray and Rich Perloff.