Nation’s leading woman rider wins Pimlico’s all-female competition

Mike Gathagan
Vice President-Communications
Maryland Jockey Club

BALTIMORE, Md. – Rosie Napravnik made a triumphant return to the state where she kicked off her career seven years ago, winning the second edition of the $31,000 Female Jockey Challenge on Friday at Pimlico Race Course.

Napravnik, 24, won two of the four Challenge races and claimed the $10,000 top prize with a total of 34 points, 16 more than runner-up and…

Mike Gathagan
Vice President-Communications
Maryland Jockey Club

BALTIMORE, Md. – Jennifer Rowland Small won 192 races as the top pioneering female rider in Maryland during the 1970s, but the biggest win on her hometown track came Friday afternoon.

The 59-year-old Small took Class Rules gate to wire to win the $45,000 Lady Legends for the Cure III race by 2¼ lengths at Pimlico Race Course.

Trained by Maryland-based Vernon Allinson, Class Rules ran the six-furlong allowance for 3-year-olds…

Travers Manley
Churchill Downs

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Calvin Borel, who won the Kentucky Derby aboard Street Sense, Mine That Bird and Super Saver, inched closer to a couple of milestones with his win aboard School’s Out in the first race at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

The victory put Borel just 10 wins from 1,100 victories beneath the Twin Spires and 50 wins from 5,000 career triumphs. Only 25 jockeys have reached the 5,000-win mark. 

With 30 days of racing…

Mike Superstein
Hollywood Park

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Thrust from relative anonymity to the national spotlight with a victory aboard I’ll Have Another in last Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, Mario Gutierrez has not only kept his ego in check, he’s thoroughly enjoying the whirlwind ride.

The 25-year-old learned to ride from his father, Mario Gutierrez, Sr., a quarter horse trainer, in Veracruz, Mexico.  On a visiting Canadian trainer’s advice, the younger Gutierrez made his way to Hastings Park, where he started…

Margo Flynn
Tampa Bay Downs

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Tampa Bay Downs presented trophies in the form of handsome equine statues to the meeting’s top trainer, jockey, owner and apprentice jockey. Although there has been virtually no suspense about the recipients for several weeks, honoring the season’s best is always a much-anticipated highlight on the final day of racing.

LEADING TRAINER: JAMIE NESS

In the competition for top trainer, Jamie Ness established his dominance early and never looked back en…

Mike Gathagan
Vice President-Communications
Maryland Jockey Club

BALTIMORE, Md. – Saturday’s 11-race card also included a Jockey Challenge featuring four riders visiting from Venezuela competing against four from the Maryland colony.

Jean Carlo Rodriguez captured the top prize and earned a $10,000 check by edging Pimlico-based riders Abel Castellano and Malcolm Franklin. Horacio Karamanos finished fourth.

Rodriguez, a 23-year-old with more than 1,050 career winners, including victories in the Clasico Juan Antonio Paez (G1) and the Clasico Comparacion…

(Edited Calder Race Course report)

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – If the first month of racing at Calder is any indication, the battle for leading rider at the 85-day Calder Meet should be a contentious one as the top of the table was shook up again on Sunday following multiple win days by Luis Saez and Orlando Bocachica.

Saez, who was temporarily supplanted atop the standings following a four-win day by apprentice jockey Joe Rodriguez Saturday, is now tied at the…

Jim Miller
Hawthorne Race Course

STICKNEY, Ill. – The trials and tribulations of rider Francisco Torres’ career have been abundantly covered, most recently by a Hawthorne program cover, but this talented jockey, who has been leading in the standings since fairly in the meet, showed just why so many continue to give him a chance despite his checkered past.

Mr. Torres had a career day at Hawthorne on Friday, just three days before the end of the meet.

He…

Jenny Kellner
NYRA/Belmont Park

ELMONT, N.Y. – Brilliant performances, tight finishes, large fields and a celebrity visit – or two – highlighted opening day at Belmont Park, hinting at even bigger things to come over the course of the 56-day spring/summer meet.

The day began with an impromptu late morning flyover by the decommissioned space shuttle Enterprise, which flew past the track atop a 747 before landing at nearby John F. Kennedy International Airport, and included a visit from…

(Edited Santa Anita Park report)

ARCADIA, Calif. – I’ll Have Another, who was dismissed as an “overnight sensation” when he won the Grade II Robert B. Lewis Stakes in a 43-1 upset on Feb. 4 but subdued skeptics when he returned at 4-1 to nose out 4-5 favorite Creative Cause in the Grade I Santa Anita Derby on April 7, was named Horse of the Meet in Santa Anita’s 2011-12 Winter/Spring Media Poll.

“This is a huge honor,” said Doug…