Joe Talamo
TALAMO 2K: TANTALIZINGLY CLOSE BUT NOT EASILY REACHED
Jockey Joe Talamo, two shy of his 2,000th career victory, is scheduled to ride four mounts on Saturday in quest of the milestone.
Records show Talamo, 29, won No. 1,000 on April 4, 2012 in the fourth race at Santa Anita aboard Splendid Fortune, an Arnold Zetcher homebred trained by Bob Baffert. The 2-5 favorite won by seven lengths. Talamo had been in California for five years, arriving in 2007 as a 17-year-old apprentice after becoming the first “bug boy” to win a riding title at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans.
A lot has changed for Talamo personally, and Southern California racing, since No. 1,000.
He took a day off from racing during the 2015 Bing Crosby meeting to marry Elizabeth Ellis, daughter of trainer Ron Ellis, in a San Diego ceremony. An anniversary looms for the couple, who now have two sons.
And it’s no secret Southern California racing has downsized since Talamo hit four figures in victories.
“We used to win 180 to a couple hundred races a year. This year we’ve won like 70,” Talamo’s agent, Scott McClellan, said Saturday morning. “We’ve ridden around 500 horses, we used to ride 1,200. That’s the difference in lack of racing and lack of horses. We’re riding two or three a day when we used to ride seven or eight.”
The Equibase statistics bear it out. In 2012, Talamo had 208 wins from 1,256 mounts. This year the numbers are 72 wins from 496 mounts.
And approaching a milestone adds pressure.
“When I told him he was 20 out, he said ‘I wish you wouldn’t have told me, now it will take forever,” McClellan said. “We got to within six, but then the last four have taken awhile.
“We know it’s going to happen. Four of his last six have been seconds and they all looked at one time like they might win. We’ll see. We’re just hoping to get it over with, but they don’t come easy.”
Talamo’s mounts on Saturday are: Rocky Tough (2nd, 4-1), Tequila Joe (5th, 4-1), Paige Anne (6th, 5-1), and Courteous (7th, 5-1.
DECISION TO CANCEL THURSDAY CARD TOUGH BUT NECESSARY
Cancellation of a racing day due to weather hadn’t happened at Del Mar in the track’s 82-year history. But track officials, eyeing a forecast for heavy rain in the San Diego area in the middle of next week, made the decision on Friday to call off the program for next Thursday, November 21.
“We met, as a group, as we always do, and given the forecast, and the fact that most horses ship in for this meet, felt it was best to get out in front of it,” Racing Secretary David Jerkens said Saturday morning. “
“We know this is unusual for Del Mar,” Del Mar Thoroughbred Club executive vice president for racing Tom Robbins said in making the announcement. “But equine and rider safety is always our primary concern.”
An additional consideration was preservation of the Jimmy Durante turf course, which will be the venue for seven graded stakes from November 28-December 1, a “turf festival” as the meeting draws to a close.
In the condition book for Thursday, from which races would have been drawn Saturday if not for the cancellation, four were scheduled on the grass.
Jerkens said a double draw of entries for races next Friday and Saturday would be held Sunday morning and that efforts would be made to add races, to make up for lost ones, as the meet continues.
The only previous cancellation of Del Mar racing came in August of 1985 due to a lack of entries after an INS raid of undocumented workers on the backstretch.
DEAD HEATS FOR LEAD IN BOTH JOCKEY, TRAINER RACES
Two wins Friday by Abel Cedillo moved the 30-year-old native of Guatemala into a tie for the lead in the jockey standings with Drayden Van Dyke at six wins each.
Cedillo, who had been riding at Golden Gate Fields in San Francisco, came south at the start of the Del Mar summer meeting at the behest of agent Tom Knust. He shared the title in the recently completed Santa Anita fall meeting with Flavien Prat.
“I’d say he has exceeded my expectations,” Knust said. “I knew he could ride, but I didn’t know his work ethic and dedication. I’ve had a lot of talented riders, but none with the work ethic he has. I think he can contend, and possibly win (the riding title). Business is good, I’m getting a lot of calls for him to ride.”
Trainers Vladimir Cerin and Richard Baltas both saddled two winners on Friday to move into a tie for the lead with Peter Miller. Baltas and Miller have six wins from 14 starters while Cerin has gone 4-for-5.
MANDELLA READIES TWO FOR UPCOMING STAKES
With Flavien Prat up, Extra Hope worked 5 furlongs in 1:02.80 Saturday morning for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella in preparation for the Grade III $100,000 Native Diver Stakes next Saturday at 1 1/8 miles on the main track.
A 3-year-old son of Shanghai Bobby owned by Samantha Siegel’s Jay Em Ess Stable, Extra Hope was third in the seven-furlong Damascus Stakes on November 2 at Santa Anita in his last start.
“He worked (in company) with a young horse and went really nice,” Mandella said. “He had a nice prep race in the Damascus and we’re anxious to see how he does going longer.”
Mandella’s promising 2-year-old, Goliad, came out of a runner-up showing in Thursday’s second race in good shape and is being aimed for the Grade III, $100,000 Cecil B. DeMille on closing day, December 1.
“He showed some immaturity (Thursday) but he’ll be all right. He’ll learn from it,” Mandella said.
MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR BOBBY GRAYSON SR. SET FOR MONDAY
A memorial service for Bobby Wayne Grayson, Sr., will be held Monday at 10 a.m. at Greenwood Funeral Home Northeast, 3700 River Boulevard in Bakersfield followed by a graveside service at Shafter Cemetary at noon.
Grayson, whose success in the oil well service industry led to pursuing a passion for Thoroughbred racing, died on November 8 in Bakersfield after a long battle with cancer. He was 81.
Grayson was a longtime trainer primarily based at Los Alamitos and owner of farms in California and Kentucky. On the day of his death Happy Trails, a legacy horse owned by his son Bobby Grayson, Jr., and trained by Val Brinkerhoff, won the fourth race on the opening day card of the Bing Crosby meeting.
In addition to his son, Grayson is survived by daughters Cheryl and Terri; five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Memorial donations may be made to Akindale Thoroughbred Rescue via the website www.akindalehorserescue.org.
CLOSERS – Selected works from Saturday morning: Brill (4f, :48.20), Instagrand (:49.80), Extra Hope (5f, 1:02.80), Henley’s Joy (5f, 1:01.40), Nolde (5f, 1:02.20).