Stride May 17, 2010 Issue No. 6
Lucky Strikes
Lookin at Lucky’s Preakness win extends Triple Crown drought
A guide to the Japan Derby
m agazine
Issue No. 6
May 17, 2010
Contents Main attractions 6
COVER STORY A Stroke of Lucky Bob Baffert switches jockeys and gets his fifth Preakness Stakes win. By Ryan Patterson
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A Running Tradition Preakness veterans reflect on Baltimore’s best-known annual party. By Dan Lobdell
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Derby Day, Japanese style The Japan Derby can serve as the perfect excuse to visit Tokyo. By Kate Hunter
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Other Features 16 32
Graded Stakes Races
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Ticket to Ride Steeplechase rider Xavier Aizpuru’s decision to come to America rejuvenates his career. By Scott Serio
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Still in the Race Though its had its share of rough times, the Atlantic City Race Course is making a comeback. By Joan Fairman Kanes
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Making the Catch When a horse loses its rider, Eddie Przybyla is there to avert catastrophe. By Scott Serio
on the cover: Jockey Martin Garcia rode Lookin at Lucky to victory in the 135th running of the Preakness Stakes.
Scott Serio/Eclipse sportswire
Stride Magazine
A subsidiary of ESW Media P.O. Box 4 Colora, MD 21917 A bi-weekly publication
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CONTACT INFORMATION E-mail: stridemagonline@gmail.com Phone: 443.693.3454
May 17, 2010
EDITORIAL STAFF Publisher: Henry Hill Design Director: Dave Zeiler Photo Editor: Scott Serio Copy editors: Paul Bendel-Simso, Michael Marlow
Photo: Adam Mooshian/Eclipse Sportswire
Heart of Dixie
Eventual winner Strike A Deal (8) and Nicanor (13) lead the way into the first turn in the Grade II Dixie Stakes on Preakness Day.
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Photo: scott serio/eclipse sportswire
Lookin At Lucky (7) and jockey Martin Garcia win the Preakness at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, MD.
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Stroke of
Lucky Trainer Bob Baffert surges back into Preakness fame with a convincing ride from Lookin At Lucky
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By Ryan Patterson
f thoroughbred racing is a game of highs and lows, then Lookin At Lucky went from the top of heap to the bottom of the barrel, and is finally at the top once again after taking the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday. New jockey Martin Garcia piloted the son of Smart Strike with confidence and surged to the lead at the top of the stretch before outdueling long shot First Dude to the wire under strong right-hand urging. First Dude saved second place from a hard-charging Jackson Bend, who was just a head behind him at the wire.
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Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver was given yet another perfect ride by
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Connections celebrate Lookin At Lucky’s win in the Preakness at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimo
jockey Calvin Borel. He looked comfortable headed for home, but faded when Borel asked him for his best stuff. “My horse broke sharp, right where I wanted,” said Borel. “I let the other horse go, and I was right behind him. We went 23-and-change and 46-and-change. He just wasn’t able to get there today. I will win a lot of other races with this horse. He’s a good one.” Todd Pletcher made it clear after the race that his Derby winner would not head to Belmont to contest the third leg of the Triple Crown. “When they went to the far turn, you could see that Calvin was squeezing and asking him to go get that horse, and he just couldn’t do it,” said Pletcher. “He hung in there. He kept fighting. He tried hard. It was back a little quick for him. Now we’ve got time to come back for a big summer.”
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Photo: Adam mooshian/eclipse sportswire
Super Saver fades
Photo: Adam mooshian/eclipse sportswire
It’s been a long journey for Lookin At Lucky, who was a multiple Grade 1 winner before the year began. His luck in 2010 had been horrid up to this point. He clipped heels in the Rebel Stakes and still managed to run down archrival Noble’s Promise. After that he was slammed into the rail before rallying to capture third place in the Santa Anita Derby. Lucky then drew the rail in the Kentucky Derby, where he was roughed up in the first turn, virtually losing all chance at winning. He made it from 18th place at the half-mile pole in the Kentucky Derby to sixth by the time they had hit the stretch – making up 16 lengths while doing so. A lesser horse would have just quit and stayed at the back after encountering such trouble, but not the warhorse, not Lookin At Lucky. The Preakness Stakes marked the fourth time that Lucky was fast enough to win a Grade 1 race. Garcia might have been the difference maker in the ¾-length win. “I knew the horse outside me [Jackson Bend] had a lot of speed, and I knew that I had to get close to the rail by the first turn – that’s what [trainer Bob Baffert] told me,” said Garcia. “I tried to save the most ground to the first turn. Bob told me, after that, just do whatever you want. I tried to save ground, and whenever I got a chance I wanted to go outside, and I’d get them from there.” “Get from there” is exactly what the young and immensely talented rider was able to do. “He was kicking, like he was home into that position,” said Garcia. “When I asked him to go, he kicked. But at the same time, the horse was coming running. I thought once he was going to pass me, but my horse kept fighting with the other. One horse outside come to me, and then he just take off again. When my horse kick again, I said, ‘No, I think this race is gonna be mine’ – so.”
ore on Preakness Day. Far left: The field passes the stands for the first time in the Preakness at Pimlico.
Photo: Adam mooshian/eclipse sportswire
Left: Bob Baffert’s son Bode tries a trophy cup on for size.
Photo: adam mooshian/eclipse sportswire
Lookin at Lucky (center) hangs on to win the Preakness, edging out Jackson Bend (left) and First Dude (right).
The big summer Pletcher is talking about could be a trip to the Jim Dandy or Haskell Stakes before trying the Travers Stakes and ultimately the Breeders Cup Classic at Churchill Downs. It is likely that Super Saver will meet Lookin at Lucky again at some point in 2010. The career of Lookin At Lucky reached its culmination in the Preakness Stakes. He lived up to his name – which has a wonderful inspiration for the first time in a long time. “We’ll make it real simple, said coowner Mike Pegram. “You see these five people sitting up here, you’re ‘looking at lucky.’ You can pick any one of us, and all five of us are luckier now to have each other and have a horse like this. That was the true meaning of the name. All three of us had different versions of it, but it all means the same thing. We all know we’ve been blessed. You know, the horse just keeps on showing how blessed we are.”
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Pegram has owned other stars, such as 1998 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Real Quiet, 1998 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Silverbulletday, and 2008 and 2009 Breeders Cup Sprint winner Midnight Lute. Mike Smith, Kentucky Derby-winning jockey and regular rider of Breeders Cup Classic-winning mare Zenyatta, wasn’t thrilled with his trip aboard Jackson Bend. “To be honest – and I’m not taking anything away from the winner – but I think I was on the best horse today,” said Smith. “I just had to wait for some room, but when I got it, it was in deep stretch, and it cost me. He ran dynamite.” “He ran good,” said trainer Nick Zito of Jackson Bend. “At the halfmile pole he comes running again. If we can get out, it’s a different story: We win.” Jackson Bend will not be aimed to the Belmont Stakes, according to Zito.
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Zito has Kentucky Derby second-place finisher Ice Box and Dwyer Stakes winner Fly Down waiting in the wings for Belmont in three weeks.
A place in history
Lookin At Lucky was Bob Baffert’s fifth Preakness Stakes winner and his first winner in a Triple Crown race since War Emblem won the Preakness in 2002. He is tied for second with T.J. Healy and D. Wayne Lukas for most Preakness wins. He is two behind R.W. Walden, who won the race five times in a row from 1878-1882 and also won it in 1875 and 1888. At the age of 57, there is reason to believe Baffert could catch Walden because Bob Baffert is the king of the Triple Crown. He took a bit of a hiatus from 2002 until now, but he’s unequivocally the best trainer in the world with three-year-olds. Make no mistake: Baffert is back. h
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A Running Tr
Families and friends make their annual pilgrimage to Pimlico By Dan Lobdell Photos by Eclipse Sportswire
O
nly one event has ever prevented Preakness regular Marty Alexa from attending the middle jewel of the Triple Crown: his wedding day
in 1991. But, he says, “We still had the TV tuned in at the wedding. We made sure the Preakness was on.” What keeps fans like Alexa coming back to Pimlico year after year is the atmosphere, the reunion with old family and friends and, of course, the possibility of an unforgettable race. Preakness officials were focusing on the family atmosphere last year when they made drastic changes to the infield alcohol policy. The result was a plummet in attendance. This year, Pimlico changed leads midstretch and found a different way to control the unruliness. They banned almost every container for alcohol. And, along with the beer cans and strategic placement of the port-o-potties, went the “Running of the Urinals” made famous on YouTube. But Alexa and many others opted out of the infield experience long ago in favor of their spots along the stretch in the grandstands. Unlike infield partiers – many of whom rarely even see a horse – Alexa has witnessed many a stirring stretch drive.
Hilltop experiences
He still gets chills when discussing his favorite Preakness at “Old Hilltop,” back in 1989 when Sunday Silence nudged Easy Goer by a nose to claim two-thirds of the Triple Crown. “They were neck and neck the whole way, nose to nose. To this day I still think Easy Goer won,” he said of the horse he picked that day. Cal Coolidge also picked Easy Goer to win in what would be the first of many Preakness Stakes the racing enthusiast would attend.
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radition
o in hopes of seeing history made once again
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“I had $100 on Easy Goer, and as soon as they crossed the finish line I turned to my buddy and said, ‘I don’t even care,’” Coolidge recalls. “I had just lost $100, but that was the greatest Preakness ever.” Coolidge and his wife, Joan, have attended every year since, bringing friends and family along to the eight seats they have owned since their very first Preakness. One year, one of his two sisters-inlaw attended, so he decided to secretly fly in his wife’s other sister so all three could enjoy the day together. The Coolidges have two traditions for Preakness: Never pick the same horse; and whoever wins pays for the dinner in Little Italy later that night. Cal footed the bill back in 2002 when he nailed the $3,600 trifecta of War Emblem, Magic Weisner and Proud Citizen. Alexa and his family wear their own tradition on their heads: black-eyed Susan hats, adorned with nearly all of their previous tickets to the race. That tradition was started in 1996 after his brother Mike got married and Mike’s wife, Patty, volunteered to make the hats similar to the ones many Preakness-goers wear. Susan Lavery also proudly wore her black-eyed Susan hat Saturday. Lavery and her husband, George, have been going to the Preakness for the last 40 years, and have seen Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed go on to capture the Triple Crown after winning at Pimlico. The Seattle Slew year was particularly memorable for them because their son ended up on the poster Pimlico used to commemorate the event. Course officials had never asked permission to use the image, however, and when the Laverys contacted Pimlico about using the picture, they ended up with a host of infield tickets for the next year’s event by way of apology.
Fans get geared up to continue decades of tradition on Preakness Day (top), The winner’s trophy for the Preakness, The Woodlawn Vase, is taken to the winner’s circle (bottom).
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Mr. Greengenes lead singer Bryen O”Boyle rocks out during the infield concert.
Kevin Corcoran’s first and favorite Preakness was in 1978, and he has attended every year since. He says seeing Affirmed and Alydar battling to the finish was an incredible experience, and the hope of seeing the next Triple Crown legend keeps him coming back. Geoff and Kay Callan brought friends from their undergrad days at the University of Florida to the Preakness on Saturday in hopes of seeing Super Saver conquer the field. Geoff’s mother called him from Florida to tell him to put $20 on Super Saver, but that bet, like so many others he and his pal Breen Lyden have placed over the years, fell well short.
On the infield
What didn’t fall short was the Preakness crowd. Up more than 23 percent
Gold, black and horsey, the recipe for a successful Preakness outfit.
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Upcoming Graded Stakes Races DATE
TRACK RACE
GRD.
DIST.
2010-05-22
BEL
Sheepshead Bay Stakes
II
11.0 T
2010-05-22
CD
Louisville Handicap
III
12.0 T
2010-05-22
HOL
Lazaro S. Barrera Memorial Stakes
III
7.0 S
2010-05-29
AP
Hanshin Cup
III
8.0 S
2010-05-29
AP
Arlington Matron Handicap
III
9.0 S
2010-05-29
BEL
Vagrancy Handicap
II
7.0
2010-05-29
CD
Aristides Stakes
III
6.0
2010-05-29
CD
Dogwood Stakes
III
8.0
2010-05-29
GG
Golden Gate Fields Turf
III
11.0 T
2010-05-29
HOL
Gamely Stakes
I
9.0 T
2010-05-31
BEL
Metropolitan Handicap
I
8.0
2010-05-31
BEL
Sands Point Stakes
II
9.0 T
2010-05-31
CD
Winning Colors
III
6.0
2010-05-31
CRC
Memorial Day Handicap
III
8.5
2010-05-31
GG
Berkeley Stakes
III
8.5 S
2010-05-31
HOL
Shoemaker Mile
I
8.0 T
2010-05-31
HOL
Honeymoon Handicap
II
9.0 T
2010-05-31
LS
Lone Star Park Handicap
III
8.5
2010-05-31
LS
Ouija Board Distaff Handicap
III
8.0 T
2010-05-31
MTH
Eatontown Stakes
III
8.5 T
2010-06-00
BEL
First Flight Handicap
II
7.0
2010-06-00
BEL
Poker Stakes
III
8.0 T
2010-06-00
HOL
Round Table Handicap
III
14.0 T
2010-06-00
HOL
Ack Ack Handicap
III
7.5 S
2010-06-04
BEL
Brooklyn Handicap
II
12.0
2010-06-04
BEL
Hill Prince Stakes
III
9.0
2010-06-05
BEL
Belmont Stakes
I
12.0
2010-06-05
BEL
Manhattan Handicap
I
10.0 T
2010-06-05
BEL
Just A Game Stakes
I
8.0 T
2010-06-05
BEL
Acorn Stakes
I
8.0
2010-06-05
BEL
Woody Stephens Stakes
II
7.0
2010-06-05
BEL
True North Handicap
II
6.0
2010-06-05
CD
Mint Julep Handicap
III
8.5 T
2010-06-05
HOL
Charles Whittingham Mem. Hndcp. I
10.0 T
2010-06-05
HOL
Los Angeles Handicap
III
6.0 S
2010-06-06
HOL
Hollywood Oaks
II
8.5 S
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Sam Grossman, known to many as “Sam the Bugler” plays the call to the post.
from last year, the published attendance topped 95,000. The controversial “Get Your Preak On” ad campaign will surely be credited with some of that success. But the flavor of the infield scene this year was less about unabashed drunken debauchery and more about pure entertainment. There was an edge to it, with a bikini contest and bottomless beers (for those who bought the $20 mugs), but the mayhem that had become as much a part of Preakness Day as beer-soaked dollar bills at the betting windows was practically nonexistent. The presence of headlining bands like O.A.R. and the Grammy Award-winning Zac Brown Band also added to the allure of the infield. After enjoying great opening acts, two top-level bands, competitive beach volleyball, an oxygen bar and even some Xbox, infield fans and grandstand fans alike turned their focus to the racetrack to see if Super Saver could score a win and head to Belmont Park with a chance for the Triple Crown. For at least another year, though, the Laverys and Corcoran will have to make do with the long-ago memory of Affirmed storming to the finish. But they, like the Alexas, Coolidges and Callans, hold out hope they will one day see thoroughbred racing’s next immortal. No matter how long the regulars have been making the pilgrimage to Pimlico on the third Saturday of May, they will keep returning in hopes of seeing the sport’s first Triple Crown winner in 32 years ... and counting. h
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135 Preakness Stakes th
Scene at the track Photos by Eclipse Sportswire
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Photo: scott serio/eclipse sportswire
Lady Legends
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The rest of the returning “Lady Legends” salute jockey Barbara Jo the start of the Legend’s For The Cure race at Pimlico Race Course featuring eight retired female jockeys, was part of a daylong fundr support the Susan G. Komen For The Cure Foundation. The riders w Seefeldt Knight, Barbara Jo Rubin, Jennifer Rowland Small, Mary and Patricia Cooksey. Jocson won the race aboard her mount Hon are breast cancer survivors, Wagner receiving her last chemotherap
Rubin, the oldest of the competitors, before e on Black-Eyed Susan Day. The race, raiser to foster breast cancer awareness and were, from left, Mary Russ Tortora, Andrea Wiley Wagner, Cheryl White, Gwen Jocson nor in Peace. Both Cooksey and Wagner py treatment in Novermber.
fu ll stri d e
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Japanese style Derby Day,
Story and Photos by Kate Hunter
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The Tokyo Racecourse offers a spectacular view of Mount Fuji.
hen it comes to describing the racing experience in Japan, any superlatives you might reach for will fall short, and adequate descriptions will be hard to come by. You could say that entering Tokyo Racecourse is something like walking into the Coliseum in Rome. Or, to bring it closer to home, you could say that comparing Tokyo Racecourse to tracks in the United States is like comparing a Major League Baseball stadium to a high school field. But the total experience is made up of much more than an impressive facility. The presentation of the race, the excitement of the fans and the winner’s circle experience all add something truly indescribable to the Japanese racing experience. STRIDE MAGAZINE
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In the Shinjuku section of Tokyo, tourists will find an assortment of hotels for every budget as well as plenty of places to shop and eat.
There are many reasons to visit Japan, but horse racing is a big one – and the Japan Derby is close to the No. 1 attraction. It’s one of the country’s biggest races, at the country’s best racecourse, with the country’s best 3-year-olds. The Japanese Racing Association fills the event with plenty of pomp and circumstance to make the day an unforgettable experience.
Tasting the culture
The Keio Plaza Hotel is conveniently located near the Shinjuku train station.
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Upon arrival to Narita International Airport, you can take the Narita Express all the way to Shinjuku section of Tokyo, where you will be able to find suitable hotel accommodations, whatever your budget. Shinjuku is a mecca for business, shopping and eating, and its train station is a main hub for most of the train and subway lines in Tokyo. In Shinjuku, you can experience everything Japan has to offer; and from Shinjuku, you can travel anywhere you need to go. The Keio Plaza is an afford-
At 1,091 feet, the Eiffel Tower-inspired Tokyo Tower is the second-tallest artificial structure in Japan.
able and comfortable hotel near in Shinjuku and offers a wonderShinjuku station, with an Englishful glimpse of Japan’s rich cultural speaking staff that can help you history. If you ride the circular Yaget around the area with ease. The manote train line from Shinjuku hotel is surrounded by posh stores station, you can also visit a variety and wonderful restaurants. of locations including – but not It would be convenient to list limited to – Harujuku (a famous exactly where a visitor should go shopping district), Shibuya (refor the best food in Shinjuku, but nowned for shopping and an acthat’s an impossibility: You won’t tive night scene), Tokyo Tower, and find a restaurant that doesn’t serve Akihabara (a place to find the latmagnificent food, and Shinjuku est technology at bargain prices). has one of the most diverse selecOff to the races tions of cuisine in the world. Not Danon Chantilly won the GI NHK Mile Cup May 9 in Traveling to the track from only is there the wide variety of record time, becoming Japan’s top 3-year-old miler. Shinjuku is simple. All of Japan’s Japanese food to choose from on every street, there are also fantastic res- meals set up, so you will always be able train stations and cars offer station names and instructions in both Engtaurants serving food from every cor- to know what you are eating. ner of the world. After you have checked into your ho- lish and Japanese. From Shinjuku staAnd if the idea of Japanese dining tel and have sampled some of the fan- tion you take the orange Chuo Line toconjures up vision of raw fish, followed tastic cuisine, you should travel around wards Takao for 34 minutes, then you by more raw fish, stop worrying: Su- Tokyo to see the sites. Shinjuku is lush transfer to the Musashino line at Nishishi makes up a small percentage of the with shopping centers and stores of all Kokubunji and ride it to its final stop: Japanese diet. Most Japanese food is shapes and sizes, from designer depart- Fuchu-Honmachi. There, an abovegwell-cooked – and very delicious. And ment stores to unusual independent round walkway takes you right to the you don’t need to master the language boutiques. Meiji Jingu, a Shinto temple track’s main entrance. Box seats start at 2,000 yen (about to place your order. Restaurants usu- built in the name of world peace and ally have photos or displays of available Japan’s Emperor Meiji, is also located $20), or you can buy general admission
The Shibuya district, easily accessible from Shinjuku by train, is known for its shopping and night life.
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Box seats in the grandstand at Tokyo Race course start at 2,000 yen ($20), but general admission is only 200 yen ($2).
for 200 yen (about $2). The races usually start about 10 a.m. and last until about 4:30 p.m., with about 12 races on the card. The 11th race is always the main event of the day; it’s usually a graded stakes race of some kind. If you are worried about how your $5 exacta box translates into Japanese, don’t worry. There are betting cards
that you can fill out and insert into automated machines. The JRA also offers English tours every Saturday and Sunday. After arriving at the racecourse at 10:30 a.m. you will meet with your tour guide at the information desk; he’ll present the various attractions that Tokyo Racecourse has to offer. The guided tour includes
Norihiro Yokoyama won his first Japan Derby last year aboard Logi Universe.
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the Turf Vision (the world’s largest multi-screen monitor), the JRA Racing Museum, a Japanese garden, infield playground, the paddock, cafeteria and restaurants, a tutorial on the Japanese betting system, and the Turfy gift shop). The price of the tour includes a nice set of reserved seats in the gorgeous Fuji View grandstand. The tour concludes before the main race of the day – about 3 p.m., allowing you to get back to your seats to watch the excitement. When the tour guide leaves you, he’ll give you a ticket to get back to Shinjuku station as well as clear instructions on how to get back to your hotel. Tokyo Racecourse is home to Japan’s greatest Grade 1 races: the Tokyo Yuushun (Japan Derby), NHK Mile Cup, Victoria Mile, Japanese Oaks, Yasuda Kinen, Emperor’s Cup Fall, and the Japan Cup. And your chance to come and experience a day at the Japanese races is arriving quicker than you might think: The next major race day will host the Japan Derby on May 30, so grab your passport and reserve that plane ticket. h
Follow the Triple Crown
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Above: 6-year-old gelding Lawdy Me, Gabriel Garcia up, wins the fourth race on opening day of the 2010 season at Atlantic C Below right: Becky Tomlin and her daughter Caitie look over the race entries.
Still in the race
Rumors of Atlantic City Race Course’s impending death are much exa Story and photos by Joan Fairman Kanes
F
or years, fans have wondered if the final day of the Atlantic City Race Course meet would be the last ever. But this year’s opening-day attendance of 7,200 fans, accented by blue skies, excited fans and full fields of gleaming thoroughbreds, indicates otherwise. They were on hand for opening day of the Turf Festival at Atlantic City Race Course on April 18. Racing enthusiasts of all ages crowded around the paddock to see the horses and then filled the grandstand apron to watch them run on the lush turf. A bugler in red livery played before each race – and pony rides were available for the youngest fans. Four days later – a Thursday – there were no pony rides and the crowds were a bit smaller, but the bugler played and the festive atmosphere
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continued. Two days after that, the crowds the pony rides were back, and a seventh race f six. And when that race ended, the 2010 seaso Atlantic City Race Course opened on July 2 ished for more than 30 years. The arrival of c in the late 1970s meant increasing competit dollars, and by the mid-1990s, declining atten track’s future uncertain. The live-racing sch shrank from a full summer season to a few da gradually fell apart, and the safety rail along sold. There has been no racing on the dirt si The facility is open year-round (except Chri mulcasting, and it’s the profit from that oper
City Race Course.
aggerated
had grown again, followed the usual on was over. 22, 1946, and flourcasinos in the area ition for gambling ndance had left the hedule eventually ays. The tote board g the dirt track was ince the late 1990s. istmas Day) for siration that pays for
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each day of the brief turf meet. ACRC has been owned since 2001 by Greenwood Racing, which also owns Philadelphia Park, and the name of that larger, year-round track in Bensalem, PA, can be seen in many places at the smaller venue: on track-pony saddle cloths, grooms’ caps, vests worn by members of the gate crew. In recent years, ACRC had spread its short season across two weeks, racing on days when Philadelphia Park was dark to facilitate the sharing of essential workers – including the race caller – as well as to avoid competition, but this year the Bensalem track closed for the entire six days of the Atlantic City meet, enabling the New Jersey track to open on a Sunday and have races the following Saturday, as well as on four weekdays. Opening-day attendance was at a 15-year high. Most of the races throughout the week had 11 or 12 horses, day-trippers shipped in from Pennsylvania, Delaware or other parts of New Jersey. Track president Maureen Bugdon is optimistic about the track’s future, noting that there has been a steady increase in attendance and handle over the past five years, and that for two years in a row, ACRC has had the largest fields in the country, averaging 10 horses per race. She does not rule out the possibility of a new tote board, or even the return someday of dirt racing as part of an expanded season. h
There are no longer tote boards at Atlantic City Race Course, but a TV with race replays, posted lists of the day’s entries, and programs for sale can all be found inside the grandstand.
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‘
’
This was my track.
– Hilton Braithwaite, age 85
Far left: Jockey Tony Black is in the winner’s circle after a victory on a chestnut mare named Enjoy the Win. Left: Silvia Barrera and her pony, Ernesto, wait for the next group of race horses to arrive on the track.
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Tic
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cket to ride Trip across Atlantic revives Xavier Aizpuru’s career, leading to winning pairing with Motion
Photos and Story by Scott Serio
T
he offer was simple: “Send him my way – I’ll keep him busy.” “Him” was Xavier Aizpuru. He was 9 years old, and he was running wild in his parents’ pub in Bourton-on-the-Hill in the English Cotswolds. “I thought the pub was the greatest playground ever,” says Aizpuru, or “Schav” to his friends.
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‘
The whole reason I came over was to ride races.
’
– Xavier Aizpuru
So when local horse trainer David Nicholson made the offer, the parents agreed, and Xavier went for it; he started helping out at Nicholson’s racing stable. The boy had no idea he was becoming part of a legacy that included such great names as Dunwoody, Scudamore, Swinburn and Eddery. David Nicholson’s father was “Frenchie” Nicholson, and between the two of them, the academy of riders the father and son formed touched decades of British racing. Aizpuru spent most of his adolescence refining his skills under Nicholson’s tutelage. And for 14 years, since turning 21, he has been a competitive race rider. “It was jumps from the start. It was what I was always interested in,” says Aizpuru. “My father has always been a great fan and would take me along. Steeplechasing is such a beautiful sport, and it is so exciting to watch and be a part of.” As beautiful as it may be, professional jump riding is demanding. It took Aizpuru a long time to learn it. “Be prepared for a lot of hard work, and even then that doesn’t necessarily mean success,” he says. “I can guarantee there will be a lot of disappointments along the way, but if you stick with it you will get your rewards.”
New World opportunity
Star for Tina and Xavier Aizpuru came in second in the Loudoun Chase Hurdle at Morven Park Races in Leesburg, VA, last October.
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The opportunity to ride in the United States came during a tough time in Aizpuru’s life. “My career was flagging a bit in England, and a good friend had moved over, and he was switching jobs and called me up to see if I would be interested,” he says. “The whole reason I came over was to ride races.” He started with Hall of Fame trainer Janet Elliot, worked with Neil Morris, and through his efforts ended up as “first-call” rider for perennial leading steeplechase trainer Jack Fisher. While riding jumps for Fisher, Aizpuru wanted to expand his horizons. Through a series of conversations with Graham Motion, Xavier ended up with a job in the mornings. “I had never really worked proper flat race horses. I wanted try to see it, try my hand at it.”
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Xavier Aizpuru hangs up his tack after morning workouts at Fair Hill, before heading off to ride in steeplechase races later in the day.
Xavier Aizpuru after winning the Sandhills Cup at the 58th Stoneybrook Steeplechase in Raeford, NC.
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The pairing of Aizpuru and Motion has borne fruit for the rider. “The horses are conditioned differently – speed versus stamina – it helps you with judging pace, which I take into jump racing,” he says, “And Graham is a good guy to work for; he is very flexible for me and understands my jump racing.” The results can’t be debated, either. Aizpuru was the leading steeplechase rider in the United States in 2007 and 2008, and finished second in 2009. He counts the 2007 riding title among his favorite memories. “Being leading rider for the first time, it was a lot of hard work through course of season. Then to follow it up with a championship the next year ... “There are other single races, like winning the New York Turf Writers – that is a big race,” says Aizpuru. “But the first title, that was the most satisfying.”
May 17, 2010
And what’s next? “I have no aspirations,” he says. “If I can stay fit and healthy, I just consider myself to be lucky to be able to do it.” Aizpuru can be found at Graham Motion’s Herringswell Stables in Fair Hill, MD, just about every morning. When there are jump races, he will be there in the afternoon. And yes, that is every morning. Even last winter – with feet of snow on the ground and a bonechilling wind ripping into rider and horse as they made their way to the training track. Asked why he does it, why he wakes up so early, even on days like that, Aizpuru says, “I don’t know. Obviously those mornings are outweighed by the days the weather is beautiful. You do the job because you love the job and love to do it. Otherwise, you simply wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning.” h
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Eddie Przybyla pulls up Seeking The Title after she lost her rider, Kent Desormeaux, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, MD, on Black-Eyed Susan Day May 14.
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Eddie Przybyla aboard his trusty Bonivar on Preakness Day. Przybyla has been an outrider at Pimlico since 1984.
Making the catch When a jockey gets thrown, outrider Eddie Przybyla is there to keep a mishap from becoming a catastrophe Photos and story by Scott Serio
D
iva Delite fell, Seeking the Title stumbled over her, and jockeys Kent Desormeaux and Julien Leparoux lay on the ground. As most onlookers focused their concern on the welfare of the jockeys, veteran outrider Eddie Przybyla and his colleagues focused on the two riderless horses that were sprinting around the track.
With a full field of horses still competing in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, the fact that both fillies were charging around the Pimlico oval posed a serious danger. Since 1984, it has been Przybyla’s responsibility to ensure the safety of horses and riders alike at Maryland Jockey Club racecourses. Przybyla has logged 43 years riding horses in Maryland, but he didn’t grow
up around them. “My father tried to ride in Florida,” he said, “but he couldn’t stay there because of the Depression.” Eventually the family moved north, but the elder Przybyla insisted that his children grow up to know and love horses, even if they weren’t going to stay on the farm. Riding lessons for Eddie were the result. And when he left the Marine Corps in 1970, Eddie
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‘
They needed a fill-in outrider. I did it – and have been here ever since.
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– Eddie Przybyla brought his father’s ambition to reality by going back to horses. Initially he galloped horses on the backstretch. But fate came knocking in 1984. “They needed a fill-in outrider,” says Przybyla. “I did it – and have been here ever since.” With this background, it was “Polack Eddie,” as his friends call him, who chased Seeking the Title past the grandstands and up the stretch. “I focus on everything: I focus on his speed, his direction and his focus – if he has focus,” said Przybyla. “And he had focus; he was dead on.” With all this in mind, Przybyla used his regular mount of 12 years, Bonivar, a frisky 20-year-old off-the-track
self. Traveling close enough to the outside to cause some photographers to dive for cover, Eddie and Bonivar got even with Seeking the Title, and with a steady right hand, the 60-year-old Przybyla reached down to snatch up the reins. For everyone concerned, a loose horse on the track is a scary propA veteran horseman, Eddie Przybyla has been riding in osition. It can even turn Maryland for 43 years. tragic, as it did in 2009, thoroughbred, to reel in Seeking the when Raspberry Kiss had to be put Title. “All I really had to do was match down during Kentucky Derby week. speed,” he said. From morning workouts until the last Easily said, but no small task when race of the day, outriders are there to trying to harness a 1,000-plus-pound inject themselves into dangerous situahorse in a mad dash with no one at the tions and prevent any further chaos. controls. The field had passed the finTo outriders like Eddie Przybyla, it is ish line and was about to come back as just his job – the same job he has done Seeking the Title crossed the line her- for 26 years.h
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Last look…
“Do you mind? I’m gettin’ a bath here!”
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