Page 26 - January 2007 The Game

26 The Game, January 2007 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Jockeys Weigh in on Their Way Out
Jockeys Weigh in on Their Way Out
It seemed just a matter of days since Jim McAleney flew to the wire in the first race on April 1, 2006, making the Reade Baker trained Fire Power the initial winner of the year. Suddenly it was December10 and the Woodbine jockeys were fulfilling their last racing assignments of the year. The Game asked some of the jocks to assess their seasons.
Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Purse earnings Emma-Jayne Wilson: 970 144 136 131 $7,011,342
My year was spectacular. It was great to have the momentum of the 2005 season carry through. I went to England and I went to B.C. just to ride races, just to do something that I love. It’s amazing to be part of this game.
The Dubai Duty Free Shergar World Jockey Challenge in England was an amazing event. There were ten jockeys in total – five from Great Britain and Ireland versus five jockeys from around the world. To be in the company of some of the riders that I was involved against, just to be picked out of North America to get here and ride - I thought my dreams had all come true already. I do think a lot about how much I want to win the Queen’s Plate, but I’m concentrating on riding and enjoying the game, and the rest will fall in its place.
Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Purse earnings James McAleney 621 113 93 82 $6,292,933
We had another successful year. Dan Williams was my new agent this year and he did a wonderful job. He had to start cold, like coming off the bench to skate in the playoffs. He had to get to know the players and my own business and he did a wonderful job. I have to
thank Reade Baker and Lorne Richards for their wonderful support. With two guys like that, you can’t go wrong. I won 13 Stakes which is the most Stakes winners I’ve had for awhile. My year lacked a Gold Strike and prevented us from pushing our earnings over the top. We lacked a Grade One winner.
Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Purse earnings Richard Dos Ramos 338 30 27 32 $1,646,508
It was sort of an up and down kind of year and hopefully it will turn out to be a better one next year. I rode a couple of real nice horses. Main Executive was one of the horses that I won a couple of Stakes with. I lost a couple of nice horses like Palladio, who won the Ohio
Derby early in the spring. He hurt his ankle and had to get the rest of the year off. Justincasejimmy got hurt too. Those types of horses are so hard to replace. I want to thank the clientele I’ve been riding for forever, like Roger Attfield, Danny O’Callaghan and Greg de Gannes. I picked up some horses for Alec Fehr. Laurie Silvera put me on some nice horses. It was a building type of year.
60th . That was a really big deal. I’m very happy with how things have gone.
Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Purse earnings (Fort Erie) 217 32 31 38 $442,171
Dean Deverell (Woodbine) 472 33 36 56 $1,295,115
We had a real productive first year. I rode between Woodbine and Fort Erie. I rode both tracks seven days a week. Everyone was real good to me. I won leading apprentice at Fort Erie. It was something I always wanted to do. It just took a while to happen. I’ve been
around for years and I rode quarter horses for seven or eight years. They carry heavier weights. I never thought I could get light enough, but I was trying to get light enough this spring for Picov’s Quarter Horse Racing. I was going to tack a little lighter, and when I surpassed that, I figured I’d keep on going for my dream. The best memories this year are my first win ever at Fort Erie. I won the last two races. Then there was my first win at Woodbine. I won two here for Dave Cotey. I finally got to win a race on the grass for Sandy McPherson on Friendly Connection, a real nice filly. One more high- light was winning on my wife’s 9-year-old, Knightly Appeal. My wife, Siobhan, is the daughter of Alfred Ferrara who rode here until he was 62, so more or less I just followed his footsteps. He was 62, just finishing up, so I figured I might as well be 35 just starting out.
Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Purse earnings
(Fort Erie) 562 111 91 89 $1,419,707 Robert King, Jr. (Woodbine)117 3 9 14
Starts
Todd Kabel
1st 2nd 3rd Purse earnings 571 101 79 74 $6,811,140
I think I had an unbelievable year. I started off real slow, and if it wasn’t for the inside track, I would have had a better year. I only won a couple races on it. A lot of our horses didn’t run on it. Off the start our business was slow, but I won a lot of Stakes (16). We’re alive and we’re healthy. I enjoyed winning
the Ontario Lassie on Palace Pier, beating the heavy favourite, Catch The Thrill. I had a lot of confidence in that filly. I told the trainer Darwin Banach now’s the time to take a shot. This was the race for her if you want to hook the best horse and try and find out what you have right now. She’s at the top of her game and she’s growing a lot. I was on my way to the gate and I thought I’m going to jump her out and play catch me if you can and it worked for us that day. I would just like to thank everybody who has contributed to my success this year - my agent and the owners and trainers and track publicity and the good Lord.
Robert Landry
I was a little disappointed in my year. I set higher goals. A few incidents compromised my win total. I had a two- year-old filly, Knight’s Templar, that was really talented and she had to be put down. She had cancer. When you lose a good Stakes horse like that it always
hurts. She was the two year old champion last year. All in all if you make it through the year and you’re healthy and you can walk out of here, it’s a good thing. At my age, whatever I get, I’m happy with. I’m grateful to a lot of people - Sue Leslie, Roger Attfield and Dan Vella. I rode a talented two year old filly, Catch The Thrill, for Mark Frostad and I’m looking forward to her next year in the Oaks. When you’re on the right horses, it makes the job a lot easier. When Catch The Thrill won the Glorious Song Stakes, that was the highlight of the year for me. I’m looking for a better year next year.
Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Purse earnings Michelle Rainford 404 65 53 42 $2,291,994
I had a great year. It started a little bit slow, but once we got rolling, things went really well and it’s good to finish with a bang. We’re riding the right horses and everyone we’ve been riding for has been really supportive. With the
extra five pounds I get as an apprentice, trainers saw that I was getting the job done, and it’s enough reason for them. My greatest moment I would say was winning my
races and ended
slow horses at Woodbine. You can’t make chicken soup out of chicken... you know what. We’re just riding long- shots.
Starts
Justin Stein
1st 2nd 3rd Purse earnings 809 109 118 118 $5,308,359
I had a great year. I came to Woodbine virtually a stranger to every- one here. I started the meet with my bug, and when I lost my bug in the middle of the meet, things kind of kept going for me and it was very nice to be well received by the trainers and
Everyone supported me this year – especially my agent, Scottie Lane, and I look forward to seeing every- one at Fort Erie next year. I bought a place down there. I’ll be riding the Fort fulltime.
Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Purse earnings
(Fort Erie) 234 23 26 34 $334,530 Jack M. Lauzon (Woodbine) 41 5 5 2
It was a safe year, an enjoyable year and a happy year. I didn’t win a ton of races, but I enjoyed having my family around. I won on a horse at Woodbine called CJ’s Lightning that looks like a pretty good two year old. I won on another here called Swift and Sassy
and I rode Frank’s Selection to a win on the grass. I finished top twenty at Fort Erie, not bad for an old guy. I don’t work really hard like everyone else does, but I have to look after my body. I just get on two or three and give 150%. There’s one fellow I really have to thank, my cousin Lyle Morden. He’s going to come with some horses next year. He’s done really well and we’re hoping to get about 15 stalls.
Starts
1st
2nd 3rd
372 40 50 32 $2,197,105
I got hurt last September. I got kicked in the liver and was off for six months and then I came back in the spring and my business had dried up, so we thought it would be a good move togodowntoFortErieandwehada fantastic meet down there. I won 111 up leading rider. I’ve been on a lot of
Purse earnings
owners. I rode a lot of horses for John Ross this year. Mike De Paulo was very helpful. He put me on a lot of horses, a lot of babies. We’ve had a fair amount of success together and our win percentage is very decent. I also want to thank Steve Attard definitely with Sweet Breanna, the Oaks Filly and Triple Tiara Series and he put me on my first Plate horse, Ascot Bill and that’s a memory I’ll always cherish. Something I never dreamed of doing as an apprentice was riding in the Plate.