By Katie Petrunyak
Carlos Rosas is running out of fingers to count on as he rattles off the names of Breeders' Cup champions he has sat on over the years. As an exercise rider for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen for the past two decades, Rosas has played a role in developing an impressive list of superstars. There's 2014 Distaff winner Untapable and 2011 Juvenile Fillies heroine My Miss Aurelia, plus Breeders' Cup runner-ups Midnight Bisou and Tapiture. The list goes on from there.
Curlin was one of his earliest claim to fames. He rode the 2007 Classic winner for the majority of his career.
“Curlin was a little funny sometimes, a little difficult,” Rosas recalled. “He looked easy, but sometimes he was not. You didn't want to pick a fight with him. You better learn to get along with him and go with him.”
Then there was 2017 Classic winner Gun Runner. He rode the eventual champ back when the colt was just an unraced 2-year-old.
“When he came from the farm, I was the first one to get on him,” Rosas explained. “We stepped onto the track and it was a totally different story. Steve knew what kind of horse he was already but I galloped the horse a mile and when I pulled up, I told him that this horse was the real deal, that he would end up being a champion.”
Carlos Rosas and Cogburn this week at Saratoga | Sarah Andrew
One of the latest Asmussen trainees that Rosas predicts also has the potential to be a champion someday is the brilliant turf sprinter Cogburn (Not This Time). The 5-year-old won this year's GI Jaipur Stakes at Saratoga in a sizzling course record time, completing the 5 ½ furlong contest in :59.80.
Cogburn never really showed that he could be a top-tier racehorse when he competed on the dirt at two and three, but the Asmussen team saw a glimpse of his true talent last year when he switched over to the turf and got his first graded score in the GIII Troy Stakes.
Rosas had worked Cogburn a few times over the past few years, but he became the sprinter's regular rider at the start of 2024.
“When they brought him back we were down in New Orleans,” Rosas said. “He was just totally different than before. We started working him and I mean, he was lights out. Steve came to watch and he always asks me how they feel. Unbelievable, I told him. He was training like a champ.”
Cogburn earned the chance to cement champion status with his win in the Jaipur, a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar on November 2.
Rosas was not able to watch Cogburn's hair-raising performance on Belmont weekend in person as he stayed behind at Churchill Downs throughout the remainder of the summer meet there. Just recently, Rosas arrived in Saratoga and was reunited with Cogburn. The pair has since put in two works since the Jaipur, most recently breezing three furlongs over the turf training track on July 12.
“He's a fun horse to ride, but he's another one where you have to get along with him,” said Rosas. “The more you keep your hands down and go with him, the better.”
Having ridden so many different horses over the years, Rosas understands that every horse is unique–in how they move, their mannerisms and quirks, how they respond to instruction–but the best riders can adjust their approach to each individual mount.
Carlos Rosas and Curlin ahead of Curlin's win in the 2007 GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Monmouth Park | Sarah Andrew
“You want to step onto the track and try to read his mind, try to communicate as much as you can with the horse,” Rosas explained. “Some horses, they make you work. When you get on the easy ones you're like, well this is fun. When you get on the difficult ones, that's when you put your hands and your whole body to work because there's a lot of power underneath you. Horses are very smart animals. If you miss something in the morning on the track or coming home, they won't. They're going to tell you and they're going to teach you. They'll teach you different things every day.”
The path to where Rosas is today as one of Steve Asmussen's go-to exercise riders starts back in his homeland of Mexico. In 1993, he came to the U.S. looking for work. He wound up with a job on a farm in Texas doing landscaping and mowing grass. Every day as he trimmed the fence lines, he kept an eye on the horses grazing in the pastures beyond. One day he asked his boss about them.
“Those are racehorses,” the boss said. “Do you like them?”
“Like them?” responded Rosas. “I love them!”
“Would you rather work with the horses or in the yard?” asked the boss.
Rosas didn't hesitate before he responded enthusiastically. He wanted to work with the horses. Back in Mexico, Rosas had grown up working around cattle horses with his grandfather. These horses at the farm in Texas were different. They were bigger, shinier, and they certainly had a lot more energy than those tough old ranch ponies.
Rosas worked with the Thoroughbreds on the farm for two years before moving to a training center to learn how to gallop. It was slow going at first. Rosas admitted that initially he was a bit intimidated by such powerful equine athletes and it didn't help when he had a bad fall early on where he broke his shoulder and fractured his collarbone. Despite all that, he loved the thrill of sitting astride those animals and as his riding skills developed, his confidence grew.
Cogburn, Carlos Rosas and Scott Blasi at Saratoga | Sarah Andrew
Eventually he started working at the racetrack in Houston. In 2003, Rosas found himself working for a trainer that he desperately wanted to get away from. He didn't like how the trainer was treating his horses. One morning, an assistant for Steve Asmussen asked if Rosas would want to be a freelance rider for their barn.
“For Steve Asmussen?” Rosas replied. “Absolutely!”
Rosas rode one horse for Asmussen's barn that day and all went well. The second day, he rode three horses.
“Then on the third day the assistant said, 'Hey, can you hold a tough horse?' and I told him that I could try,” recalled Rosas. “One thing about me is I'm going to try my best. It doesn't matter what kind of horse you put me on. It can be a $5,000 claimer or a stakes horse. I'm always going to do my best. So the assistant said, 'I'm going to put you on this filly. She's a stakes winner, but she's a little difficult to gallop.' I don't know if the filly felt sorry for me, but she didn't do anything to me.”
After a week, Rosas signed on as a full-time rider for Asmussen. He's been with the stable ever since, eventually moving north with Asmussen himself to ride in Kentucky and New York.
“I've been working for Steve for 21 years now,” said Rosas. “He has been so great to me. Julie and the boys, they're like family to me. Steve is a real horseman. This guy is smart. When he tells you something, sometimes in the moment you're like, 'Why is he telling me this?' But after a while you realize that you were wrong and he was right. I have learned a lot from Steve.”
Rosas's equine education doesn't stop once training hours have wrapped up. When he is based at Churchill Downs, he goes to work for the track veterinarian every day after morning training. He hauls equipment from the truck to the barn, jogs horses for the vet and helps with scopes after the races.
The days are long, but the hours pass in a flash. Rosas wakes up at 4:15 every morning and usually does not have a moment to sit down before he gets home in the evening.
“It's seven days a week,” explained Rosas. “This job is no days off. If you love it, you're going to do it. I'm not going to say that I don't complain, but it's hard to catch me in a bad mood.”
After nearly 30 years of hard work and dedication to the Thoroughbred industry, Rosas shows no signs of slowing down.
“I want to do this for as long as I can,” he reflected. “I just love racing and I love the horses. I don't want to do anything else. I'm going to keep doing it for…well I don't know for how long. For me, there's no point of retirement.”
And every year, as the 2-year-olds are arriving at Asmussen's barn, Rosas gets to thinking. What future champion might he find himself riding next?
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
