jockey

Robert Montano, a former jockey and a Broadway actor, joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss his new one-man show SMALL.

The stewards at Belterra Park have asked jockey Gregory Romero to explain why he appeared to not persevere with his mount while on the lead in the final few jumps before the finish of Wednesday's fourth race there, which led to that 9-1 horse getting beaten by a neck by the hard-charging 6-5 favorite. Reached by phone just prior to the start of Thursday's races, the three Belterra stewards--Ron  Herbstreit, Vincent Clark, and Raina Paucar--told TDN in a speaker phone call that they would not discuss what was said at...

Hall of Fame jockey and racing analyst Jerry Bailey joined this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast to break down the 2023 GII Jim Dandy S., where Forte survived an inquiry to get to the winner's circle.

Abel Cedillo, who was involved in a one-horse spill soon after the start of the fourth race Sunday at Del Mar, has returned home after being hospitalized with a fractured bone in his neck. His neck injury was sustained when Get the Gold (Passion for Gold) clipped heels and threw the rider. The horse was quickly caught and walked off the track under his own power, while Cedillo was moved by track personnel before being taken by ambulance to Scripps Memorial Hospital. Michael Ciani, Cedillo's agent, told officials at Del...

Ebor-winning jockey Louis Steward has announced that he will retire from race-riding after an 11-year career in the saddle. Steward, 27, started as an apprentice and achieved plenty of success, including winning the Cambridgeshire and the Balmoral Handicap with Bronze Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) in 2014 for Marcus Tregoning. Steward rode close to 200 winners in his career, with a season-best of 37 in 2014, the year he partnered Mutual Regard (Ire) (Hernando {Fr}) to a 20-1 success in the valuable Ebor Handicap at York for Johnny Murtagh. "After...

The BoyleSports odds for Frankie Dettori to be named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year have shortened from 16-1 to 6-1, prior to his G1 DahlBury Coronation Cup/G1 Betfred Oaks double over the Epsom Downs on Friday. The Italian reinsman is retiring at the end of the year, and Saturday's G1 Betfred Derby, where he will ride Arrest (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), is set to be his final appearance in the historic Classic. Arrest currently sits at 9-2 with BoylesSports, with Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) eased to 3-1....

Hall of Fame jockey Johnny Velazquez earned his first Preakness victory aboard National Treasure over the weekend and he joined this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss the big win.

A Gofundme fundraiser for the family of the late Australian jockey Dean Holland was launched within 24 hours of the jockey's death and, at the time of writing, it has raised over A$500,000 for Holland's wife Lucy, and their four children. The page was created by Tony Ottobre in Victoria, who made a personal donation of A$100,000, and overnight and into Tuesday it had attracted over 2000 donations. Dean Holland died as a result of his injuries from a fall on Monday afternoon at Donald. His death has incurred widespread...

Jockey Carlos Eduardo Lopez, currently third in earnings and fourth in wins at Charles Town Races this year, was fined $1,000 by the track's stewards for losing a win at the wire after his mount was clear by five lengths at the sixteenth pole and he apparently thought he could coast to victory without additional effort. "Jockey Lopez eased his mount, Stylish Paint, coming to the wire in the ninth race on Saturday, Apr. 8, 2023, causing his horse to get beat on the wire," stated the Apr. 14 stewards'...

Midwest-based jockey Alex Chanchari passed away Wednesday at the age of 29. His passing was confirmed in a tweet by Canterbury Park, where Canchari had 334 career winners. "Alex Canchari achieved his dream as a jockey, following in the footsteps of his father and brother," the tweet read. "The news of this talented and genuine young man's death has deeply saddened the Canterbury Park family." Though no cause of death had been revealed by Thursday morning, it appears that Canchari's death involved mental health issues. "My heart physically hurts," his...

A four-time Eclipse Award winner and a member of racing's Hall of Fame since 2017, Venezuelan native Javier Castellano has won the 2023 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award via a nationwide vote of his fellow riders. Castellano, 45, will be honored in a Runhappy Winner's Circle ceremony at Santa Anita this spring. Married to his wife, Abby, Castellano, who immigrated to the United States in June of 1997, has three children, Kayla, Sienna and Brady and is the son-in-law of Terry Meyocks, National Director of the Jockeys' Guild. Presented annually...

Leading rider Irad Ortiz, Jr. equaled the record for most wins by a jockey on a card at Gulfstream Park Friday after riding the winners of seven consecutive races on a nine-race program. Ortiz shares the Gulfstream record with four other jockeys: Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey (3/11/96), Tyler Gaffalione (7/4/17), Luis Saez (1/24/18; 3/29/18) and Paco Lopez (3/21/20). Ortiz became the only jockey in Gulfstream history to win seven races in a row. "It feels great. Everything worked out so good today. Everything came out perfect out there. It...