The Week in Review: 32 Years Ago, a Spark of Kismet at Saratoga

It was a relatively quiet Thursday last week when jockey John Velazquez registered his 1,000th victory at Saratoga, extending his record as the winningest jockey in Spa history.

Sifting through the archives to get a feel for what was going on in the sport when Johnny V. won his first career race at Saratoga back on Aug. 5, 1990, yields a heady mix of nostalgia tinged with kismet.

Although not considered a truly “historic” day of racing at the Spa, there are enough intriguing nuggets buried within the charts and news clippings from that day to earn it “historical footnote” status.

The date was a drizzly Sunday on the opening weekend of what would end up being the last four-week race meet at Saratoga. A throng of 51,769 would be announced as the second-largest crowd in Spa history, but that was just the turnstile count. You own a very rare collector's item if you still have the souvenir T-shirt from that afternoon's giveaway.

Velazquez, who had only started riding on the New York circuit earlier that year, was under the tutelage of Hall of Famer Angel Cordero, Jr., who is credited with first recognizing and then helping to develop the talent of the then-18-year-old.

But as fate would have it, Velazquez's first win at Saratoga came in a race in which Cordero got slammed to the grass course back-first when his mount veered in toward the hedge at the three-eighths pole in a turf route.

Velazquez, who was pressing the pace when the spill happened well behind him, ended up winning by a neck at 5-1 odds aboard a filly named Color Blue. The young apprentice's post-race celebration must have been muted, with his 48-year-old mentor prone on the course and being attended to by the ambulance crew.

Cordero ended up walking away from the scary-looking accident even though he was down for a good 12 minutes. Published accounts stated that he flashed the “OK” sign to onlookers, and was seen peering at a program while being assessed for injuries. Perhaps liking the mounts he saw later in the day, the wily veteran missed only the next race on the card before returning to action.

Another item that stands out from that first Spa score for Velazquez is that the race featured no fewer than seven (out of a field of 10) eventual Hall-of-Fame jockeys.

Beyond Velazquez and Cordero, the others in the second race on Aug. 5, 1990, were Craig Perret, Eddie Maple, Chris Antley, Jerry Bailey and Mike Smith.

That's quite a collection of race-riding royalty–all at varying rising and falling points on their career arcs–competing in a $25,000 claimer.

Bug-boy Velazquez, the youngest of that bunch, roared right back in Race 6, pouncing from off the pace to steal a maiden turf route by a nose with Busy as a Bee, igniting the tote board with a $127.60 winner.

Despite a two-win afternoon and the massive mutuel, the rookie rider's first trips to the Saratoga winner's circle (then still a ring of chalk drawn on the main track near the finish) didn't merit a mention in the press.

The racing coverage that day was devoted to the featured GII Jim Dandy S. (in which Johnny V. didn't have a mount), plus sidebars about Cordero's spill.

For anyone believing today that four-horse fields in Saratoga graded stakes are an entirely modern phenomenon, or that slow-paced tactics are frustratingly novel to 21st Century race-riding, we have Steve Crist's New York Times description of a “bizarrely weak” renewal of the Dandy to set us straight:

“Only four starters turned up, and their riders were apparently so worried about their mounts' being able to go the distance–a mile and an eighth–that they virtually walked most of the way,” Crist wrote. “The slow early fractions [:26.22 and :51.73] reduced the race to a three-furlong sprint to the wire.”

Chief Honcho (Smith aboard) was the winner of that dawdling Dandy in a final time 1:51.74.

Jennie Rees of the Louisville Courier-Journal seemed to be the only turf writer who noticed that “the victory was the first in a Saratoga stakesa” for Chief Honcho's trainer, a 37-year-old up-and-comer from the Midwest named Bill Mott.

It's doubtful that anyone in 1990 recognized those same-day accomplishments for Velazquez and Mott as the launch-pad milestones they would prove to be.

Over the next three decades, both jockey and trainer would become well-respected synonyms of Saratoga success, both on and off the track.

So it was fitting that when Velazquez rode Precursory (Kantharos) to victory for his 1,000th Spa win on Aug. 25, 2022, Mott was the trainer.

Travers Takeaways…

The ceremonial maroon and white paint wasn't yet dry on the GI Runhappy Travers S. canoe Saturday when speculation about the next start for Winchell Thoroughbreds colorbearer Epicenter (Not This Time) began to swirl.

With little doubt that the GI Breeders' Cup Classic is the ultimate season-ending goal, the main post-Travers question was whether or not Epicenter (112 Beyer Speed Figure) would have another race in the 10-week interim until the Classic. Trainer Steve Asmussen didn't commit either way in the immediate aftermath of the win, but he did indicate such a layoff wouldn't be considered problematic.

The marquee for the Classic is already being prepared as a highly anticipated Epicenter-vs.-Flightline (Tapit) showdown, but the undefeated 4-year-old 'TDN Rising Star' must first sail through Saturday's GI Pacific Classic at Del Mar before his Breeders' Cup status is confirmed.

Now that Saratoga's so-called Midsummer Derby is in the books, there's not much debate over Epicenter being at the top of the totem pole among sophomores aiming for two-turn glory. He manhandled the GI Kentucky Derby, GI Preakness S., and GI Haskell S. winners in the Travers, meaning the best chances for a late-summer bloom within the 3-year-old division now rest with 'TDN Rising Stars' Charge It (Tapit) and Taiba (Gun Runner).

Charge It ran second in the GI Florida Derby, then was a no-impact 17th when wide in the Kentucky Derby. But the Todd Pletcher trainee rebounded with a gaudy 23-length win in the GIII Dwyer S., and was aiming for the Travers before a foot abscess derailed his training last week. The GI Pennsylvania Derby Sept. 24 could end up being his next start.

Taiba was a surprise nomination for the Pacific Classic, but trainer Bob Baffert said Saturday that the GI Santa Anita Derby winner will probably not go in the race. After eating a ton of dirt and running into a wall of horseflesh on the far turn of the Kentucky Derby, Taiba rallied with interest in the Haskell, coming up just a head short for the win.

“I nominated him just in case,” Baffert said. “Things happen and you never say never, but the complexion of the race would have to change.” (Read: Flightline would have to go missing in action prior to the draw on Tuesday.)

Taiba is also nominated for the ungraded Shared Belief S. on the Pacific Classic undercard.