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Rice, Velasquez, Drawing Away Win Big A's Spring Meet Titles: Credit: NYRA Website
First Published: 22 April 2012
NYRA Press Release: The battle for the training title at Aqueduct Racetrack’s spring meet came down to the final race on closing day, with favored Thisskysabeauty and jockey Cornelio Velasquez rallying through the stretch Sunday to give Linda Rice a 13-12 victory over Rudy Rodriguez. Velasquez, who had already sewn up the jockey title, finished with 24 wins to take his second straight spring meet title. David Cohen was second with 20 victories and Eddie Castro third with 18. Rice, who tied with David Jacobson for last year’s spring title at the Big A, had taken a one-race lead heading into closing day after sending out four winners on Saturday. Rodriguez then tied it when Ezzy ($12.60) won race 5, but Thisskysabeauty ($7.00) prevailed by 3 ¼ lengths to give Rice her fourth overall and second outright title on The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) circuit. In 2009, Rice became the first woman to win a training title in New York when she beat Todd Pletcher by one race at Saratoga Race Course, and she also tied with Pletcher for the 2011 Belmont Park spring/summer title. Drawing Away Stable was the meet’s leading owner with seven wins, edging Mike Repole and Michael Dubb, who had six wins each. Racing now moves to Belmont Park for the 56-day spring/summer meet that begins on Friday, April 27. The Grade 3, $150,000 Westchester on Saturday is the first of Belmont’s 26 graded stakes worth $8.8 million, the centerpiece of which is the 114th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 9. Trainer Linda Rice Wins Title In Final Race:
First Published: 22 April 2012
Thisskysabeauty rallied past Atitlan in mid-stretch under Cornelio Velasquez to win a $16,000 claiming race and give Linda Rice the meet trainer title outright, 13-12, over Rudy Rodriguez. Richard Dutrow Jr., who got beat a nose with Uncle T Seven in the Fabersham, finished with 11 wins. The win capped a huge weekend for Rice, who won four races on Saturday. This was Rice's fourth trainer title on the New York Racing Association circuit, and her second outright. She won the 2010 Saratoga meet, tied David Jacobson for the 2011 Aqueduct spring title and tied Todd Pletcher for the 2011 Belmont spring/summer title. "I think winning the title at Saratoga would be my best memory in racing ever, but to tie or win Aqueduct, Belmont to me it means a lot," Rice said. "You have to show consistency. As Wayne Lukas told me a long time ago, getting to the top is a lot easier than staying there." Velasquez won the jockey title with 24 wins. David Cohen finished second with 20 followed by Eddie Castro (18). Racing on this circuit moves to Belmont beginning Friday. Four Wins Each and Three Together for Rice and Velasquez: Credit: NYRA Website
First Published: 21 April 2012
By NYRA Press Office: Ashley Herriman
Trainer Linda Rice and jockey Cornelio Velasquez each had four winners on Saturday’s card at Aqueduct Racetrack, with Velasquez aboard for three of Rice’s victories. Rice, who has saddled 12 winners during the Aqueduct main track meet, now tops the trainer standings going into Sunday’s closing day. Velasquez, with 23 victories on the main track, enjoys a five-win lead over David Cohen (18) and Eddie Castro (18) in the jockey standings. Rice and Velasquez picked up their first victories separately on Saturday, with the trainer sending out Finn Again ($7.60) to win the second race, a turf route for maidens, under Alan Garcia. In race 4, the Northern Willy overnight stakes, Velasquez piloted Miss Valentine ($3.80) to a 2 ¼-length victory over the main track for trainer Christophe Clement. Rice and Velasquez then teamed up to win race 5 with Cricky’sgoldeneyes ($7.90) and race 6 with longshot first-timer N. F.’s Destiny ($22.20). Rice’s Tell Grant finished eighth in race 7 with Velasquez aboard, but the pair resumed their winning ways on the turf in race 8 when Velasquez guided Abilio ($8.50) to a one-length allowance victory. “I thought we had a really good chance to win the second, the sixth, and the eighth,” Rice said after Abilio’s victory. “I wasn’t counting on the fifth. It’s a good time to have all the grass horses back from vacation and Florida, and hopefully we have a good season [at the upcoming Belmont Park meet].” Rice is one win ahead of both Rudy Rodriguez (11) and Rick Dutrow, Jr. (11) in the Aqueduct main track trainer standings and has six horses entered on Sunday’s closing day card at Aqueduct, while Velasquez is named to ride five, including three for Rice. Sunday’s final Big A card also will feature a mandatory payout for a $44,851.33 Pick 6 Carryover which begins in Race 4, scheduled to go off at 2:25 p.m.
First Published: 21 April 2012
– There were 451 horses claimed during Aqueduct’s inner-track meet and another 94 have been haltered since the main track opened on March 21. The poster child for all this activity might be Full of Gut, who has been claimed in each of her last four starts and seven times in her career. Why so popular? Perhaps her record of 12 wins from 27 career starts has something to do with it. “She obviously knows how to win,” said trainer Linda Rice, who claimed Full of Gut for $14,000 on March 25 and sends her out in an optional claimer going six furlongs Wednesday at Aqueduct. “We all like those kind.” Full of Gut will be offered for $25,000 on a Wednesday card that begins with a pick-six carryover of $33,988. Full of Gut is one of seven fillies and mares entered in the $62,000 race, which also has a first-level allowance condition. Full of Gut has 12 wins; the other six horses have combined for 14. “There might be a horse or two in there that’s just better than her, but some horses just have a knack, they just manage to get it done and others don’t,” said Rice, who trains Full of Gut for Barry Ostrager. This is the second time Rice has had Full of Gut in her barn. In Marc 2011, Rice claimed Full of Gut for $25,000 and got two wins and a third out of her before losing her two months later for $20,000 to Richard Dutrow Jr. Rice said that when she first got Full of Gut the mare had her issues. Rice said she needed noted equine hoof specialist Ian McKinlay to rebuild a bad foot. Also, Full of Gut underwent surgery to repair an entrapped epiglottis. “We did entrapment surgery and rebuilt that foot and I think it turned her into a new horse,” Rice said. Full of Gut has won 6 of 10 starts since then, including a $14,000 claimer on March 25 in her first start over the main track, when she ran for trainer Chris Englehart. “I thought she ran very well that day,” Rice said. “I’ve seen her stumble a little at the start and she wants to drift out a little bit in the stretch, which she did when I had her before. Sometimes she appears a little better than others. I thought she looked very good the other day.” Natalie Victoria was beaten as the 2-5 favorite last out and makes her first start off the David Jacobson claim in this spot. Naughty or Nice is a well-bred daughter of Bernardini who comes off a maiden win in the mud over the inner track on March 1. There are a couple of other allowance races on the program, including the seventh, a second-level sprint that marks the New York debut of Linda Winz, who is coming off a victory in a stakes race for California-breds at Santa Anita on March 17. She makes her first start for Dutrow. The card begins with a second-level allowance race on the turf for New York-breds topped by East of Danzig and the uncoupled Rice-trained entry of Talk Therapy and Good Prospect. |
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