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Gomez takes over the mount on Flashback
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| Flashback will have a new rider for the Santa Anita Derby
(Benoit Photos) |
Agent Tony Matos confirmed Thursday morning that Garrett
Gomez has picked up the mount on Triple Crown contender Flashback for the Grade
1 Santa
Anita Derby on April 6.
Gomez replaces Julien Leparoux, who was criticized for his
ride on the sophomore son of Tapit in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes last Saturday, in which the
even-money favorite suffered his first defeat after prompting fast fractions on
the front end while going 1 1/16 miles.
"We're very excited that (trainer) Bob Baffert put Garrett on this
horse," Matos said. "They've had a lot of success together and we hope it
continues."
Gomez -- a two-time Eclipse Award winner as outstanding
jockey, a four-time leader in national purse earnings and Santa Anita's 2011
George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award winner -- piloted the Baffert-trained Lookin
at Lucky to three Grade 1 victories prior to a sixth-place finish in the 2010
Kentucky Derby.
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Flashback opened his career under Leparoux with a 3 1/2-length score against
maiden special weight rivals on December 8 at Hollywood Park going seven
furlongs. The gray colt stretched out to 8 1/2 furlongs for the Grade 2 Robert
B. Lewis in his three-year-old bow on February 2 before his tough-beat nose
second in the San Felipe last out.
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