Velazquez takes win number 5,000
Jockey John Velazquez recorded the 5,000th win of his career (U.S. and Canadian wins only) on Friday when piloting Galloping Giraffe to an eight-length romp in the 6TH race at Belmont Park in what would be his final mount on the card. The duo loped along in last of the one-mile maiden claimer, which was moved from the turf to the fast main track, before beginning their run three furlongs out. The Tapit sophomore filly rallied about four-to-five wide to take control nearing the sixteenth marker and merely extended her margin from there to finish up in 1:36 4/5 for trainer Todd Pletcher and owner Repole Stable. "Everybody says that when you get close to a big number you go into a slump," Velazquez grinned. "I started to believe it. 'Maybe this is why I'm going so slow!' Everything was second and third, second and third. I was riding really good races and, unfortunately, was getting beat. Finally, it's over!" Velazquez wasn't worried about Galloping Giraffe's slow start. "Todd told me, 'Don't worry about the break. She is going to be slow. Let her fall behind, keep her face clear, she's going to come running down the lane.' She surely did," he noted. "I was hoping that after he won with San Pablo that he'd be able to win later with Galloping Giraffe," Pletcher said. "I'm exited to be a small part of it. We've been the beneficiary of many great rides by Johnny, and winning 5,000 races is a tremendous achievement." The 2007 Belmont was the first Triple Crown win for Velazquez, who later annexed the 2011 Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom and last year's Belmont with Union Rags. |
Velazquez began riding in the mainland United States in 1990 and won his first NYRA meet title during the 1996 Aqueduct spring meet. In total, he has won 26 NYRA meet titles, including five at Saratoga Race Course, where he has captured 685 races, trailing only retired Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey (693 wins).
In 2004 and 2005, Velazquez won the Eclipse Award for outstanding jockey, and in 2009 was honored by his fellow riders with the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. He has captured 11 Breeders' Cup races, most recently the 2012 Mile with reigning Horse of the Year Wise Dan.
The reinsman, who will be in England next week to ride champion Animal Kingdom in the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot, has no plans to stop now.
"I plan to ride for a few more years, if I'm healthy enough," he said. "If God blesses me with health, I'll be here. We got to count on being healthy. Look at what happened to Ramon (Dominguez), one of the best riders I've seen in my 23 years. (He had to retire) right at the peak. You have to be healthy and be lucky."
Velazquez started the day with 4,997 wins and immediately got the ball rolling in the 1ST race. He followed that up with Burning Sands Stable's San Pablo, who got back on the winning track with a 3 1/2-length victory in the $88,200 Criminal Type at Belmont Park over Grade 1 victor Hymn Book and multiple Grade 2 scorer Mucho Macho Man.
San Pablo -- himself a Grade 3 star thanks to a triumphant run in last year's Philip H. Iselin -- tracked the early pace in the Criminal Type, was three wide in the lane before taking command at the eighth-pole, and pulled away to finish 1 1/16 miles on the good main track in 1:41.
The John Parisella-trained five-year-old son of Jump Start now boasts seven stakes wins and has racked up $564,000 in career earnings to go along with his 18-10-4-1 career mark.
Two races after the Criminal Type, Jaguar Paw drew in from the main-track only list when the $88,200 Three Coins Up was moved from the turf to the dirt and posted an easy 5 3/4-length score under Javier Castellano.
The John D. Gunther and Eurowest Bloodstock Services homebred son of Giant's Causeway grabbed the lead on the backstretch and drew off in the stretch to stop the clock in 1:49 for nine furlongs on the upgraded fast dirt.
Jaguar Paw, the near 6-5 favorite in the race, was making just his second start against stakes rivals following a subpar effort in the Play the King at Woodbine last August. The Chad Brown trainee improved his record to read 5-2-4 from 20 starts and has now banked $266,857.