Pedroza: 'I've got a helluva chance to win' the Sprint with Private Zone

Pedroza: 'I've got a helluva chance to win' the Sprint with

Private Zone

Martin Pedroza's Breeders' Cup mounts have been as scarce

as rain in Southern California. The 48-year-old jockey has only ridden in the championship event five times in its 29-year history. He is still looking for

his first win.

In 1986 he was eighth on Silk's Lady in the Juvenile

Fillies; in 1991 he finished 12th aboard Miss Iron Smoke, also in the Juvenile

Fillies; in 2008 he was third on Two Step Salsa in the Dirt Mile; in 2012, he

ran sixth on Nonios in the Classic and 11th aboard Stormy Lucy in the Filly &

Mare Turf.

That void on his resume of more than 3,500 career victories

could end next Saturday when Pedroza rides Private Zone in the $1.5 million

Breeders' Cup Sprint at six furlongs.

It couldn't come at a more appropriate time. Private Zone

is managed for the Good Friends Stable by former jockey Rene Douglas. Douglas

and Pedroza attended the same riding school in their native Panama and have been

close friends since their early teens.

Douglas was paralyzed from the waist down in a riding

accident at Arlington Park in 2009. While Pedroza remains in touch with Douglas

almost daily, for the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita next Friday and Saturday,

they will meet in person for first time since last March, when Private Zone ran

in the Golden Shaheen in Dubai.

"I'm very excited to see my best friend," said Pedroza, who

expects Douglas to arrive in California next Wednesday from Florida. "I can't

wait."

Private Zone, a neck winner of the Vosburgh Invitational (G1) in late

September, had his final major drill for the Sprint

Friday morning, going five furlongs with Pedroza up in 1:01 4/5 on Santa Anita's

fast main track.

"The horse was

full of energy," said trainer Doug O'Neill, who sent several other Breeders' Cup

hopefuls through their final major drills. "The work was nice and easy. He left

the track with a lot left in him, so he's doing great."

Private Zone gives Pedroza his best chance to register his

first Breeders' Cup victory in a riding career that began in 1982.

"I've got a helluva chance to win," Pedroza said

unequivocally. "If I've ever had a chance, it's with this horse. I really do

like my chances. The horse is getting better and better. The little time off

they gave him after the Dubai race seems like it's made him a different horse."

As for the personal drought, Pedroza's long-time agent

Richie Silverstein agrees with his rider that this is the best chance they've

had to end it.

"Naturally, when the Breeders' Cup was at Santa Anita or

Hollywood, we've had better chances for mounts than when it was back East,"

Silverstein said. "Sometimes local jockeys pick up horses they'd never have a

chance to ride at other tracks.

"But Private Zone has to be by far the best chance Marty's

had, if we get lucky. We have another good one in Blueskiesnrainbows in the

($500,000) Marathon (at 1 3/4 miles) for Jerry Hollendorfer. The horse got beat

at Fresno so he's going to be way overlooked, but this is what the horse wants

to do."

Blueskiesnrainbows was fifth as the 7-10 favorite in the 1

1/8-mile Bull Dog Handicap at Fresno on October 13 with Leslie Mawing up. Prior to

that, Pedroza rode the Virginia-bred son of English Channel to a four-length

romp in the $100,000 Ralph M. Hinds at Fairplex on September 22.

"We just hope the posts are good for our two horses and the

stars line up right," Silverstein said.

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