Valdivia reflects on last year's Belmont Stakes win aboard Ruler on Ice

Valdivia reflects on last year's Belmont Stakes win aboard

Ruler on Ice

by Brisnet.com

Jockey Jose Valdivia Jr., with a new agent, renewed energy and permanent move

back to California, took time Wednesday to reflect on his victory aboard Ruler

on Ice in last year's Belmont Stakes.

Unlike Mario Gutierrez, Valdivia flew mostly under the radar in 2011 and

encountered none of the scrutiny leading up to the Belmont that Gutierrez is

facing.

"I heard that he (Gutierrez) almost got hit in the head with a tape recorder

the other day by someone trying to sneak to the front of the reporters,"

Valdivia said. "It's night and day coming into the Belmont having won the

Kentucky Derby and Preakness compared to how it was for me."

Valdivia captured the Belmont aboard 24-1 shot Ruler on Ice and the pundits

quickly went scrambling to find out information about the rider.

"Not one person from the press even talked to me that week,'' he remembered.

"The only people who knew who I was were the security guards and the horsemen in

the stable area. The only contact I had with television was when NBC called in

all the riders to give their name and answer a few brief questions like where

are you from and where do you ride."

Though Ruler on Ice was lightly regarded, the media should have been aware of

Valdivia. The 37-year-old native of Lima, Peru, and nephew of retired jockey

Fernando Toro began his career in New York and rode his first winner at Belmont

Park in 1994. Seven years later, he piloted Val Royal to victory in the

Breeders' Cup Mile on the Belmont turf.

"This race is unlike the other Triple Crown races," Valdivia explained. When

you go in the gate, you can feel the electricity and you're so pumped up. The

crowd is screaming as you come by the stands the first time, but then when you

hit the backside, everything changes. It's eerie, you don't hear anything. At

Churchill Downs there are people all the way around the track cheering, but not

at Belmont. It was a sloppy track that day and all I could hear was the

splattering of the hooves. When you get to the far turn, then you hear the crowd

noise start to build again."

Valdivia recalled his thoughts during the race as if it was yesterday.

"This may be the only time these horses go a mile and a half in their lives.

Besides pedigree, a lot rides on how they settle and how relaxed they are. My

horse was sitting pretty down the backstretch and I kept waiting and waiting. I

got a little excited at the quarter-pole because I was hearing whips cracking

behind me and the riders smooching, but I still had a lot of horse. At that

point I thought I had a shot to hit the board."

Valdivia got a scare at the top of the stretch when Brilliant Speed pulled

alongside.

"I thought he was going to blow right by me, but when he didn't, I looked

back at the eighth-pole, saw that Stay Thirsty and (jockey Javier) Castellano

weren't gaining fast enough and at the sixteenth-pole I said to myself, 'Holy

cow, I'm going to win the Belmont!"

Valdivia left California in 2010 to ride on the New York, New Jersey and

Delaware circuits. He returned to the Golden State briefly toward the end of

last year and came back in March to stay. His wife and children have relocated

to Southern California and the family plans to move back into the home they had

rented out the last two years.

"I have a new agent (Dudley Osborne) who is enthusiastic, has a lot of

passion for the game and believes in me all out. I've been working non-stop,

seven days a week and I think it's starting to pay off. I've got some

two-year-olds coming up that I'm pretty excited about. And I was back on Rail

Trip for (owner Samantha) Siegel in the (Grade 3) Los Angeles Handicap."

Valdivia won the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup in 2009 aboard Rail Trip and was

pleased with his recent fourth in the Los Angeles.

"I thought he ran very well for his first race back," the journeyman said.

"Even though he's seven years old and has run 18 times, he hasn't really gotten

dirt kicked in his face much. He was on the rail the other day and I think that

experience will really help him. (Trainer) Ron (Ellis) has done such a good job

with him."

Ellis has been one of Valdivia's biggest supporters throughout his career.

The rider is currently tied for 11th in the Hollywood Park standings with eight

victories He is named on two horses Thursday.

Bet the Belmont Stakes at TwinSpires.com