BRAVO LOADED WITH CONTENDERS IN BREEDERS CUP

LEXINGTON, Ky. – On the morning of May 2, with the focus of the racing world on Churchill Downs and the 141st Kentucky Derby, jockey Joe Bravo was at the Louisville airport, taking the first flight out of town. While 20 of his colleagues were getting ready for their chance of a lifetime, Bravo was just happy to have a chance to ride that afternoon at Belmont Park.

Entering that day, Bravo in 2015 had ridden just seven winners from 157 mounts, not the kind of numbers that attract interest from a trainer with a Derby contender. However, at Belmont Park that day, there were important races to be run and significant horses in need of a rider. Bravo made the most of the opportunity, winning five races, including the Grade 3 Westchester on Tonalist, the Grade 3 Fort Marcy on Big Blue Kitten, and the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay on Rosalind.

“My phone was blowing up,” said Bravo, who listened to the Kentucky Derby on the radio on his drive home to New Jersey that night. “Twenty-seven texts before I got to the jocks’ room, double that on the way home that night. It’s a good feeling to be wanted. I’m not going to lie, it was nice.” It was also the start of a remarkable turnaround for Bravo, who had enjoyed so much success for so long that the slump he was enduring in the first quarter of this year was hard to fathom.

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Six months later, as the racing world converges on Lexington, Ky., for the 32nd Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, that slump is a distant memory. Bravo is smack dab in the middle of the action with
seven mounts, including Sheer Drama, the potential favorite in Friday’s $2 million Distaff (https://www.drf.com/events/breeders-cup-distaff) ; Greenpointcrusader, the 4-1 morning-line second choice in Saturday’s $2 million Juvenile (https://www.drf.com/events/breeders-cup-juvenile) ; and Big Blue Kitten, an 8-1 morning-line shot in Saturday’s $3 million Turf (https://www.drf.com/events/breeders-cup-turf). His mounts Watsdachances (Filly and Mare Turf (https://www.drf.com/events/breeders-cup-filly-mare-turf) ) and Conquest Daddyo (Juvenile Turf (https://www.drf.com/events/breeders-cup-juvenile-turf) ) are not without a chance. Merry Meadow (Filly and Mare Sprint (https://www.drf.com/events/breeders-cup-filly-mare-sprint) ) and Mr. Z (Dirt Mile (https://www.drf.com/events/breeders-cup-dirt-mile) ) are longshots.

“If you take any one of these horses, it would probably be my best chance ever in a Breeders’ Cup,” Bravo said.
Bravo, 44, has had only eight previous Breeders’ Cup mounts, with three of those rides coming in 2007 at Monmouth Park, a track at which Bravo dominated in the 1990s and 2000s, winning 13
riding titles. His best finish in any Breeders’ Cup race was a fourth on Mystic Rhythms, a 23-1 shot in the 1995 Juvenile Fillies. His most recent Breeders’ Cup mount was Big Blue Kitten in the 2013 Turf. He finished eighth, beaten only 4 1/2 lengths. Bravo began riding Big Blue Kitten in the summer of 2013, finishing second on him in the Grade 2 Monmouth Stakes. When he got off the horse that day, he asked trainer Chad Brown to let him ride the horse back in the Grade 1 United Nations.

“Joe got off that horse and said, ‘I’m going to ask you a favor. I want to ride that horse in the U.N. I really learned so much about him today. I’m telling you, he will win for sure,’ ” Brown recalled Bravo telling him. Big Blue Kitten won the U.N., and Bravo has been Big Blue Kitten’s regular rider since. In 13 rides on Big Blue Kitten, Bravo has finished first or second 11 times with him, including another victory in this year’s U.N. and, most recently, a win in the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont. Brown further credited Bravo with giving him “terrific feedback” on Big Blue Kitten throughout the horse’s career.

“He’s got a turn of foot better than any turf horse I ever sat on,” Bravo said. “I can’t wait to see what his babies are going to do.” Bravo became the regular rider of Sheer Drama this year. They finished second the first time he rode her, but he was given the opportunity to ride her again by trainer David Fawkes. They finished second again in the Grade 3 Rampart after the winner, House Rules, came in near the eighth pole, forcing Bravo and Sheer Drama to check. The stewards let the result stand, but many felt that House Rules should have come down.
Sheer Drama has three wins and four seconds this year and comes into the Distaff off Grade 1 victories in the Delaware Handicap and Personal Ensign. It helped that Fawkes and Bravo are close friends. During the winter at Gulfstream, Bravo and Fawkes went fishing on dark days. While the two had a good time, Fawkes could tell that Bravo was disappointed in the lack of business – and success – at the Gulfstream meet. Fawkes recommended that Bravo hire Cory Moran as his agent.

“It’s really been a very good marriage,” Fawkes said. “Joe’s the kind of guy, he likes an agent that does the job and leaves him alone. Joe doesn’t want to be bugged to do this and do that. He likes to do his own thing. Cory and him, it really worked out well.” Bravo said he wasn’t that discouraged about his slow Gulfstream meet, during which he went just 7 for 126 from Jan. 1 through April 9. Bravo said he allowed himself to enjoy the south Florida weather while getting himself in shape.

“I wasn’t as busy as I personally would have liked to have been, but everything happens for a reason,” Bravo said. “Maybe it was time to take a step back, enjoy the winter of sunshine in
Florida, working out and getting my body physically right. I didn’t plan it that way. I went to Gulfstream to try to do the best I could.”

Two weeks after his five-win day at Belmont, Bravo rode his 5,000th career winner, becoming the 31st jockey to hit that milestone. Appropriately enough, it came at Monmouth Park. This summer,
Bravo went on a whirlwind tour of America’s racetracks, winning graded stakes at 10 different venues, including Arlington Park, Belmont Park, Delaware Park, Mountaineer, Presque Isle Downs, and Saratoga.

“What was I thinking on the flight home every night?” Bravo said. “How did that just happen?” Regardless of what happens this weekend at Keeneland, Bravo will be on a plane bright and early Sunday morning headed for California to ride Living The Life for Gary Mandella in the $200,000 Goldikova Stakes at Del Mar.
For the last six months, Bravo has certainly been living right.