Full Salute defeated older rivals in a third-level main-track sprint May 23. Trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. switched him to the grass Sunday, but it didn’t seem to make any difference to Full Salute, who turned a stalking trip into a one-length victory.

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The Select is Full Salute’s third stakes win. He had previously won the $145,000 Hall of Fame Stakes at Parx Racing last September and the $75,000 Buffalo Man at Gulfstream Park West in November. Full Salute now has a 10-5-3-0 record and earnings of $258,435.

Full Salute, who is owned by Morris Bailey, paid $6 as the favorite in the seven-horse Select. He covered the course in 1:03.02.

“We gave him time off in Florida during the winter,” Plesa said. “It’s tough there and we thought we’d give him time and point to this meet. Mr. Bailey has a house near here.”

Plesa said the Grade 3, $100,000 Jersey Shore Stake, a six-furlong main track race for 3-year-olds on July 23 at Monmouth, could be next for Full Salute.

Bobcat and Formal Summation dueled on the lead in the Select as Paco Lopez positioned Full Salute a couple of lengths off the pace. Full Salute took the lead outside the front-runners in upper stretch, drew clear, and then held off the late run of Easy River.

Easy River, who was shortening up from a mile turf race at Pimlico, lagged back early, then rallied after Full Salute in the stretch in a good effort.

After early fractions of 22.68 and 45.77 seconds, the pace picked up in the Select with the final three-sixteenths going in 17.25. Full Salute covered the final sixteenth in 5.76 seconds.

Henry the King, who was making his first start since January, broke slowly and then finished with a late bid from the center of the course. He’s one to keep an eye on in his next start.

Expected Ruler, the 3-1 second choice, edged up near Full Salute on the far turn, remained a factor into the stretch, but then flattened out. He was beaten a neck by Henry the King for third.

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In the 6 ½-furlong stakes for Florida-bred 2-year-olds, Mr. Jordan won handily under a motionless Paco Lopez, following up his 6 ¼-length debut victory at Monmouth Park to establish himself as an exciting prospect in the 2015 class of 3-year-olds.

“Needless to say, if you have a 2-year-old this time of year that shows you that talent, you’ve got to have it in the back of your mind, looking at the 3-year-old year,” Plesa said.

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Mr. Jordan, a flashy gray son of Kantharos, had always been highly regarded by his trainer, who also conditions Souper Colossal, a multiple-stakes winner who finished a troubled seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Santa Anita.

“(Mr. Jordan) has only run twice. He’s different than my other 2-year-old, Souper Colossal, who started from the get-go. I’m going to send Souper Colossal back to Live Oak for 30 days to give him a little freshening. This horse doesn’t need it. He’s a fresh horse right now,” Plesa said. “We’re going to keep going forward with him. He could be similar to Itsmyluckday. Itsmyluckyday had a few more races than this horse, but he never needed a break. We kept going forward him.”

Plesa, who saddled Itsmyluckyday for a second-place finish in the 2013 Preakness Stakes as well as multiple stakes wins, said he’d look for a two-turn race in about a month’s time for Mr. Jordan’s return to action.

Mr. Jordan was purchased for $155,000 at the OBS April 2-year-olds-in-training sale by Plesa for his wife, Laurie, David Melin and Leon Ellman. “He’s correct. He doesn’t have any flaws, conformation-wise. He’s just a nice-sized athletic horse that’s really grown into his body from the time I got him to now,” Plesa said. “He’s a bigger, stronger horse than when I bought him. He’s just gone the right way, not just from what he’s done on the racetrack, but from a physical standpoint.” Meanwhile, Plesa is pointing Itsmyluckyday to the $500,000 Cigar Mile (G1) at Aqueduct on Nov. 29.

“He’s going to run in the Cigar Mile on the 29th of November. Then, he’ll probably go to Spendthrift,” said Plesa, whose 4-year-old trainee is scheduled to stand at stud at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, Ky. in 2015.

Itsmyluckyday, who captured the 2013 Gulfstream Park Derby and Holy Bull (G3), earned Grade 1 credentials while winning the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 30.

“I’ve been doing this a long time, and I can’t think of a horse race that’s been more gratifying to me for all the reasons you can imagine,” Plesa said. “He’s an unbelievable horse as far as I’m concerned. We’re looking forward to seeing what he can do at stud. He’s certainly brought my family, my partners and myself and the people who work with him an unbelievable amount of excitement. We’re really, really going to miss him.”

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Mr. Jordan, a Florida-bred son of Kantharos, was an easy 6 3/4-length winner of his only previous start late this summer at Monmouth Park. Despite his lack of experience in a field that included a pair of stakes winners, Mr. Jordan went off the 4-5 choice for trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. in the 6 1/2-furlong Sprint.

With regular rider Paco Lopez aboard, Mr. Jordan broke a step slow and then rated behind the early leaders while forced to steady along a couple of times near the inside on the turn. Lopez angled

Mr. Jordan out for clearance leaving the bend and once settling into the stretch, the favorite asserted his superiority, readily drawing well clear in the final furlong. Morgans Harbour, who like the winner had captured his only previous start, prompted the early pace, dropped back a bit on the turn, and then rallied belatedly to easily be second best, finishing 4 1/4 lengths in front of the three-time stakes winner Sing Praises.

Mr. Jordan completed the distance in 1:18.32 and paid $3.80. “You have to have luck to win races,” said Plesa. “He overcame a bad start and horses in front of him. He proved today he didn’t need the lead, he could sit great. I thought Paco rode an outstanding horse. He was just the best horse.”

Plesa said he’s looking forward to stretching out Mr. Jordan around two turns in the future. “We’ll sit down and map out a plan,” said Plesa. “But Paco said before this horse even ran he thought he’d go two turns, which is a little surprising considering his pedigree. But I think he’ll go two turns as well, and I’m looking forward to trying it.”

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Leap Year Luck enables Gold to avoid shutout

It’s hard to imagine a day of statebred stakes racing in south Florida, especially one that includes 2- year-old races, without a victory by the team of owner-breeder Fred Brei’s Jacks or

Better Farm and trainer Stanley Gold. But it took until the final event on Saturday’s Sunshine Millions Preview card for the potent pair to finally strike, the duo combining to win the finale, the $100,000 Juvenile Filly

Sprint, with Leap Year Luck. Leap Year Luck, a homebred daughter of Hear No Evil, finished full of run down the center of the track to catch Savingtime in the final sixteenth of the 6 1/2-furlong Juvenile Filly Sprint, edging off to a 2 1/4-length victory under jockey Jesus Rio. Savingtime weakened late but held on for second over Moment of Delight.

Leap Year Luck, an easy winner of the Desert Vixen Stakes, the opening leg of the Florida Sire Series, nearly four months earlier at Gulfstream Park, paid $17.20.

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For the fourth time in the last four seasons, Bad Debt shipped to south Florida to win a restricted stakes on the grass during the tail end of the season. In 2011 and 2012, it was the Bonnie Heath Turf Championship at Calder. Last year, it was the inaugural Sunshine Millions Turf Preview at Gulfstream Park. And on Saturday, Bad Debt successfully defended that title, doing so over familiar ground at Gulfstream Park West (formerly known as Calder) when rallying to a hard-fought and popular half-length decision over Tryer in the $100,000 Sunshine Millions Turf Preview.

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The victory was the first for Bad Debt, a 7-year-old son of Grand Reward, since his even more impressive 6 1 /2-length triumph in the 2013 Florida Millions Turf Preview. He had finished third in both the Grade 3 Tropical Turf Handicap to close out his 2013 campaign and Sunshine Millions Turf to kick off the current season.

Trainer David Jacobson claimed Bad Debt away from owner Robert Leibner and trainer Michael Trombetta for $80,000 out of a fourth-place finish early this summer at Belmont Park. But Bad Debt’s former owner and trainer were fortunate to win a five-way shake to get him back again for $62,500 six weeks later at Saratoga.

“It was like losing the family dog,” Trombetta said of losing Bad Debt via the claim box four months earlier. “We had him for a long time, and we were glad to get him back. This has been our target each season. He’s won it now each of the last four years.”

Bad Debt, who was ridden to victory by Paco Lopez, rated six lengths off the early pace set by Breitling Flyer in the 1 1/16-mile Turf Preview, rallied widest to challenge the leaders entering the stretch, gained command leaving the furlong grounds then withstood a final surge from Tryer.

The latter, making his stakes debut, nearly returned quick dividends for owner-trainer Milt Wolfson, who haltered Tryer for $30,000 just five weeks earlier. Breitling Flyer finished a tiring third in a scratch reduced field of seven older turf specialists.

Bad Debt paid $3.20 after completing the distance in 1:41.92 over the firm course. “They were playing a little cat and mouse up front, and it made me a little nervous, but he got it done,” Trombetta said when asked about the trip.

Swinger’s Party wins Distaff Preview Stakes

Swinger’s Party kicked off Saturday’s rich Sunshine Millions Preview program with a three quarter length triumph over the 16-1 Flutterby in the $100,000 Distaff Preview Stakes. Don’tcallmecharley finished nearly four lengths further back in third.

Devil’s Cave, one of two horses saddled in the race along with the winner by trainer Marty Wolfson, finished a tiring and well-beaten fifth as the 7-5 choice.

Swinger’s Party, a 4-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, had been idle since finishing far back after setting the pace in the Grade 3 Shuvee Handicap on July 27 at Saratoga. She had won two of her three previous starts over the Gulfstream Park West strip with her lone loss a second-place finish in the Nancy’s Glitter Handicap in June.

Swinger’s Party raced a mile in 1:40.59 over the fast track and returned $10.40.

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The title was the third at Monmouth for Lopez, who also led the standings in 2013 and 2010. He was second at Monmouth in both 2011 and 2012. Lopez also had a good Keeneland fall meet, finishing fifth in the standings with 12 wins from 71 mounts.

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After riding in four Breeders’ Cup races last Friday and Saturday and at Aqueduct on Sunday, Lopez began riding at Gulfstream Park West on Monday. Through Friday morning, his record at the meet was 9-2-2-2.

Lopez is named to ride six races at Gulfstream Park West on Sunday for trainers Eddie Plesa Jr.,
Jason Servis, Jose Garoffalo, David Jacobson, Sal Santoro, and Antonio Sano.

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“He is riding Ria Antonia (Distaff), Stonetastic (Filly and Mare Sprint), Pants On Fire (Dirt Mile) and Souper Colossal (Juvenile),” said Cory Moran, Lopez’s agent. “I am going out there next week and Paco is coming the 26th, the day after the meet ends here.”

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Christopher T. Dunn and Loooch Racing Stable’s Ria Antonia, runner-up in the Juddmonte Spinster (G1) on Oct. 5, worked five furlongs in :59.80 on her own over a track labeled “good” after the morning renovation break for trainer Tom Amoss.

Fractions on the work were :11.20, :22.80 and :46.80.

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Lopez had one of the most dominant meets a jockey has ever had, scorching his competition this year at Monmouth Park. He won 120 races, beating runner-up Gabriel Saez by a staggering 62 victories. Combined, Saez and third-place jockey Eddie Castro did not have as many wins as Lopez had. Twice during the meet he had seven-win days, the only jockey in Monmouth history to do so. His winning percentage was 28 percent.

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He had the sort of season at the Jersey Shore that normally launches a jockey on toward stardom. Chris Antley, Julie Krone, Craig Perret, Jose Lezcano, Jorge Velasquez, Bill Hartack and Don MacBeth are among the riders who went from Monmouth to the upper reaches of their profession. Krone, Hartack and Velasquez made it all the way to the Hall of fame.

But Lopez, who is from Veracruz, Mexico, doesn’t plan on going anywhere. Though currently riding at Keeneland, his focus is on two tracks, Monmouth and Gulfstream. He is so committed to staying at Monmouth that he bought a house near the track this year and has decided to settle down. He lists beach volleyball as one of his favorite non-racing activities. There’s no beach volleyball at Aqueduct.
Lopez, 28, has put lifestyle above all else. Though he makes plenty of money he would likely make more if he moved to New York or California, but his schedule allows him to enjoy two places that border on paradise, Monmouth in the summer and Gulfstream in the winter.

“There’s always a possibility of a move to New York but I love the Jersey Shore and am very happy there,” Lopez said. “I have a greater opportunity in Jersey. I just want to ride horses and win races. My favorite time and place is to be on a horse.”

Jersey racing shuts down in the fall, and that’s when Lopez normally heads to Gulfstream. There, he does face off against the upper echelon riders like John Velazquez, Javier Castellano and Joel Rosario. At the Gulfstream meet that ran from November 30 to June 30 he was the second leading rider with 103 wins, trailing only Castellano (132).

“Miami is home, and I have great business there also,” he said.

Once he leaves Gulfstream for Monmouth he can count on getting the best mounts at the New Jersey track. When top Monmouth horses ship out of town he’s usually right with them. On August 30 at Saratoga he won the Grade 2 Prioress for Jersey-based trainer Kelly Breen and the Grade 1 Woodward aboard Itsmyluckyday for Monmouth trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. The Woodward was his first Grade 1 victory.

But what he can’t count on is riding for trainers like Todd Pletcher, Bill Mott, Chad Brown, Shug McGaughey, and Kiaran McLaughlin. You have to have trainers like that behind you to go to the next level and consistently get mounts in Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup races.

Riding at Keeneland should help.

“Keeneland is a great platform,” he said. “I have some stakes to ride there opening week so I decided to give it a try there until the Breeders’ Cup.”

The meet falls neatly in between the premier seasons at Monmouth and Gulfstream and it’s the sort of place where you get noticed if you are successful. Lopez had what must have been a frustrating first three days there. He went 1 for 12 but had five seconds, some of them excruciating near misses. He lost two races by a nose and was second in the $500,000 Spinster aboard Ria Antonio and might have won if not impeded by Don’t Tell Sophia. Lopez claimed foul, but his objection was not allowed.

Maybe some day Lopez will move on. There’s no doubt that he has the talent to compete anywhere and with anybody. But will he? He has everything he wants and he’s happy. Maybe that’s enough.

A “Rich” Victory: The story of Rich Tapestry’s win in the Santa Anita Spring Championship provided more fodder for the Lasix debate. A lot of American trainers will tell you they can’t do without the drug and would be at a competitive disadvantage without it. But that’s not how they think in Hong Kong, where Rich Tapestry comes from. Racing administrators there do everything possible to make sure racing in their country is as pure, honest and drug-free as possible. The majority of horses that ship to the U.S. from other countries run with Lasix, their trainers also believing that racing without it would be giving their rivals an edge. But Rich Tapestry’s trainer Michael Chang avoided the temptation, which may or may not have something to do with Hong Kong racing officials reaching out to him and asking him to run drug-free.

“Nobody takes the risk of not using it [in the US],” Hong Kong Jockey Club Executive Director of Racing Bill Nader told the South China Morning Post. “This has put a huge new angle on the medication story there. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but consider this — if Rich Tapestry did happen to win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, he would be named US champion sprinter — and the US champion sprinter would have done it without Lasix.”

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Average attendance at the 57-day meet was 9,296, an increase of 3.4 percent over 2013, when 61 days of racing were held. Ontrack betting at the meet averaged $538,540 per day, 5.6 percent higher than the $510,106 wagered daily last year.

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Average daily all-sources handle on the Monmouth races was $4.59 million, an increase of 3.5 percent over the 2013 average of $4.4 million.

The Monmouth figures are bolstered each year by Haskell Day. This year’s announced Haskell attendance was 35,983, and $15,952,611 was wagered.

“Last year, we thought we had turned the corner, and this year’s successes have put us on firmer ground as we continue to build a better racing program and entertainment destination that is second to none,” said Dennis Drazin, adviser to the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and Darby Development LLC, operators of the racetrack.

Ongoing projects at Monmouth include the construction of a restaurant near the track’s miniature golf course and the 2015 completion of a 7,500-seat amphitheater. A new offtrack betting parlor is scheduled to open soon in Hillsborough, N.J.

Paco Lopez won his third Monmouth riding title. Lopez dominated the meet with 120 wins, more than double the 58 of runner-up Gabriel Saez. Lopez set a Monmouth record by winning seven races on May 17. He came back to have another seven-win day June 6.

Jorge Navarro won his second straight training title with 43 wins. White Wabbit Wacing was the leading owner with 24 wins.

The most notable equine performances of the meet belonged to Bayern, who won the Haskell by more than seven lengths; Main Sequence, who defeated Twilight Eclipse by a neck in the United Nations; and Itsmyluckyday, who won the Salvator Mile and then went on to win the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga.

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With two days left in the 57-day season, Lopez leads runner-up Gabriel Saez 120 to 54. Lopez’s mounts have earned over $3.3 million, more than double his nearest competitor.

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Until this meet, no jockey had ever ridden more than six winners on a Monmouth Park card. Lopez rode seven – twice.

The previous record holders with six wins were Joe Bravo, Julie Krone, Chris Antley, Walter Blum, Eddie Castro, and Jose Lezcano. Good company, to say the least.

Lopez will be absent Saturday at Monmouth, as he will be at Belmont Park to ride Itsmyluckyday in the Grade 2 Kelso Handicap and Ribo Bobo in the Grade 1 Vosburgh. He will be on hand Sunday for closing day.

“I have had great opportunities,” Lopez said.

“I have been on the right horses and have done my best to win with them.”

Lopez and his agent, Cory Moran, will head to Kentucky next week to ride the Keeneland meet,
which begins Friday. They hope to stay in Kentucky through the Breeders’ Cup, then plan to return
to their winter base at Gulfstream Park.

“We have some stakes mounts lined up at Keeneland, and we are going to stay and see if we can
build up some business in Kentucky,” Moran said. “We both love the Keeneland meet.”
Lopez, 28, is from Veracruz, Mexico. He began riding in the U.S. in 2007 in Florida and started
spending his summers in New Jersey in 2009. He previously won Monmouth titles in 2010 and
2013.

Lopez always has been an aggressive rider, but he has matured over the years and is much more
polished than he was early in his career.

Lopez’s success this summer goes beyond his accomplishments at Monmouth. He went 4 for 7 in
stakes at Saratoga and won his first Grade 1 on Itsmyluckyday in the Woodward. He also was
second in the Grade 1 Whitney on Itsmyluckyday, who is trained by Eddie Plesa Jr.
Lopez’s other Saratoga stakes winners came on Stonetastic in the Grade 2 Prioress for trainer Kelly
Breen; on R Free Roll in the Grade 2 Honorable for trainer Danny Gargan; and on Bern Identity in
the $100,000 Tale of the Cat for Breen.

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The next word is unprintable in this space. I knew it was jockey Junior Alvarado even before I swung
my head around to check.

The cheatin’ … person … to whom he was referring, meanwhile, was calmly and confidently waiting for the objection lodged by Alvarado to be gaveled into oblivion by the stewards.

Read Original Article from The Daily Gazette

And after a minute or so, it was, giving 28-year-old Paco Lopez, who likely has been called such coarse things before, the first Grade I victory of his career, on Itsmyluckyday in the Woodward at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday.

It capped a magnificent daily double for Lopez, who also won the Grade II Prioress on Stonetastic.

Itsmyluckyday’s trainer, Eddie Plesa Jr., who employs Lopez on a regular basis at Gulfstream Park in
Florida and Monmouth Park in New Jersey, said he prefers to be a big fish in a small pond, but Lopez
was a big fish in the biggest pond on Saturday.

The former quarterhorse rider who was once banned for two months at Calder roughhoused it with Alvarado and Whitney winner Moreno for all they were worth for the length of the stretch to win the
Woodward.

With 40 days of racing nearly over, the native of Vera cruz, Mexico, has ridden just 16 times here this meet, but has four wins that include two of the biggest on Saturday’s blockbuster card.

“Paco’s an outstanding rider who you will be hearing a lot about, no ifs, ands or buts,” Plesa said. “He belongs in the top tier of riders, in my opinion. I’ve been using him since he had the bug.”
That was 2008, when Lopez led the nation in wins for a bug boy and won the Apprentice Eclipse
Award.

He grew up poor on a farm with no electricity or running water, moved to a ranch when he was 12 and was in Florida riding quarterhorses by 2006.

Lopez transferred that Wild West style to thoroughbred racing, which cost him the last two months of
his Eclipse Award season when the Calder stewards got fed up with his appeals of six infractions
totaling over 30 days of suspension.

Must’ve seemed like old times during the stretch drive of the Woodward.

Alvarado was on Moreno to the inside of Lopez and Itsmyluckyday, and it may as well have been the
Dodge Charger and Steve McQueen’s Mustang GT swapping hide in “Bullitt.”

Itsmyluckyday and Moreno made contact eight times by my count, and I scored it 5-3 in favor of
Moreno.

So it seemed ludicrous that it was Alvarado who protested to the judges, but then again, he lost.

“I probably should have thrown myself on the ground to see if he would have got disqualified in this
race,” Alvarado said.

And the Oscar goes to …

Moreno’s trainer, Eric Guillot, naturally, delivered the sour grapes that were as hil arious as you’d
expect them to be. “Looks like I’m going to the Complaint Department again. What time they open?” he said, laughing and referring to last year’s Travers, when Moreno lost and Guillot started an illegal buzzer controversy that was quashed by an investigation.

Lopez just smiled the smile of a winner.

His English is rough, but his dominant form at Monmouth translated well to the hallowed ground of
Saratoga.

Lopez has a ridiculous 110-45 edge over Orlando Bocachica in the rider standings on the Jersey Shore,
and has topped $3 million in earnings there for the second year in a row. He had 99 winners at Monmouth in 2013, with the next three in the jockey standings each with just over 50.

Still, the Saratoga colony can be intimidating to an outsider.

“Yeah, but I have the same competition at Gulfstream, so for me, it’s no different,” Lopez said. “I know the riders here, and it’s the same thing as Florida.”

“He’s a smart, aggressive rider that does the right thing and has something between his ears, that he
thinks and he knows the game,” Plesa said. “He works extremely hard, just does everything right. He’s
a credit to his profession and a credit to his country and a credit to his family. Just a great person.”

I jokingly said, “Now you have to say something bad about him,” and Plesa just chuckled.

Next question.

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