DAY 41 of 57
FRIDAY’S ON-TRACK HANDLE $19,938
FRIDAY’S OFF-TRACK HANDLE $5,503,467
FRIDAY’S TOTAL HANDLE $5,523,405
TODAY’S POST TIME 1:05 p.m. (Spectators not allowed)
FRIDAY’S STARS
Joe Talamo won three races to improve his season totals to 40 victories in 204 starts. Talamo won the fifth race with Tempt Fate ($6.20, $4.20, $3.20), covering 6 furlongs in 1:11.10. He won the seventh race with Jewel Thief ($5.80, $3.00, $3.00), covering 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.68. He won the ninth race with Subiaco ($13.20, $6.40, $3.40), covering 1 mile in 1:38.61.
Walter De La Cruz won two races, improving his totals to 25 victories in 193 starts. De La Cruz won the first race with Luck of the Draw ($26.60, $7.40, $3.60), covering 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.87. He won the fourth race with Dukes Up ($7.80, $4.40, $3.20), covering 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.09.
RIDING WITH A CAUSE
Recount’s March 22 victory at Oaklawn was noteworthy because the gelding surpassed $700,000 in career earnings. It was also noteworthy for jockey Alex Canchari, only for a much more personal reason.
Recount represented Canchari’s first victory since his older brother, jockey Patrick Canchari, was critically injured several days earlier in an automobile accident in Arizona.
“It was for him,” Alex Canchari said. “There’s been two times in my life that I’ve cried after a race. One was when I won my first race at Santa Anita and when I won that race the other day because I really felt like he was riding with me. I came from behind in that race, and I had such a clear trip. That was a special one.”
According to a GoFundme page created March 18, Patrick Canchari was headed to work when he was involved in the March 17 accident. He was transported to HonorHealth Deer Valley Medical Center in Phoenix and diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and a fractured C4 vertebra, sedated and placed on a ventilator. Canchari, 29, had ridden three winners this year at Turf Paradise in Phoenix before the accident.
Alex Canchari said his family is in Arizona, but have been unable to see Patrick because the hospital is on government lockdown because of the coronavirus. Alex Canchari has remained in Hot Springs and continues to ride, although he took off all his mounts March 19 because he was devastated over the accident. The brothers hail from a racing family and grew up in the shadow of Canterbury Park in suburban Minneapolis.
“We did everything together,” Alex Canchari said. “I used to do my online school when he was an apprentice and I used to watch every race at Hawthorne. I would sit in the grandstand and watch all his races and we lived in the dorms together. We got our first jobs at the track when I was 10 years old and he was 12. We grew up playing hockey every day. He taught me everything.”
Canchari said Thursday morning that his brother is scheduled to be transported to a rehabilitation facility in the next few days, adding he “opened his eyes” and “looked at us” during a Facetime video call Wednesday.
“That’s a good sign,” Alex Canchari said.
JOCKEYING FOR POSITION
The view at the top of the Oaklawn jockey standings is crowded, with four riders separated by three victories following Thursday, the 40th day of the scheduled 57-day season.
Joe Talamo rode three winners Friday to take a 40-36 lead over six-time local riding champion Ricardo Santana Jr. Defending champion David Cohen is third (36) and Martin Garcia (35) fourth. Talamo and Garcia are riding regularly at Oaklawn for the first time after previously being based in southern California during the winter and early spring.
“That would be cool,” Talamo said last Saturday morning when asked about winning the riding title in his Oaklawn debut. “It’s under interesting circumstances, obviously. You know, Ricardo has been off and David Cohen was gone for five days, so obviously that factors into it. But that would be awesome. But more than anything, I just want to try to keep doing what we’re doing and just keep getting good opportunities. The rest will take care of itself.”
Talamo has a meet-high six stakes victories and entered Friday No. 2 in purse earnings ($2,551,408). Santana tops all riders in purse earnings ($2,592,640). Santana is scheduled to resume riding Sunday after being in a self-quarantine for the coronavirus.
FINALLY A VICTORY
Kelsi Harr had ridden 22 winners in her career through Thursday, but until March 27 none had been for trainer Al Cates, who helped mold her riding career.
Harr guided favored Millie’s an Angel ($3.20) to a front-running 2¼-length victory. Harr, Oaklawn’s leading apprentice jockey this year, has been an exercise rider for Cates for the past eight years. The duo had been 0 for 21 together, all at Oaklawn.
“I was thrilled,” Cates said last Saturday morning. “She was really thrilled because she’s been wanting to win one for me so bad, I know. We thought we had a couple of shots before, but it didn’t work out.”
FINAL FURLONG
Triple Crown nominee Answer In, unraced since a third-place finish in the $750,000 Southwest Stakes for 3-year-olds Feb. 17, is entered in today’s eighth race, a 1 1/16-mile allowance, for trainer Brad Cox. Also entered is Triple Crown nominee Finnick the Fierce for co-owner/trainer Rey Hernandez. Finnick the Fierce finished second in the $300,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes Nov. 30 at Churchill Downs. … Ginobili, runner-up to Nadal in the $200,000 San Vicente Stakes Feb. 9 at Santa Anita in his last start, is entered in Sunday’s ninth race, an entry-level allowance sprint, for southern California-based trainer Richard Baltas. Baltas, who has a division of horses this year at Oaklawn, said Ginobili would be flown Friday to Arkansas.
Information for this report was contributed by Oaklawn media department