Until he reaches other milestones -- only 25, that appears doable -- Cristian Torres and the number 100 figure to be linked often.
Wilt Chamberlain scored that many points in a 1962 basketball game, then held up a piece of paper marked only with the number -- C for those into Roman numerals. Or twice as many ways as rocker Paul Simon said one could leave a lover.
Torres' brush with triple digits came last year when he joined Hall of Famer Pat Day as the only jockeys to win 100 races at an Oaklawn meeting. His local mounts earning $6.1 million last season, Torres drew praise from no less than Robertino Diodoro, the track's leading trainer, for a second time, as one to watch nationally.
Brad Cox, whose young horses especially have the Midas touch, showed his appreciation for Torres in putting him on a live mount in Oaklawn's first major prep for the 2024 Kentucky Derby.
Catching Freedom, after walking down dark alleys in his first two starts, found daylight in the stretch and drew off in the $300,000 Smarty Jones Stakes Monday. Constitution's son, a $575,000 September 2022 Keeneland yearling purchase, earned 10 Derby qualifying points in the race named for the 2004 Derby winner and Oaklawn immortal. Catching Freedom bankrolled $162,000 for Albaugh Family Stables, representing Des Moines, Iowa, racing partners Jason Loutsch and Dennis Albaugh.
Cox won the Smarty Jones for the second year in a row and third time in four years. Caddo River, the 2021 winner, went on to finish second in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby. Cox hopes to make history March 30 with a third straight victory in the $1.25 million race, which offers 100 Derby qualifying points to an eligible winner.
Victory Formation won the 2023 Smarty Jones for Cox, though the trainer achieved his second Arkansas Derby triumph with Jan. 1 runner-up Angel of Empire, later third to Mage and Two Phil's in the Kentucky Derby.
Torres received the mount after Florent Geroux rode Catching Freedom to a debut victory (though six horses wide at the quarter pole) and a troubled fourth at Churchill Downs, in trainer Cox's hometown. "I'm just glad he gave me the opportunity," he told FS2, which sent ex-baseballer Paul Lo Duca and former jockey Richard Migliore to Arkansas for the network's America's Day at the Races program.
"He's a nice horse," Torres said. "In his two races, he's a horse that hasn't shown much early speed. He just runs them down at the end. We were able to have a great trip. I saved all the ground the first part of the race. As soon as I got him out, he accelerated like he always does."
Cox, via phone, said he was "very proud of the winner. I think he's still learning. I thought he stepped up and ran well against a solid group of 3-year-olds."
Catching Freedom, eighth early, picked off horses on the backstretch and, despite losing ground on the turn, took dead aim on Wayne Lukas-trained Just Steel. The winner's final margin was 2 1/2 lengths after a fast-rated mile and sixteenth (1:44.59) in what had been a two-turn mile.
He paid $5.40 to win, keying a $14.20 exacta with Just Steel, running strongly in his longest race to date, and a $46.30 trifecta including Steve Asmussen-trained Informed Patriot.
"I think he got just a little tired the last sixteenth," said Just Steel jockey Ramon Vazquez. "The trainer [Hall of Famer Wayne Lukas] told me he was going to be a little bit short. He tried hard; he's going to be a good horse."
Mystik Dan, beaten two necks for second, bears watching, trainer Ken McPeek blaming himself for entering the Goldencents colt with a lung infection Nov. 25 at Churchill Downs. Cox trainees Gettysburg Address ran fourth and Fidget last of nine. Asmussen, whose 13 wins lead the Oaklawn standings after eight racing days, also entered second betting choice Lagynos (sixth), who had Joel Rosario aboard.
Cox turned the page on 2023 after his mounts earned a North American-high $30.9 million. He won nine stakes at Oaklawn, including three by filly Wet Paint. A relatively quiet Oaklawn December for Cox hinted at better things in the offing, his fourth meet victory unfolding Monday.
Second in money among his peers last year, Asmussen topped $1 million in meet earnings with four winners Sunday, Valentine Candy winning the Renaissance for his second stakes victory in the Justify colt's last 23 days as a 2-year-old.