Emerald Downs: Alex Cruz returns chasing his 4th straight riding title; a bunch of new faces will try to stop him

5/4/2023

(Auburn, WA) No jockey in Washington State history has ever won 4 straight riding titles at any of the major tracks including Emerald Downs, Longacres, Playfair and Yakima Meadows. 4 riders have won 3 in a row, Gary Baze did it back at Longacres from 1973-754, Gary Boulanger accomplished it also at Longacres from 1989 to 1991, Rocco Bowen did at Emerald Downs in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Alex Cruz then arrived in 2020 and won the title in his 1st year in the NW then won it in 2021 and last year took it 2022.

Since last year Cruz rode at few other tracks but mostly at Turf Paradise when a serious spill threatened Cruz’s chance of going for 4 in a row. In the March 1st incident Cruz broke a few ribs and his collarbone. He was on Starzan who went down after another horse, Mystical Image, stumbled in front of him throwing his rider and former Emerald Downs jockey Leslie Mawing.

Cruz has healed in time for opening day and ESN talked with him on Thursday morning after he had worked several horses and says he is ready to defend his title. Cruz will be again be represented by agent David Singer. Singer has the experience in representing riders who can win 3 straight titles as he was Rocco Bowen’s agent when he did it. S

Quiet Retirement?

Taking a look at the Racing Commission list of approved jockey licenses one name sticks out huge that is NOT on that list. Juan Gutierrez, the all time winningest jockey in Emerald Downs history with a total 1,567 wins after finishing 3rd in the jockey standings last year with 70 wins behind Cruz and Kevin Radke. Gutierrez is reportedly not at the track and may have retired.

David Singer had been his agent over the past several years and Gutierrez had talked quietly that last year may have been his last and was contemplating retirement. Singer says since there was some question on what Gutierrez wanted to do this season he told Gutierrez that he was going to find another rider to represent. Agents are limited to 3 riders and Singer now has Cruz, Radke and newcomer to Emerald Downs Luis Negron. We expect if and when Gutierrez makes his final decision that he will make a formal announcement. Emerald Downs officials have maintained contact with Gutierrez.

Missing Faces

There will be several other familiar names not here for the beginning of the race season and they include the husband and wife team of Jake Samuels and Kassie Guglielmino. Kassie began riding last year and then broke her leg in a spill and finished in 11th overall with 7 wins. Jake began riding again after Kassie’s injury and finished strong with 20 wins and 9th in the standings overall. Combined they had a half million dollars in purse earnings.

Heriberto “Eddie” Martinez will not be back, he is heading to Canterbury Downs in Minnesota. Leslie Mawing who was also injured in that spill at Turf Paradise with Alex Cruz is also likely headed back to Minnesota but he and Martinez could come back for the end of the Emerald meet as Canterbury finishes before the end of the Emerald meet.

Returning Faces

2nd leading rider Kevin Radke is back after a very successful off-season where he tied with Evin Roman for the riding title at Fresno. Afterward Radke has been based Golden Gate where he tied William Antongeorgie for the Jockey Championship in the Fall meet. Radke is currently in 9th place at GG but has been commuting down on weekends as he has been working horses at Emerald since the track opened. Radke is primed to make a huge run at Cruz for the top spot and is a 2 time jockey champ at Emerald with titles in 2002 and 2003. Radke had retired but made a full comeback 2 years ago and last year finished 13 wins behind Cruz with 77 wins.

Jose Zunino is set to come back but will not be here on opening day as he finishes up the season at Turf Paradise. The journeyman Zunino had his best year yet at Emerald Downs capped off by winning the Longacres Mile on Slew’s Tiz Whiz. Kevin Orozco is back but will be with a new agent in Aldo Zamora. Aldo is the son of longtime Emerald favorite Javier Matias who is also back at Emerald for another season.

Orozco finished last year tied for 4th place with 28 wins with Mawing and included 2 stakes wins. Orozco was the leading stakes winning jockey in 2021 and looks to expand his influence with the new energy from his agent. Matias is also back but did leave early to go work down south but finished as the 7th leading rider with 23 wins but had the 5th highest win percent among the regular riders at 15%.

Alex Anaya is also expected back and the young rider was hit with a big case of 2nditis as he finished with 15 wins and 27 2nds. Turning just a few of those around would push Anaya up the standings. Anaya is also wrapping up his time at Turf Paradise and should be headed north after their done.

Also returning for another year is the Queen of the Emerald Downs riding colony Jennifer Whitaker who is the all-time leading female jockey at Emerald Downs and the 1st to reach 500 wins at the Auburn oval. Whitaker will again be the #1 rider for Hall of Fame trainer Howard Belvoir.

New Faces

Now the new faces at the Emerald will include a new/old face in Isaias Enriquez who rides a lot for all-time and Hall of Fame trainer Frank Lucarelli. Luis Negron a well established rider at several tracks will make his first run at Emerald Downs and will be the 3rd rider for powerhouse agent David Singer. Negron is currently 4th in the rider standings at Turf Paradise. Negron comes in with 918 career wins and a huge meet could get him to that 1,000 mark.

Other new riders include Zamora’s 3rd rider Rigo Alberto Sarmiento who has also been riding in Arizona and has 12 wins and nearly 225k in purse earnings. Silvio Ruiz Amador is up from the Bay area where he has 9 wins at the current meet but 43 top 3 finishes from 96 mounts. Francisco Diaz Lopez is back and rode sparingly last year at emerald and had 1 win.

Carlos Montalvo will give Emerald a go after most recently riding at Sam Houston. Montalvo has a career total of 1,266 wins and earnings of more than 27-million. The veteran could make a big dent here in the NW. Neptali Ortiz is a oung rider with just 132 races under his belt with a 17-12-21 record. he has been riding at Century Downs in Alberta, Canada. Alexis Valdes will also be making his way up from Turf Paradise to ride at Emerald Downs. Valdes currently has 29 wins at T-P and has earned nearly a half million in purse money. Jose Elias Rodriguez is coming up from Golden Gate where he has ridden a limited schedule and looking to find a foothold in Auburn and Jaime Enrique Lopez has ridden only 7 times this year so far down in Arizona and has shifted his tack north for the 1st time looking for a lane to settle in.

There are also two apprentice jockey’s set to make a mark in 2023 at Emerald Downs. Christina Rodriguez is 4-3-10 from 64 starts but hasn’t ridden since 2014 as she makes her comeback in Washington State. The last track she rode at was Monmouth in New Jersey. Angela Straight began riding last year at Hastings and then finished 2022 with 3 rides at Emerald Downs. Angela now looks to be here full time and with a career mark of 4-6-7 from 55 starts looks like she will have that bug for the most if not the entire season.

There you have it the 2023 Emerald Downs Jockey colony, the human athletes of this great sport. The Jockey Power Rankings will return this year and will be a weekly measuring stick on how the riders are doing. It should be a great year and another sold core of riders to put your $2 show bets on.