Sam Waley-Cohen, jockey (Photo by David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images via JTA)
(JTA) – The odds are long that David Cohen can become the first Jewish jockey to win a Kentucky Derby.
Cohen’s horse, Keepmeinmind, is a 50-1 shot in the early line for Saturday’s Triple Crown race at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
But don’t bet against the 36-year-old rider, who has won some 1,560 races and earned nearly $60 million in a career that launched in 2004: His is a story of comeback, from physical injury and mental anguish.
An Arkansas rabbi helped along the way.
Cohen was raised in the horse racing industry: His father was a highly regarded owner and breeder in California, where Cohen was born and raised and had his bar mitzvah. He was enjoying a promising career, moving east to win jockey titles at then-Philadelphia Park and Delaware Park in the mid-2000s.
By Charles Jay - Exclusive to OSGA
Will Knicks Go be caught by any of his opponents? There should be some drama atatched to the Pegasus World Cup on Saturday at Gulfstream.
Can
That s the question on the minds of
BetAnySportsracebook bettors as the
Pegasus World Cup approaches at
Gulfstream Park.
At one time, the Pegasus was the richest horse race in America. No more, and we re not going to promise you that this is the most star-studded lineup this race has ever had. But it s pretty good, and there is a pretty good story attached to it.
The distance is a mile and an eighth.
By Richard Rosenblatt
Ten days before his 68
th birthday, Bob Baffert may have a better idea where his just-turned 3-year-old Life Is Good fits in on the road to the 2021 Kentucky Derby (G1).
Highly-touted Life Is Good headlines a field of five for Saturday’s $100,000 Sham Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park, a race that started Baffert-trained Authentic on his way to victory in the 2020 Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).
Life Is Good sure gives Baffert a great deal of optimism heading into the two-turn, 1-mile Sham – his bay colt debuted with a 9 1/2-length romp at Del Mar on Nov. 22.