Sponsored by:
Grants Pass Downs
As track announcer Jason Beem would say, “And the race is on at Grants Pass Downs!”
Oregon s premier horse racing venue begins its 2021 spring/summer season Monday with first post 5:15 p.m. The eight-race card features two quarter horse events, six thoroughbred races and 65 total horses a solid 8.1 per race.
The $10,000 added Caveman Stakes drew a full field of 10 older horses at five furlongs including Pulpits Power, last seen winning the $20,000 Grants Pass Mile last fall. The 7-year-old gelding drew the No. 3 post position with defending riding champion Joree Scriver taking the mount.
The 17-day spring/summer meeting features Monday and Tuesday racing through July 6 (except June 14 and 15) and special holiday racing Sunday July 4 at 1 p.m.
Oregon s Grants Pass Downs Opens Meet May 10 bloodhorse.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bloodhorse.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Sponsored by:
Jose Santos and girlfriend Carson McCord
Jose Santos became famous for winning races as a jockey. His son wants to become famous for winning races as a jockey agent.
The winning formula for Jose “Joe” Santos Jr. is to try and revolutionize the profession through strength in numbers, eventually creating a corporate-like business model.
Santos, 26, represents five riders at four tracks. The bulky roster briefly reached six earlier this year and included two for most of the Oaklawn meet in David Cabrera, its second-leading rider in 2018 who is headed toward another runner-up finish in 2021, and Ken Tohill, a veteran approaching 4,000 career victories. Tohill won nine races in Hot Springs before recently departing for Prairie Meadows in Iowa. Santos also books mounts for Miguel Mena and Albin Jimenez at Churchill Downs in Kentucky, Reylu Gutierrez at Lone Star Park in Texas and Freddy Manrrique at Will Rogers Downs in Oklahoma.
Horse Racing – USR Photo
The excitement is building for trainer Rob Atras and his wife Brittney, their 3-year-old filly Maracuja and jockey Kendrick Carmouche. The Kentucky Oaks (G1) is Friday, and there are high hopes all around for a breakthrough victory in one of the most prestigious races for females.
Maracuja is Portuguese for passionflower, said to be a plant so powerful it can cure everything from deep wrinkles to high anxiety. And she just might be so talented that she can transport her connections into the winner’s circle while draped in lilies.
Atras is an up-and-coming, New York-based trainer. The 36-year-old started on his own in 2019 when former boss Robertino Diodoro decided to leave New York and asked his assistant to take over a handful of horses.