Fresh off of collecting his 2,000th career win on Wednesday
at Churchill Downs, jockey Julien Leparoux will depart for California upon the
conclusion of Thursday’s local racing action to compete in his ninth Breeders’
Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park on Friday and Saturday.
“It’s the world championships,” said Leparoux, who has five
Breeders’ Cup mounts over the two days. “Everyone in the world comes and it’s a
fun event. I remember watching it as a kid and it’s something that is just
really fun and cool to be a part of now.”
Leparoux has won five Breeders’ Cup races in his career: Nownownow (2007 Juvenile Turf), champion Forever Together (2008 Filly & Mare
Turf), Furthest Land (2009 Dirt Mile), champion Informed Decision (2009 Filly &
Mare Sprint) and champion She Be Wild (2009 Juvenile Fillies).
His three-peat at Santa Anita in 2009 won him the Bill
Shoemaker Award as the top jockey at that year’s Breeders’ Cup.
“Obviously, 2009 was my best year,” Leparoux said. “That was a year where we
went into it with a lot of good shots and everything sort of came together. We
won three so that was definitely my best memory.”
Leparoux’s first Breeders’ Cup mount of 2014 will be in the
first race of the Breeders’ Cup, Friday’s Juvenile Turf aboard Danny Boy for trainer Dale Romans. Leparoux
sat on the Harlan’s Holiday colt in a race for the first time in the Grade 3
Bourbon at Keeneland on October 5 where he finished second, beaten
a half-length.
“He ran very well at Keeneland,” Leparoux said. “That was the first time on
him for me and he closed well. He was still a little green and tried to lay on
horses a little bit but the great thing is that now I know him a little bit
better. The tough part is the post; we drew the far outside so that’s something
that can be very difficult to overcome but I expect him to run well anyway.”
In the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, also on Friday, Leparoux will ride Lady Zuzu for Hall of Fame conditioner
D. Wayne Lukas. This will be Leparoux’s first mount on the two-year-old lass who
is a daughter of Dynaformer.
“She was impressive (when breaking her maiden by 6 1/4 lengths) at Keeneland
(on October 9) and D. Wayne Lukas just
keeps telling me how good she is and how great she’s been doing so I’m excited
about her,” Leparoux said.
On Saturday, Leparoux will get the call in the Breeders’
Cup Filly & Mare Sprint on Southern Honey, whom he
has ridden in seven of her eight starts. The most impressive outing for the
Colonel John sophomore came in the Grade 3 Winning Colors on May 26 at Churchill Downs,
where she faced and defeated older mares for the first time. Southern Honey
followed that with a ninth-place effort in the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga on
August 2, and
most recently finished third and second in her last two starts, both Grade 2
events.
“There were no real excuses for her in the Test,” Leparoux
noted. “She was making some noise early in the race, and I think that’s part of
the reason why she didn’t run any good that day. But she was so big in the
earlier part of this year; she beat older mares here at Churchill and she’s
bounced back from that Test race with two solid efforts. If she can come back
and duplicate what she was doing earlier in the year I think she can be a great
filly. But I guess it ultimately depends on how she’s doing on Saturday.”
In Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, Leparoux will
ride Grade 3 scorer Ageless, who was listed as an also-eligible contender when
the initial entries were released. She made the field of 14 after Free as a Bird
was scratched from the race.
“We’re excited that she got in,” Leparoux said. “This is a
filly that has run great all year. I think the worst she’s finished this year is
third. So really she’s been doing all we’ve asked of her and she’s been doing
great. (Trainer Arnaud Delacour) tells me she hasn’t missed a beat and I think
she’s going to like this race going six-and-a-half furlongs.”
Ageless will have to break from the far outside in post
position 14, which Leparoux does not mind.
“I think the outside is probably more preferable than the
inside in her race because you are going right in the first part of the race
(down Santa Anita’s hillside turf course) so it’s more like being on the inside
when you draw the outside,” he explained.
Finally, Leparoux will be on Sayaad for
trainer Kiaran McLaughlin in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Mile. Leparoux’s only
ride on Sayaad came in his last start when he finished third, beaten 1 1/4
lengths, in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile on October 4 at Keeneland. He will break from post
position 11 in the Mile with morning line odds of 30-1.
“All year, even before the Shadwell Mile, he’s been running
decent races,” Leparoux remarked. “The only one I think he won this year was
going seven-eighths, but he’s been running good races against very good horses.
“I don’t think 30-1 is that big of a deal, I mean this is one of the toughest
races in the whole Breeders’ Cup so we’ll see. I’ve only ridden him once but
from that start and what I’ve seen it seems like he gives everything every race
so we’ll see.”
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