ARLINGTON NOTEBOOK
JULY 7, 2010
Shane Sellers back in the saddle at Arlington
Jockey Shane Sellers, whose Arlington single-season record of 219 wins still stands, has made a triumphant return to
Arlington Park after ending a 4 1/2-year retirement last summer.
When he first returned to the saddle last summer, it was in his native
Louisiana with successful stints at Louisiana Downs, and then at Fair Grounds
for this past winter in New Orleans.
Following the meet at the Crescent City oval, many thought Sellers would
follow his old route back to Arlington, but there was a detour along the way as the rider decided to go to Delaware Park.
“I wanted to come back to Chicago but I wanted to come back with the right
agent,” Sellers explained shortly after arriving in Chicago. “Things
didn’t line-up right for me to come back at the start of the meet but I always
had in the back of my mind that I was going to get back to Arlington.
“I’m very grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given since I came out of
retirement, and also for this opportunity to get with Pat Cuccurullo as my agent
and come back to Chicago,” he added. “He’s been a trainer at Arlington
in recent years and we have a lot of the same old acquaintances from the old
days.”
Sellers won 21 races (16 percent win clip) at Delaware Park this year.
“I have a long way to go,” Sellers told Arlington Park notes writer Graham
Ross, “and I have a lot of amends to make, but I’m making progress. When I
first got to Delaware, I went by the barn of Larry and Cindy Jones to say hello,
and basically they let me know I could say hello but they weren’t going to use
me on any of their horses.
“Then, Larry and Cindy and I kept running into each other after Bible
classes at Delaware and eventually we got to talking. Then one
day, I looked on the overnight and they had put me on one of their horses.
“One thing that made me feel real good was something that Larry said to me
the other day,” Sellers said. “He said, ‘I like the Shane Sellers I’m
seeing today.’
“I like the ‘me’ I’m seeing today, too,” Sellers concluded. “When Larry
says something to me like that, and (trainer) Frank (Bobby) Springer said
something very much like that, it makes me feel like I’m doing something right. If I can continue in that pattern, and combine that with all the abilities I
have as a rider, I see no reason I can’t get back to where I once was.”
It took Sellers no time at all to pick up seemingly right where he left off
as he scored with his first mount back at Arlington — Talons Racing’s Laguna
Moon (Malibu Moon) for trainer Wayne Catalano in the 1ST race on Thursday, July 1.
“It’s like it was meant to be,” an emotional Sellers said immediately after
the race. “Everybody here has greeted me with open arms since I got here. I needed that win in my life right now, but I still have a lot of amends to make
to a lot of people. That’s how I feel.”
HORSES TO WATCH
Thursday (7/1)
9TH — MISS POLLIPOP (Pollard’s Vision), a first-time starter, raced greenly. She
bore in at the start, ran a bit erratic and lugged in late yet showed some
promise in the mid-stages of the race. Could graduate next time with a
clean trip.
Saturday (7/3)
1ST — BREZING RAIN (Whywhywhy) was held up between rivals early before being
eased back to wait for a hole to open. Blocked briefly in the stretch
while waiting but finally found a seam to close through but was too late to
seriously menace. Look for better next out.
4TH — SUNLACED (Mingun) broke in the air and then raced wide throughout
before mounting a challenge late, but ultimately fading from the overland route.
9TH — SNOW TOP MOUNTAIN (Najran) is probably on everyone’s horses to watch
list. The talented filly was wide into the first turn in the Arlington Oaks (G3) from her outside post in the
nine-furlong race and was floated
wide into the stretch by eventual winner Upperline (Maria’s Mon). While no match for that
rival, Snow Top Mountain still offered a good rally for second and fits nicely in the Grade
3 ranks in the sophomore division.