Boosted by former Miller runners, Amescua starts fast at Oaklawn

Rene Amescua saddled three winners New Year’s Eve, his first career strikes at Oaklawn since migrating from his native California to Hot Springs for the 2021-2022 meeting that began Dec. 3.

“Every now and then, it flops out right,” Amescua said following training hours Wednesday morning.

Amescua, 59, said the hook to Oaklawn came through another California trainer, the late Mel Stute, who brought a small string to Oaklawn in 1989 and recorded four career stakes victories in Hot Springs, notably the $250,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses in 1987 with champion Snow Chief.

“He used to come here and a friend of mine used to come with the horses,” Amescua said. “He always told me how much fun he had here, so I always wanted to come here.”

Already armed with more than 900 career victories, the bulk coming in California, Amescua added to his total Dec. 31 when he won the third race with I’m the Boss of Me ($8.60), seventh race with Apprehend ($8) and the ninth race with Melting Snow ($25.80).

All three winners were previously with Southern California-based Peter Miller, who announced in November that he was taking a sabbatical from training.

Amescua said he has 18 horses at Oaklawn, including another former Miller trainee, millionaire multiple stakes winner C Z Rocket. Miller co-owns C Z Rocket, who was Oaklawn’s top male sprinter at the 2021 meeting after winning the $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes and the $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3). C Z Rocket is a candidate for the $150,000 King Cotton Stakes Jan. 29, Amescua said.

“The primary amount of horses here came from (Los Angeles),” Amescua said. “Pete Miller asked me if I was interested in coming here. He gave me these horses to give it a shot with, so that’s kind of how that came to fruition, even though I was sort of looking for a way to get here anyway.”

Amescua, who came up under the late Mike Mitchell and Ron Ellis, started his first horse in 1987, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization. Through Friday, Amescua had recorded 935 victories and his horses had earned $11,191,096 in purses. He had been a fixture in California, particularly the Bay Area, before relocating to the Midwest for the first time.

“I’ve had a pretty good run on my own,” Amescua said. “I haven’t had, like, any big super horses, but we always manage to win some races.”