Comebacking jockey Rajiv Maragh back at Gulfstream Dec. 19-28

The promise of Christmas spent with his family is luring jockey Rajiv Maragh to South Florida for the holidays, but the purpose of his 10-day stay won’t be entirely familial.

 

The native of Jamaica intends to ride at Gulfstream Park during Aqueduct’s holiday break, which runs Dec. 19-28.

 

Maragh, 31, returned to the saddle on Nov. 4 following a serious spill at Belmont Park in July 2015. The accident left him with several broken vertebrae, a broken rib, and a punctured lung, and required extensive and often painful rehabilitation. 

 

During his comeback, Maragh has been riding regularly at Aqueduct, where he notched his first win since before the accident aboard Bass River Road on Nov. 23. He subsequently rode multiple winners on different cards, including a four-win day on Dec. 10.  After Wednesday’s races at Aqueduct, Maragh was second in the standings at the young inner-track meet with seven winners to Jose Ortiz’ nine.

 

“It’s nice to stay in the groove, and I already had a 16-month vacation, so I don’t really care for more vacation right now,” Maragh said of his decision to ride at Gulfstream over his Christmas break.

 

A winner of more than 1,600 career races, Maragh will make New York his home base this winter but will journey south to ride when the right opportunities present themselves.

 

Gulfstream has provided Maragh with fond memories. It was here that the rider won his 1,000th career race in February 2010. In January 2015, Gulfstream was the site of his first win back following a few months off to recover from a broken arm he sustained in a racing accident at Belmont the previous fall.

 

With 2015 being the last time that Maragh competed at Gulfstream Park, the rider said his return is a cause for celebration for his family, the majority of whom live in South Florida.

 

“It’s a great thing for me to spend my holidays with my family and for them to be with me,” said Maragh who noted his uncles, Aubrey and Allen, are expected to provide him with mounts while he is in Florida. “Many of them haven’t seen me ride in person in a long while and they are excited for the chance, and so I’m I. This should make for a very nice Christmas.”

           

During Maragh’s South Florida stay, agent Walter Blum Jr. will be handling his mounts, as his New York-based agent, Tony Micallef, will be spending the holidays with his family in Canada.

 

 

Little Red Feather Racing’s Midnight Miley, a winner of back-to-back Grade 3 stakes in Canada this summer, will make just her seventh career turf start and first in South Florida in Saturday’s $100,000 South Beach.

 

Trained by Julia Carey, the 4-year-old bay daughter of champion sprinter Midnight Lute captured the 1 1/16-mile Ontario Matron (G3) and seven-furlong Seaway (G3) in front-running fashion over Woodbine’s all-weather surface. She is one of three graded winners in the 10-horse field, joining Sandiva and Tuttipaesi.

 

“We’re going to give this turf a try here,” Carey said. “She has speed and it seems to be speed-favoring, so we’ll give it a shot and hopefully it works.”

 

Midnight Miley has a win and a second in six lifetime grass races, both coming last spring at Golden Gate Fields. Her most recent turf start came when sixth in the Sept. 17 Canadian (G2) at Woodbine, a ‘Win and You’re In’ race for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) that drew graded stakes winners Rainha Da Bateria, Dacita and Faufiler.

 

“She’s tried it before and she’s run well and won on the turf, but in easier spots. She does like the synthetic. They’re very similar surfaces,” Carey said. “She ran very well in the Canadian and only got beat [5 ¼] lengths. It was a real tough spot. She was used too much the first part of the race. She has wicked speed, and you have to be able to control it.”

 

Jose Lezcano will ride Midnight Miley in the South Beach from Post 4 at co-highweight of 121 pounds. She is one of five horses Carey has stabled at Gulfstream Park.

 

“She’s been here a week and a half. We breezed her; unfortunately, it was over a sloppy track and we couldn’t really ask her, but she’s fit. She’s a big girl. She keeps herself pretty well,” Carey said. “We’ll see how this race goes. We’re just going to play it by ear. Hopefully, she’ll like the surface enough that they’ll keep her here; otherwise she may wait for Woodbine again. She’s in a January sale, so we’ll see whether they sell her or not. I hope not.”

 

Carey schooled Midnight Miley in Gulfstream’s paddock and walking ring prior to Wednesday’s first race.