Horseshoe Indy: Ramos takes riding title, Klopp top trainer
Jockey Joe Ramos scored eight wins in the last two days of racing to slip into the lead and take home the 2022 Thoroughbred jockey title at Horseshoe Indianapolis for the meet that ended Wednesday.
Ramos scored 106 wins for the title with purses of more than $3 million during the 127-day racing season.
The Puerto Rico native was the track’s leading apprentice jockey in 2019. He has been among the track’s top 10 the last two seasons, moving up to fourth last year.
This season, he battled for second as Jockey Marcelino Pedroza Jr. held the lead through most of the meet. The last two weeks, Ramos put together a big surge that placed him one win ahead of Pedroza on closing night aboard one of his favorite horses, the grey Nobody Listens for Trainer Tim Eggleston.
Ramos remains in Indiana during the winter months to assist the Randy Klopp stable, one of his major barns at Horseshoe Indianapolis, with breaking babies. He plans to travel back and forth to ride at Turfway Park until racing resumes in Indiana in April of 2023.
Among trainers, it came down to the last day of racing to determine a winner. Randy Klopp earned the title with his final start of 2022, saddling Surley to victory in the sixth race.
Heading into the final day of action, Klopp led trainer Genaro Garcia, 64 to 62. Garcia scored a win in the second race to tighten up the race, but the win by Surley put Klopp at 65 wins on the year for the title. Horses from Klopp’s barn have earned more than $1.7 million this season, and the stable maintained a 21 percent win percentage with a 53 percent top 3 percentage.
Top horses for Klopp in 2022 include Latigo, winner of five races, including the $250,000 Governor’s Stakes; Music to my Ears, winner of four races; and Silver Moon Road, who set a track record for most consecutive wins in one season with six trips to the winner’s circle.
Over the course of the 127-day racing season, Klopp had more than 300 starters, calling upon several jockeys for the assignments aboard his stock. Ramos guided 39 of Klopp’s winners and made up more than $1 million of the stable’s purse earnings. Sammy Bermudez had 16 wins and accounted for another $300,000-plus of the tally.
In the owners' standings, it was another solid season for the partnership of Roger Spiess’ Spiess Stable and Randy Klopp. The duo scored 31 wins and brought in purse earnings just shy of the $1 million mark to earn their second consecutive title for leading Thoroughbred owner. The earnings tally of $979,041 for 2022 set a record for most purse earnings recorded by an owner of either breed in track history.
Spiess, a retired veterinarian from Swanton, Ohio, and Klopp have had a strong partnership for the last 20 years. The two has moved their way into third place on the list of all-time leading owners in the record books with 180 career wins and more than $4 million in purse earnings. Top horses for them in 2022 include Latigo, Music to my Ears and Ferdan, who scored his third win of the meet during closing week. Spiess, who is hands-on in the selection process of purchasing racehorses and yearlings with Klopp, cited Latigo as his favorite horse this year.