Promising debut winner Oso Ready could put Brookfield on the map
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Photo:
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In the 2-year-old Oso Ready, winner of his debut Saturday at Ellis, Glenn Brookfield has a horse that could put him on the map as a trainer. Brookfield has been in high-profile positions as an exercise rider, working six years for Todd Pletcher, and as the Keeneland-based assistant to trainer Al Stall. He now has five horses based at The Thoroughbred Center in Lexington.
“It’s been a little bit of a slow climb,” Brookfield said. “But I want owners who care about the horses and think about the animals first. I don’t want to have a hundred horses. I want to have a few really good owners who really want to do well and have me more like a boutique trainer.”
Brookfield used to get on Oso Ready’s sire, the WinStar stallion More Than Ready, when working for Pletcher.
“His father ran his first race just like that at Keeneland, was a fifth-second off the track record,” he said. “I actually wanted to run him on the turf next week, but we decided to go ahead because we wanted to be far enough back to make Kentucky Downs. He’s got turf pedigree all over the place. We can’t pass up $140,000.”
That’s a reference to the purse for Kentucky Downs’ entry-level allowance races. Brookfield said he isn’t tempted to shoot for the $350,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile. “He seems like he’s a nice colt,” he said. “We don’t want to bull rush him. He’s going to treat us right, we’re going to treat him right.”
Oso Ready earned an excellent 87 BRIS speed figure in his 1 1/2-length victory under Didiel Osorio. The Brendan Walsh-trained Arlen’s Prospect earned a fine 82 BRIS in winning the other division of the maiden race 3 1/4 lengths under Channing Hill.
Though Oso Ready went off at 16-1, Brookfield said, “I was going to be disappointed if he didn’t run 1-2-3…. I liked everything about the race: the fact that he broke well and when (Osorio) reached up and took a hold of him, he listened to the ride. He asked him to run a little bit coming out of the turn, and when he asked him to gear down, he geared down. That’s the mark of a horse who has a good mind. You can have all the talent in the world, but you better have the mind to go with it. I’ve been on some horses that had $2 million worth of talent but a 2-cent brain to go with it.”
Oso Ready is owned by Colorado cattleman Ed Orr, who picked out and purchased the colt for $130,000 at Keeneland’s 2015 September yearling sale.
Veteran Court, newcomer Cannon picking up steam in rider standings
With an extremely contentious jockey colony, a couple of notable jockeys are heating up late: the venerable veteran Jon Court and Kentucky newcomer Declan Cannon.
Court, a six-time Ellis Park riding champion, missed the first part of the Ellis meet with a cracked rib, and got off to a rather slow start. But the three race dates heading into Sunday’s card, he won two races apiece to into No. 8 in the standings with 10 victories. Miguel Mena and Corey Lanerie led with 17 wins.
At age 55, Court shows no sign of letting up.
“I started a new advanced nutritional regimen,” Court said. “Coming into the meet, I didn’t have a lot of powerful business, but it’s a cycle. At this stage of my career, I have to really work at it as hard as when I was trying to starting off. People have shown some alliance to me, but at the same time, it’s not going to be just handed to you. You have to stay fit, stay alert, stay focused.”
Cannon is in his first year riding in America, and has worked hard to get a toehold in Kentucky. Like Court, he won two races Saturday to bring his meet total to nine, out of only 43 mounts for an excellent 21-percent strike rate. His pair of victories Saturday were for Chris Hartman.
“He’s a good hard-working kid coming up in the ranks,” said Hillary Hartman, who is overseeing the Kentucky operation for her husband while Chris is at Del Mar. “I think there had to a be a transition to American racing. He’s really developing his hands well.”
Cannon, 29, has ridden all over the world, his career starting in his native Ireland, from where he moved on to England with winters spend riding in Qatar and Australia. But he admits there’s been a learning curve to riding in America, where he first came as a work-rider for several winters in Florida for trainer Eddie Kenneally.
“I loved it and said, ‘I’ve got to come back to ride,’” Cannon said before Sunday’s races at Ellis Park. “But I was doing so well at home, I never came while I had the ‘bug’ (apprenticeship). I’ve always loved American racing, and I’m grateful to get a chance now.”
He moved to America in late December, first riding in New York, before coming to Kentucky for Keeneland’s spring meet, going 0 for 11 and then 2 for 18 at Churchill Downs.
“But I’m getting a roll going now,” said Cannon, who lives in Louisville. “I was just making connections, riding a lot of work (morning workouts) in Lexington and Louisville. Just waiting for my chances and taking them now.”
Not having the benefit of apprentice weight allowances makes it tougher to break in. “It was a big challenge,” he said. “But I said if I worked hard and somebody gives me a chance, it might pay off. Look, we’re only on the first step of the ladder. I’ve set myself goals, and I have to keep working toward them.”
The biggest adjustments? “You have to be very aware of pace in this country,” Cannon said. “Pace wins races. It’s so important. You not only have to know what’s going on around you, you have to see what’s going to happen before it happens. Because it happens fast here. That’s made me a sharper rider, because at home we have so much time to see when everyone is going to move.
“I’ve had to learn a different style, a different game. It’s been night and day. Obviously I’m very natural on the turf. On the dirt, I have to be sharper. The biggest adjustment was just getting used to the dirt for me, because everything else is just natural.”
Cannon said he loves being in Kentucky and enjoys riding at Ellis Park.
“They are good jockeys riding here. It is by no means a soft meet,” he said. “Hopefully this can roll on to Churchill and Keeneland, because I want to be a Kentucky jockey.”
He’s really looking forward to riding at Kentucky Downs, which features America’s only European-style race course, with its undulating kidney-shaped configuration — or pork-chop shape, as Cannon volunteers.
“I’ve never ridden there, but I’ve drove passed and said, ‘That looks like home,’” he said.
Final “Making of a Racehorse” Saturday A.M. fan experience
The last edition of the fan experience called “Making of a Racehorse” will be this Saturday, Aug. 27, starting at 7:30 a.m. Central, and it’s shaping up to be a doozy. The event starts by the mile chute heading into the first turn, where the starting gate is positioned for morning schooling, with fans seeing up close how starter Scott Jordan and his crew teach horses about what can be an intimidating experience of going into the gate. In a departure from past weeks, the second half of the program will take place in the paddock, with fans getting a look at the jockeys’ quarters and also hear from a blacksmith, chief state steward Barbara Borden and much more.
Source: Ellis Park (Jennie Rees)
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