Aparicio Revels in 1st, 2nd U.S. Wins

Arturo Aparicio, an 18-year-old apprentice from Panama, still is beaming after getting his first and second wins in the United States last Sunday. That came  when first-time starter National Girl defeated heavily-favored Pinky Promise by a neck in the first race and Knee Pads was moved up to victory three races later upon the disqualification of Alibythee from first to fifth for interference.

National Girl paid $64.20 to win and Knee Pads $26.

“It was very emotional,” Aparicio said with his agent, former leading jockey Julio Espinoza, translating. “I celebrated after the wire like I was winning the Kentucky Derby. I know I shouldn’t have done that, but I did. I knew I had a winner, and one jump after the wire I had to celebrate. But I won’t do that anymore.”

Alibythee finished a head in front of the pacesetting Knee Pads, who blew the turn and still nearly hit the wire first despite drifting toward the middle of the track in the stretch. Of winning on the DQ, the jockey said, “I hated to see that for the other horse, but I was happy to win. I probably should have won anyway, but he was trying to ‘get out’ really bad.”

Aparicio rode briefly at Gulfstream Park before coming to Kentucky. “I’d never been to the United States before, but I’m excited about working hard and trying to get somewhere,” he said through Espinoza. “Everything is more organized in the United States. In Panama, people are too laid back, they don’t care. In America, if a guy tells you he’s working a horse at a certain time, that’s when he works. Traffic is more organized here, too.”

Espinoza volunteers that “traffic in Panama is worse than in New York City, believe it or not. You have to travel at night or early in the morning, otherwise it might take you three hours to go three miles.”

Aparicio at age 15 went to Panama’s famed Laffit Pincay Jr. Jockey Training Academy at Panama City’s Presidente Remon racetrack, the country’s only racetrack. The rider, however, is from a region with jungles on one side and the coast on the other, an area which also produced prominent New York rider Luis Saez. While the racetrack is hours away, kids grow up riding horses.

“You use horses like you use a car here,” said the apprentice, from a family of farmers. “You develop that passion for horses. My dad had me riding horses at 6. They use horses for everything; they go alongside oxen. The father gets the saddle and the kids ride bareback.”

Espinoza praises Aparicio’s work ethic. The jockey said one motivation is to get to where he can bring his parents to the United States.

Groupie Doll watch: Ahh Chocolate targeting Grade 3 stakes

Ahh Chocolate, winner of this spring’s Allaire DuPont Distaff (G3) at Pimlico and last November’s Falls City (G2) at Churchill Downs, is being pointed for Ellis Park’s $100,000 Groupie Doll on Aug. 6. The cleverly-named 4-year-old filly (she’s a daughter of the Lane’s End stallion Candy Ride and out of the mare Ahh) faded to fifth in Churchill’s Fleur de Lis on June 18.

“She’s doing well,” said Churchill-based Neil Howard, who trains Groupie Doll for owner-breeder Stoneway Farm near LaGrange, Ky.  “I don’t think (the Fleur de Lis) was a great trip for her. As straight forward as she is,  she does like to be in a little bit more of a stalking position. How she leaves there in that first quarter or three-eighths of a mile is pretty important for her. I think she got a little close. But that happens; not every race goes according to plan. But she hasn’t thrown in too many bad ones. She’s been a really consistent filly, and she’s been training nicely for the race since.

“This is an opportunity to not have to ship too far away, Grade 3, which is nice. The mile down there is almost like two turns. When she runs her normal race, she’s effective going a little shorter, too. But she’s versatile. We just thought that would be a better alternative right now as opposed to going to New York and facing (unbeaten champion) Songbird. This will be tough enough as it is.”

Spelling Again, winner of Gulfstream Park’s Princess Rooney (G2), was under Groupie Doll consideration but instead is pointing for Saratoga’s $500,000 Ballerina on Aug. 27 to try to make her a Grade I winner, trainer Brad Cox said.

“She’s a dual Grade 2 winner so the only thing left is a Grade 1,” said Cox, who won last year’s Groupie Doll with Call Pat.

Groupie Doll Watch II: So is Brooklynsway 

Trainer Bernie Flint said he’s seriously considering the Groupie Doll for Brooklynsway, 8 1/2-length winner of the $100,000 Mari Hulman George July 16 at Indiana Grand after taking Keeneland’s Grade 2 Doubledogdare in April.

“I’m trying to keep her around here where I don’t have to travel so much,” said Flint, who trains Brooklynsway for southern Indiana cancer doctor Naveed Chowhan. “It gets hard on me moving around like that – not on her, but on me. I want to keep her where I can watch her…. She’s run so hard anyway.”

Zapperini puzzling even after win

Churchill Downs-based trainer Greg Foley thought enough of Lloyd Madison Farms IV’s Zapperini that after the Ghostzapper colt earned his first victory, he ran him back in the Fair Grounds’ Grade 2 Risen Star last February. He was fifth to Gun Runner, who would win the Louisiana Derby and finish third in the Kentucky Derby. Foley ran back in Keeneland’s Grade 1 Blue Grass, where he wound up 11th. In two subsequent allowance races, Zapperini was never a threat.

But on grass and wearing blinkers for the first time in Friday’s seventh race at Ellis Park, Zapperini held off Paddy Not Patty by a half-length, coming the last sixteenth-mile under Corey Lanerie in under six seconds to complete 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.63. But that doesn’t mean that Foley thinks he’s got Zapperini figured out.

“I mean, he’s supposed to beat those horses,” Foley said afterward. “I said at Keeneland (before the Blue Grass), I wasn’t running that horse just to run him. I thought I had a shot to win those races, like the Risen Star. And what did he get beat down there? Nine lengths to Gun Runner? And he didn’t run! I don’t know. He’s just got to be figured out. He’s just kind of a big dummy, I think. He’s a gorgeous horse, sound.

“I worked him on grass at Churchill, and it didn’t break the track record but he galloped out great. I thought he’d handle the grass all right. Actually, I had him slated to run on dirt next week and this race came up. But he’s ornery. He looks like he’s going to win by himself, then he gets to laying on those horses and looks like he’s going to get beat. Messing around, playing around. You can’t get him tired in the morning. I’m glad he won, and I think that will help him mentally. He’s just had a big ol’ bunch of kid in him.”

Making of a Racehorse: Let’s Get Started!

The Ellis media notes are providing snippets of what’s to come at the free July 30 fan event that begins at 7:30 AM CT in the southern most parking lot by the schooling gate. After Scott Jordan, the Ellis and Churchill Downs starter, discusses the process of teaching young horses to break from the starting gate, fans will go to third-generation Ellis Park trainer John Hancock’s barn. Also talking with fans with be 2015 Ellis riding champion Didiel Osorio, who will give out signed goggles, and his agent, Jose Santos Jr., son of the Hall of Fame jockey who won the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness on Funny Cide.

Asked what he wants the public to take from the event, Jordan said, “I want them to learn that we are actually horsemen and we do the right thing for the horse, whether it’s taking your time with a nervous first-timer so it’s a good experience or even slowing down with an older horse and seeing if we can get him to relax.”

Hancock also hopes to dispel some perceptions. “If we can educate the public that these horses are well-managed and well-taken care of, then the public can get a better look that we’re not just gamblers,” he said. “You can compare (horses’) preparation to a young child going through stages of baseball: tee-ball, pitching machines. There’s a stage to every part of it that a horse has to perform through to get to the next level and finally be able to start. Horses aren’t perfect. Anything can happen. But if you teach them the right way, then they have a chance and they learn. That cuts down on injuries and problems.”

Also: 

With one win Friday, jockey Corey Lanerie’s victory total was 3,996 heading into Saturday’s Ellis Park card.

Sunday is the annual Ellis Park/KHBPA College Student Laptop Giveaway. A Dell-Inspiron 14-inch laptop, with an Insignia computer bag and one free year of Office 365, will be given away via drawing after each of nine races. Students can sign up to enter the drawings at the north end of the grandstand, with current college I.D. and a driver’s license or other picture identification required.

Dr. Ron Marable of Henderson, a lifelong racing enthusiast and horse owner who died last Saturday, will be honored with a race and blanket presentation during the July 30 card. Arrangements: Visitation 4-8 p.m. CT Tuesday and until the service at 10 a.m. CT Wednesday at Rudy-Rowland Funeral Home in Henderson.

“He was well thought of, his personality and love of horses,” said trainer John Hancock. “He loved racing, loved the business and was good for the business. He was a genuine all-around good person, and we considered him an Ellis Park horseman — and that’s a heck of a compliment.”

Arrangements for Tom McCarthy, best known for winning the 2009 Toyota Blue Grass with his one-horse stable General Quarters: Visitation Monday 2-8 p.m. ET Ratterman and Sons Funeral Home, 3800 Bardstown Road, Louisville. Funeral Mass 10 a.m. ET Tuesday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 501 Cherrywood Road, Louisville. McCarthy’s horse Blame Angel won Friday’s last race, a day after McCarthy died at 82.

For more information, contact Jennie Rees, Ellis Park publicity, at tracksidejennie@gmail.com.