With eight days left in the 2023 Delaware Park meet, the Win, Place and Show positions for the jockey title are still up for grabs. This is in contrast to the previous two years, when Jaime Rodriguez won by Secretariat-in-the-Belmont–like lengths, and the other two spots were also captured comfortably.

In 2022, Rodriguez had 134 victories at Delaware. This was 75 more than his closest competitor, Mychel Sanchez. Rodriguez had a winning percentage of 27% (compared to 20% by Sanchez), and he rode in 491 races (compared to 287 starts for Sanchez). This daily double of quality and quantity was responsible for his huge margin of victory in the jockey race. The dynamics of the 2021 race were similar. Rodriguez won on 27% of his 421 mounts to dethrone perennial champion Carol Cedeno, who had 44 fewer mounts and 47 fewer wins.

As of October 24, this year’s race is much closer. With 58 wins Rodriguez leads both Daniel Centeno and Kevin Gomez by only seven. His 239 total mounts for the year are fewer than Centeno’s total of 247 and Gomez’s 286. The decreased number of mounts at Delaware by Rodriguez came about because for much of the meet he has been splitting time between Delaware and Maryland. Rodriguez actually won the Laurel summer meet jockey title. 

In the penultimate week of the meet, Rodriguez is listed to ride only five mounts. Centeno is listed on nine mounts and Gomez has 10. Obviously, an extra, say, 10 mounts in the last two weeks of racing could make a difference.

Jaime’s agent, John Weilbacher, said it is possible that Rodriguez could spend an extra day at Delaware next week if necessary to help him salt away the title.

“That’s the million-dollar question. I asked Jaime if it was important for him to win the title and he said he would like to,” Weilbacher said. “So we will look at what he has next week at Laurel and see what opportunities are available at Delaware, and if we need to he will spend an extra day at Delaware in an effort to wrap up the title.”

Put it all together and it seems most likely that Rodriguez will hold sway.

The battle between Centeno and Gomez for 2nd place will most likely come down to a bob at the wire. They have been running neck-and-neck for weeks. Gomez is listed on numerous short odds horses this week so he appears to have a slight edge.

News and Notes

Eight of the 24 races carded Thursday through Saturday of this week have six entries. This was to be the last week of the meet, but make-up days have extended the meet through Breeders’ Cup weekend. 

On Breeders’ Cup Friday, November 3, the first Breeders’ Cup race is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. Delaware does not plan on running any live races within 12 minutes of a Breeder’s Cup race but they should be able to finish their Friday card with little or no adjustment to normal post times. On Breeders’ Cup Saturday, November 4, the first Breeder’s Cup race is scheduled for 2:30 PM Eastern, so it is not clear yet what the Delaware post times will be that day but an early first post is possible.

The long-range Stanton,  Delaware weather forecast calls for very chilly weather for closing weekend but as everyone knows long range weather forecasts are less accurate than morning lines.

The race for the trainer title is sewn up, with Jamie Ness having a massive lead, but the place and show spots remain undecided. Ness has 58 wins at the meet, more than double his nearest competitors. Brittany Russell (25 wins) has the edge on Mike Gorham (22) for second, with Chelsey Moysey (18) and Gary Capuano (16) lurking just off-stage.

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