SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Jockey Edgard Zayas was originally scheduled to spend this past weekend at Kentucky Downs. But a chain of events that began with John Velazquez taking himself off Be Your Best in the Flower Bowl here Saturday to ride Fierceness in the Pacific Classic instead led Zayas to Saratoga, where he won four races over a two-day span.
He also ended up with the mount on White Abarrio in the tumultuous Jockey Club Gold Cup, a race in which Irad Ortiz Jr. was unseated from Mindframe after a chain reaction of bumping after the start of the race.
Zayas finished third with the pacesetting Be Your Best in the Grade 2 Flower Bowl while also recording a hat trick on Saturday’s card. He won for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. with Midtown Lights (5-1) and posted victories for Mark Casse on Truman’s Command (12-1) and Todd Pletcher with Candytown (7-1). He then returned the following afternoon to win again for Joseph with the odds-on Navajo Warrior.
Zayas, who clinched his ninth Gulfstream Park riding title this past weekend, had ridden sparingly at Saratoga in the past and finished second aboard Gunnevera in the 2017 Travers. But he had never won a race at Saratoga until Saturday.
Saturday “was a great day. I wish I could do it again and again,” Zayas enthused. “It all began with Saffie saying he needed a rider for Be Your Best. He told me to take off my mounts at Kentucky Downs and come here, and my agent [Tito Fuentes] did the rest. We wound up with 11 calls on the card.”
Despite his memorable day here Saturday, Zayas was still planning to ride at Kentucky Downs the following afternoon – until Joseph came to him at dinner that evening and told him to cancel his flights.
“Saffie said there was a change of plans and the owners wanted me to ride White Abarrio because I had past experience on him,” Zayas explained. “It was a great opportunity. Obviously, things were kind of crazy in the race. We bumped into Mindframe, Irad lost his balance, he was instinctively trying to hold on to me, he grabbed my vest, and it got me out of balance. Thankfully, I stayed on and everything turned out all right.”
Zayas said, win or lose, he felt he made the right decision to stick around Sunday to ride White Abarrio, who was placed fourth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup after Phileas Fogg was disqualified for causing the contact in that race.
“We wound up winning another race on the card and hopefully the success we had here this weekend will help my business going forward,’ said Zayas. “Eventually, I’d love to ride here on a regular basis one day.”
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.