OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Less than a month ago, trainer Rudy Rodriguez was worried if he would even be allowed to continue working in the Thoroughbred industry. Now, he might be on the Kentucky Derby trail.
Rodriguez, who had faced accusations of endangering the welfare of some of his horses by racing regulators, on Friday at Aqueduct sent out Talk to Me Jimmy to a front-running, 11-length victory in the $200,000 Withers Stakes, a race which earned the New York-bred colt 20 points toward the May 2 Kentucky Derby.
It’s a long way from the first Friday in February to the first Saturday in May and the Withers is hardly known for producing Derby contenders, but it allows his connections to dream at least for a little while.
“We got a couple of points, we’ll see what happens,” said Julian Myers, who along with his brother Dustin Pusatere comprise SEI Thoroughbreds, which owns Talk to Me Jimmy.
Rodriguez, who picked the horse out of the Keeneland September yearling sales for $31,000, owns a quarter interest in the colt.
Talk to Me Jimmy hadn’t run since winning a New York-bred maiden race on Nov. 9 by 5 1/2 lengths, in his second career start. He was pointing to the Jerome on Jan. 3 but by that time Rodriguez was serving a provisional suspension from the Horseracing Integrity Safety Authority [HISA], which alleged that Rodriguez put the welfare of multiple horses in danger, depriving them of necessary veterinarian care. He was placed on a provisional suspension on Dec. 16, as HISA alleged there were no evaluations for horses who were injured and/or put on a veterinarian’s list.
On Jan. 13, the suspension was lifted as HISA and Rodriguez reached an agreement on providing documentation on horses that are injured or go on a vet’s list. Rodriguez started running horses on Jan. 22.
While Rodriguez was allowed to train during his suspension, he was not permitted to breeze his horses. Some trainers took their horses from him, Myers and Pusatere did not.
“We stand behind Rudy 100 percent,” Myers said. “He’s been good to us, we’re good to him. We have a good relationship, we’d never pull a horse from him.”
Rodriguez said he did lose horses from other clients, but maintained that he took good care of his horses.
“I was worried, but I wasn’t worried because I didn’t do what they said I did,” Rodriguez said. “I told these guys, be ready to make a move but I’m grateful that they didn’t.”
Once he was allowed to work horses again, Rodriguez got three breezes into Talk to Me Jimmy including a sharp gate work on Jan. 22. Talk to Me Jimmy came into the Withers eager to run.
Sent to the front by Ruben Silvera, who said he couldn’t hold his horse, Talk to Me Jimmy cleared race favorite Schoolyardsuperman around the first turn. Talk to Me Jimmy set fractions of 23.96 seconds for the quarter, 48.18 for the half-mile and 1:12.47 for six furlongs. He opened up a three-length lead on the turn, and though he did get tired and drift some in the stretch, Talk to Me Jimmy only widened his advantage.
Talk to Me Jimmy, who became the first stakes winner from the sire Modernist, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:51.68 and returned $26.54 as the 12-1 sixth choice in the field of seven.
Rodriguez, said he knew Schoolyardsuperman had speed, “but we’ve got speed, too,” Rodriguez said. “I told Ruben to take it from there, but don’t let him slow it down. Let’s see what we’ve got. Today was a test to find out what we’ve got, and I think he passed the test.”
Rodriguez said Talk to Me Jimmy did get a cut on his right front foot that needs to be addressed. Rodriguez said he would likely wait until the April 4 Wood Memorial to run Talk to Me Jimmy again.
Grittiness, who got impeded entering the first turn when outside pressure came down on him forcing Ricardo Santana Jr. to steady, rallied for second, a half-length in front of Ottinho. Schoolyardsuperman was fourth followed by Star Sweeper, Fourth and One, and Mailata.
Stu Hampson, assistant to trainer Todd Pletcher, said the incident into the first turn may have cost Grittiness position, but it didn’t likely impact the outcome of the race.
“It definitely cost us a couple of spots, he had to go to Plan B, maybe C or D after that, but he composed himself and put in a good run late and hopefully that could be a stepping-stone for some bigger and better things for him,” Hampson said. He’s still a maiden, we got to get that taken care of at some point.”
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