Vasquez Reaches Milestone, Earns Jockey of the Week

Jockey Ramon A. Vazquez had a memorable racing week at his winter home track of Oaklawn Park. On Monday, he posted five wins on the holiday card and on Friday, he won his 500th Oaklawn race to become just the 11th rider to reach that number of local wins. His total of 13 wins for the week vaulted him to the top of the Oaklawn jockey standings.

The panel of racing experts unanimously voted Vazquez Jockey of the Week for February 16-February 22.

The weekly honor recognizes jockeys for significant riding accomplishments and who are members of the Jockeys' Guild. Founded in 1940, the Guild represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.

On Monday, the Presidents' Day holiday card, Vazquez made the most of his 10 mounts on the day. 

He started collecting wins with the first race for trainer Norm Casse. He won the fourth race for Mike Maker and the fifth for Ernie Witt II. Vazquez won the seventh race for F. Dewaine Loy and scored his fifth win in the 10th race for Peter Miller. The five wins on a single card equaled a local career high.

"It's so difficult to win one," Vazquez said to Oaklawn publicity. "I was thinking I had really good horses that day, but I never think I am going to win five."

Racing resumed on Thursday and Vaquez posted a win in the fourth race for Peter Miller and the sixth race for Kelly Bainum.

Going into Friday's card, Vazquez's local wins stood at 498. He reached 499 in the third race for Kelly Bainum and collected local win 500 piloting Cur Non for trainer Boyd Caster in the sixth race. 

He won two more races on Saturday, the first race for trainer Rob Atras and the fifth race for Rodolphe Brisset. He finished the week with two more wins on Sunday, race five for trainer Sean Williams and race six for trainer Carlos Santamaria.

Vazquez, 42, a native of Puerto Rico, has been riding regularly at Oaklawn since 2012. He currently leads the Oaklawn jockey standings with 32 wins, one more than Cristian Torres. He has never won the leading rider title at Oaklawn but has regularly finished in the top five. He has collected titles at Los Alamitos, Prairie Meadows, Lone Star, Remington Park, and Santa Anita.

Vazquez will be riding at Oaklawn Thursday and Friday before travelling to Aqueduct to ride Saturday in the Stymie Stakes with Komorebino Omoide (JPN) for Rob Atras and Dirty Rich in the Gotham Stakes (G3) for Peter Miller. The Gotham awards the top five finishers Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

Other nominees for Jockey of the Week included Alex Achard, who won the John Battaglia Memorial; Francisco Arrieta with two stakes wins at Oaklawn, Florent Geroux, with a stakes win at Santa Anita; Juan Hernandez, who won a stakes race at Santa Anita; and Sheldon Russell with two stakes wins at Laurel.