2026.03.13 Oaklawn Racing Updates

Racing Updates
Compiled by Robert Yates

He’s still got it.

John Velazquez became the second-oldest jockey in Oaklawn history to win a seven-figure race when he guided Class President to a nose decision over Silent Tactic in the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles March 1.

The Rebel was the third of three victories on the card – an Oaklawn career high – for Velazquez, 54, a 2012 inductee into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and the leading money-winning rider in North American history with more than $516 million in purse earnings.

“He’s Benjamin Button,” said FOX Sports racing analyst Megan Burgess, a reference to Velazquez, seemingly, aging backward.

Earlier on the card, Velazquez won the inaugural $135,000 Pig Trail Stakes for older horses at 1 ½ miles aboard favored Batten Down ($4.80) for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and a maiden special weight sprint race aboard Triple Crown nominee Fancy Fairlane ($9) for trainer Greg Foley.

Velazquez rode Class President for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, a longtime client. Class President, who was making just his third lifetime start, first outside Florida and first around two turns, held a narrow lead over Silent Tactic in midstretch. Silent Tactic stuck a head in front passing the sixteenth pole, but Class President battled back on the inside to regain the lead and narrowly prevail.

“Johnny, he’s tough now,” Mark Casse, Silent Tactic’s dual Hall of Fame trainer, said March 2. “Johnny rode for me the day before (G3 Honey Fox Stakes at Gulfstream Park) and we finished second. Johnny’s won the Breeders’ Cup for me. I don’t know? He may be getting better. I love him. He’s a wonderful guy, just a first-class guy. But I think he may be getting better.”

Retired jockey Richard Migliore rode against Velazquez for many years on the NYRA circuit and called his ability to perform at an elite level in his mid-50s, “remarkable.”

“There have been great riders over the years that were able to maintain it into their later years,” said Migliore, now a racing analyst for FOX Sports. “But you could definitely see a difference in their physicality. Their legs, it’s the first thing. Man, he rides the same length of stirrup as he did 20 years ago. You’ll see riders trying to play with the stirrups to get comfortable, compensate. Like for me, I had to ride a little more acey-deucy (uneven stirrups) as I got older because I needed just a little more stability. I don’t see that with him. There’s just no deterioration of it.”

A native of Puerto Rico, Velazquez rode his first United States winner March 30, 1990, at Aqueduct, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization. Velazquez was honored with an Eclipse Award in 2004 and 2005 as North America’s outstanding jockey. He has more than 6,800 career victories, including 22 in Breeders’ Cup events and six in Triple Crown races.

Illustrating Velazquez’s sustained success, he rode his first Breeders’ Cup winner in 1998 (Da Hoss) and his latest in the Oct. 31 Juvenile (G1) aboard Ted Noffey, Pletcher’s unbeaten Eclipse Award winner.

“Horses keep you young and competitive,” Velazquez told FOX Sports racing analyst Maggie Wolfendale after winning the Rebel. “So, this is what we live for.”

Jon Court, now retired, was 61 when he won the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses aboard Last Samurai in 2022 at Oaklawn. Court was Oaklawn’s leading rider in 2000.