Fair Grounds Barn Notes: Thursday, December 21, 2017

By Ryan Martin —-

* Recent Retiree Torres to Focus On New Career
• Beschizza Gets Off To A Hot Start
• Bullards Alley Works; Next Stop Gulfstream

RECENT RETIREE TORRES TO BEGIN FOCUSING ON NEW CAREER

Former jockey Francisco Torres, whose retirement ceremony took place in the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots winner’s circle this past Sunday, may not be returning to the saddle, but the 48-year-old leading rider at five different race tracks will be still be as busy as ever as his attention shifts to becoming a jockey’s agent.

“That’s the plan,” Torres said. “Retiring, for me, was kind of hard to do up until the last incident that I had (on Thanksgiving Day) when (Mesoma) broke his leg. It was like the light bulb went off. I just knew that it was time because after that mishap, it was in the back of my head, ‘What if next time I’m not as fortunate?’ so after that my decision to retire was a whole lot easier than when I was participating.”

Two prospects that Torres could potentially represent are journeyman Samy Camacho who currently rides on the Tampa Bay Downs circuit as well as young rider Anthony Nunez who has spent a good portion of the winter at Turfway Park.

“My schedule is going to be the same if not harder because it’s going to be an all-day process,” Torres said. “It’s been about two weeks since I officially retired but I’ve been out on the backside every morning and people back there kind of laugh and chuckle and say ‘You’ve been out here more now than you were when you were riding’ and it’s true, but this is what I love to do. It’s in my blood and being that I rode for so many years and getting up so early working on the racetrack is installed in me. My eyes open up at four in the morning and I’m ready to go.”

Torres is quite familiar with suffering from riding having suffered from four neck injuries in his 32-year riding career. That being said, he is looking forward to being able to do something much less risky.

“The risks are limited,” Torres said. “I don’t have to take any risks anymore because I’m not on the back of a horse. The only thing is I just have to hope that nothing bad happens to my jocks because I’ve been there before.”

Born in Mexico, Torres was raised in Chicago, Illinois and regularly rode on the local circuit, where he secured riding titles at Arlington Park and Hawthorne Race Course in 2012, as well as the now defunct Balmoral Park. He has also won riding titles at Ellis Park in 1997 and Turfway Park in 1999. Torres rode in two Kentucky Derbies having piloted Celtic Warrior (10th in 1997) and Rock and Roll (14th in 1998) in the prestigious event. Torres retired with 21 graded stakes victories and career earnings of $68,884,993 as well as 3,194 victories, excluding a riding stint in Saudi Arabia.

Torres took some time to reflect on his 32-year career as a rider and shared some of his favorite memories in the saddle.

“Being leading rider at Arlington Park was huge for me,” Torres said. “Having grown up around Chicago, one of my dreams was not only to ride at Arlington Park but to be the leading rider and that came true.

“I was also very fortunate to have ridden for the Royal Family in Saudi Arabia and I rode there for over five years,” Torres added. “That’s a lot like riding for the President of the United States. There have been a lot of special moments in my career. What I’ve seen and what I’ve done and all the blessings I’ve had in my career as well as the ups and downs, I could write a book about my life story to be honest. You know what? That might be in the works!”

BESCHIZZA GETS OFF TO A HOT START THIS MEET

Since becoming a familiar face on the Fair Grounds riding circuit, jockey Adam Beschizza has made quite a name for himself and only hopes that such success will continue on throughout the meet.

A native of Cambridge, England, Beschizza rode twice at the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in January 2015 for trainer Joe Sharp before returning home. He is a multiple stakes winning jockey in England where he won at 20%. This fall he made yet another journey across the pond to the Fair Grounds and is currently finishing in the money at 60% as a leading rider.

“When I was 18, I was a bug boy back home and then I got a bit of experience on the racing scene here,” Beschizza, 24, said. “I breezed horses here for a few months for Michael Stidham, Joe Sharp was his assistant then and that’s how we’ve sort of built up this connection ever since then. That’s been about seven or eight years now.”

Beschizza has won ten races so far this meet, all of which have been for trainer Joe Sharp.

“Joe said that he would help out in putting us on the map, but he’s really done more than just that,” Beschizza said. “He’s really helped us out so we’re delighted for that. We’re always taking things one step at a time and willing to accept a challenge. It’s not always easy, but just this meet alone there’s a good structure of jockeys here and every year it’s improved so we take things one step a time and move on.”
Beschizza is pleasantly surprised with how successful he has been this meet and stated that he plans on riding on the Churchill Downs circuit in the spring.

“I thought we’d be a lot slower to get going,” Beschizza said. “But Joe has really helped me out as far as everything is concerned. It’s all about while I’m here now, just trying to build up as many contacts as we can and hopefully ride a few nice ones.”

Represented by agent Liz Morris, Beschizza is named the rider of four horses on Thursday’s card: Princess Dolores (Race 1), Mistake Present (Race 2), Wathnon (Race 5), and Italian Charm (Race 6).

BULLARDS ALLEY WORKS; NEXT STOP GULFSTREAM

Farron McCubbins and Wayne Spalding’s Bullards Alley winner of the Gr. I Candaian International at Woodbine this fall, breezed over the Fair Grounds main track on Thursday morning and went five furlongs in 1:30.40 for trainer Tim Glyshaw, who is targeting the two-mile $100,000 Allen Jerkens Memorial at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 30.

“He’s been fine,” Glyshaw said. “We’ll run him at Gulfstream next week and after that we’re not sure. The number at Woodbine was surprising but ran a good one in the Breeders’ Cup Turf and did the same in almost every race that he ran in this year. He was winless except for the race at Woodbine, but if he can continue to run the way he was running this last year, I think we’re looking at a really good year with him.”

Depending on how Bullards Alley emerges from the Allen Jerkens Memorial, Glyshaw stated that the W.L. McKnight at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 27 or the John B. Connally Turf Cup on Jan. 28 at Sam Houston, both Gr. III events worth $200,000, are both options.