8/25/2022
The Power Rankings are meant to be fun and to focus on the human competition between these awesome athletes. Moreover it’s a chance to focus more on each rider and their accomplishments each week. We stress there is nothing “official” about these rankings and we know there will be varying opinions which is also great and we hope it does create more conversations about our sport and our athletes.
Last week was there were no stakes races but plenty of great racing. There were several strong riding performances but two that stick out is Kevin Radke winning 6 after getting tossed in the 1st race last Friday and taking off the rest of the night and the other Kevin, Kevin Orozco with 1 win until Sunday when he reeled off 4 wins. Here’s our latest and 15th edition of the Emerald Jockey Power Rankings:
#1 Kevin Radke (last ranking #1)
After getting tossed and taken to the hospital after the 1st race last Friday Radke was checked out and cleared to ride on Saturday but missed several mounts from Friday night. Radke bounced back with 6 wins over the next 2 days, 3 on each day including sweeping a pick 3 on Saturday. Radke road a total of 16 won 6 had 4 shows and 3 4th place finishes and swept both feature races over the weekend. His win percent was 38% and top 4 finish of 81% superfecta finishes. A tough start but Radke rebounded quickly for a big week and pushes him to the top of our PR’s.
#2 Alex Cruz (last ranking #1)
Alex Cruz drops one spot this week and even though two others had 1 more win, Cruz was 91% in finishing in the top 4 last week. His record was 3-8-5-4 from 22 rides. His win percent was 14% but his exacta percent was 50%, trifecta percent 73% and again superfecta percent 91%. His average odds were 4-1 and his average win odds at 5-2. So consistent keeps Cruz near the top of the standings.
#3 Juan Gutierrez (last ranking #6)
The all time winningest jockey at Emerald Downs remains so consistent and this week his under finishes that had kept him in the middle of the standings surged him up 3 spots. Guti finished with a 4-5-1-2 record from 18 starts and a 22% win rate and top 4 finish at a 67% clip. Guti’s wins were an average of 2-1 and overall his mounts were an average of 5-1. Gutierrez seems ready to make a final surge here at the end of the season.
#4 Kevin Orozco (last ranking #9)
Kevin Orozco had hit the dog days of summer and was looking for a break out day and man he found it last Sunday winning 4 of the 9 races and 4 of 5 rides on the day. He had 14 rides scored the 4 wins added a pair of 2nds and a 4th and finished with a 29% win percent. You can’t finish a week any hotter than Orozco did last Sunday let’s see if he can continue that momentum.
#5 Jake Samuels (last ranking #5)
Jake Samuels held steady at #5 and likely could have moved up with another win but did get 2 and finished with a strong under finish with 5 2nds and 7 3rds with a 4th for a 12% win rate but 82% top 3 and 88% top 4 finish from 17 mounts. His average win odds were 5-1 and overall rode a 7-1 shot. Since coming out of retirement Samuels has been solid as a rock.
#6 Javier Matias (last ranking #6)
Javier Matias had a big Mile day to get back in the Power Rankings last week and he did nothing but solidify his position and in fact simplhy having just 6 rides cost him a chance to move up. Matias scored a pair of wins on Friday and then finished in the top 4 5 of his 6 rides, just simply others did as well so there was no room to move up but he is a solid #5.
#7 Francisco Diaz-Lopez (last ranking unranked)
Francisco Diaz-Lopez has been around Emerald Downs for many years but he doesn’t ride many and on Friday night got on his 1st horse of the year and promptly went wire-to-wire on a 10-1 1st time starter. He picked up one of Radke’s mounts a nd did not hit the board but an impressive start for Diaz-Lopez we’ll just see how much he wants to ride.
#8 Leslie Mawing (last ranking #5)
Leslie Mawing sticks at #8 with an ok week. Just 1 win from 18 rides or a 6% win clip, 1 place but 5 shows and 4 additional superfecta finishes for a 61% top 4 finish. Enough to hold the #8 position.
#9 Eddie Martinez (last ranking #4)
Eddie Martinez fell drastically but that is expected when you average only 7 or so mounts a week. Martinez rode 7 times and did not get a win but did place added 2 shows and a 4th for 43% top 3 finishes and 57% top 4. Keeps him in the top 10.
#10 Clayan Millwood (last ranking unranked)
Clayan Millwood did get a win last week but did have 10 rides and to be fair most at big odds but could only get 2 4ths from his other 9 rides. This breaks him into the PR’s top 10.
Power Rankings Notes:
It was a tough week for a pair of Power Rankings regulars but Alex Anaya and Jose Zunino both dropped off this past week. Anaya only had 7 rides but squeezed out a single 4th place finish. He also had a bit of bad luck when his 2 rides last Friday both scratched early so he did not report to the jockey’s room. So when Radke took his spill and had to take off the other rides on the night Anaya was not around to pick any of them up which he likely would have gotten one or two.
Jose Zunino also fell flat after some hot weeks especially after winning the Longacres Mile free fell from #2 last week all the way out of the top 10. But he had 4 rides and did not finish in the top 4. It was just one of those weeks that he didn’t have anything to ride. We expect a bounceback from both of these guys this coming weekend.
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