6/30/2023
This is our 7th Power Rankings of the season and again it all gets turned upside down with a new #1 and new Red Hot Mover! It also saw the return of 3-time riding champ Rocco Bowen and 2 races that had 4 former Emerald Downs riding Champs all competing against each other. Let’s get to the Rankings!
Our RED HOT Mover of the Week!
#1 Isaias Enriquez
Isaias Enriquez is a former riding Champ at Emerald Downs and after several years returned full time for 2023 here at Emerald Downs. Enriquez is not going to win the title this year he is averaging only 3 rides a day with 49 total mounts but is making the most of his chances with 10 wins or winning at a rate of 20% which is 3rd overall and he has finished in the top 4 36 times for 73% tied for the highest in superfecta finishes so he has been highly consistent. Enriquez began the year with a case of 2nd”itis” and came into this weekend with 6 wins but exploded winning 4 of 7 mounts and placing twice for a 6 of 7 top 2 finish. One of those wins was in the 50k Budweiser Stakes with Bridleuptothebar in wire to wire fashion holding off Slew’s Tiz Whiz to win by a length. This week there were also 2 races that 4 former riding Champs all rode, Enriquez, Alex Cruz, Kevin Radke and Rocco Bowen and Enriquez won both of those head-to-head match-ups for some icing on the cake of our RED HOT MOVER of the week and roars all the way to the top!
The Blazer of the Week!
#2 Alex Cruz
Alex Cruz gets our new “Blazer of the Week” award bouncing back after an ok week putting up 5 wins from 21 starts for a 24% win clip. Cruz’s big win was on Blazingbellablu winning the 50k Hastings Stakes matching the number of Stakes wins he had last season. Cruz not only is shooting for his 4th straight riding title which would be a first at any track in Washington State history but to push up his stakes wins. With this one he is off to a great start. Cruz did fall off on his 2nd-4th placings a little this week but still was a solid 67% top 4 finish and took over 2nd place in the standings 6 behind Negron.
#3 Luis Negron
Luis Negron coming off his worst week of the season bounced back hard and proved, if he had to, he ain’t going anywhere! Negron got on 19 horses and won 5 tied the week with Alex Cruz but this was one of Negron’s best weeks of overall hitting the board and he finished with a 5-4-3-3 overall record for a 26% win percent and 79% top 4 finish. We did note one of his wins was due to the “double DQ” which pushed him up from 3rd to 1st. But there is no denying Negron’s ability and competitiveness and he is going to be tough for anyone to overhaul.
#4 Carlos Montalvo
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Carlos Montalvo also gets limited chances each week but Montalvo is sitting in 6th place in the standings adding another 2 wins this past week. Montalvo also had his best week of the season hitting the board with 8 of 9 in the top 4 and 7 of 9 top 3 finishes for a win percent of 22% and top 4 finish rate of a whopping 89%.
#5 Silvio Amador
Silvio Amador shot up the rankings last week as our Red Hot Mover, this week he falls to #5 simply because he could only get 1 win from his 12 starts. However, Amador was close to staying at the top of the rankings as he was 11 of 12 in the top 4 which means he had other chances for the picture it just didn’t go his way this week. But a 92% superfecta rate with a at least 1 win will keep Amador in the mix for sure.
#6 Jose Zunino
Jose Zunino moves up this week with a win on Tribal Impact at 9-1 and then a great run in the Budweiser Stakes with Slew’s Tiz Whiz who clearly needed that race and more than 6-furlongs to show that Slew and Zunino have their sights set on defending their Longacres Mile Championship. Jose was 1-1-1 from 8 rides this week and picked up his 5th win of the season.
#7 Kevin Radke
Kevin Radke had his toughest week of the year so far and it didn’t help he was DQ’s out of a 2nd win on the week in a stunningly “interesting” call by the stewards. Had that not happened Radke certainly would have been higher in the rankings but he also struggled a bit for the first time with the under finishes only hitting 45% top 4 from 20 rides. We expect this to be a blip on the screen and look out for a determined Radke when he gets back in the saddle this week.
#8 Kevin Orozco
It has been a rough year for Orozco out of the saddle and trying to stay focused is hard with outside things weighing on your heart but these past 2 weeks Orozco is putting together some wins and is currently in 9th. We won’t be surprised to see when he starts hitting the winners circle even more regularly.
#9 Francisco Diaz-Perez
Talk about taking advantage of your opportunities, Diaz-Perez was 1 for 1 when he took 12-1 Goat Rocks wire-to-wire for his 1st win of the season. Francisco has had only 9 rides and is 1-1-2-0 and we’re gonna assume his average odds are in the double digits.
#10 Rocco Bowen
Rocco would have certainly been further up the rankings with 2 wins from 12 rides for a 17% win rate and 2-1-1-2 for a 50% top 4 finish but we don’t like to put visiting jockey’s up to far because they aren’t here for the most part. But certainly worthy of a mention so Rocco with wins in the final race on Saturday and Sunday cracks our top 10.
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