5/31/2024

(Auburn, WA) Week 4 is in the books and it’s time for our 4th edition of the Emerald Downs Power Rankings. It was a crazy week with no rider doublling in a single day and only 3 riders winning twice over the 2 days of Memorial Day Weekensd racing. 13 different riders got in the Winners Circle this past weekend.

This has flipped the Power Rankings a bit and we have a new #1 this week on the strength of gettng 2 wins as did our #2 rider. The 3rd jockey to get 2 wins is not in the top 10 but we gave him a special nod as an honorable mention. Take a look there is a reason why he didn’t get an official ranking. 

Okay, let’s get to this week’s version of the Power Rankings! 

2024 Power Rankings #4

#1 Carlos Montalvo (Last week #3)

It would be interesting to see where Carlos is right now in the jockey standings had he not had to serve that weird suspension for 3 days for some issue 3 years ago while at Monmouth he might be on top of the standings. Montalvo had 7 rides won twice and moved into a 4 way tie for 3rd 4 wins behind the leader Alex Cruz. Karlo Lopez is 2nd with 7. Montalvo did it in 5 days so averging a win a day and from just 18 total rides and is 3rd in win percent of the riders with 14 or more rides. Montalvo came up here early and has been working a lot of horses for the last 3 months. Keep an eye on this crafty veteran we expect him to make even more noise.

#2 Javier Matias (Last week was #7)

Speaking of crafty veterans, here’s Javier Matias who currently has the highest win percent in the jock’s room at 33%. Another rider who gets limited chances but so far is taking full advantage. Matias also won both races from coming off the pace on a track that had 9 of the 16 races won when the gates opened and the 1st one out went gate to wire. The most impressive was the feature race on Sunday with Naval Escort where he found himself last by 8 lengths on a day that saw 6 of 8 races won on the engine. He had this race perfectly timed and rode the rail to an easy win. Matias means business this season and we’re on board.

#3 Karlo Lopez (Last week #2)

Karlo Lopez is stuck in a rut right now with a severe case of 2nd-itis. This week he had 1 win 5 2nds 2 3rds and a 4th from 12 rides. His top 3 and top 4 finishes are great at 675 and 75% but falling short in the winners circle pictures. Lopez has 17 2nd place finishes compared to 7 wins. The only other rider with double digit places is Silvio Amador with 11. Karlo’s win percent for the year is 17%, if he had 17 wins and 7 2nds his win percent would be 40%. Lopez keeps knockin on the door but had to ding him a bit drops to #3.

#4 Brayan Pena (Last week was #4)

This is the 3rd week in a row that Brayen Pena has been settled in at the #4 spot. His issue wasn’t 2nd places but rather 3rd places this week and finished with a 1-3-5-1 record from 14 rides. He had the most mounts of the weeknd but got just the 1 win. His win percent was just 7% but top 3 jumped to 64% and top 4 71%. Pena has been very consistent still looking for his first big break-out day.

#5 Alex Cruz (Last week at #2)

Alex Cruz had his worst week of the season so far, snapped his consecutive wins in a day streak when he got shut out on Saturday and got his 1st win of the weekend in the get-away race Sunday afternoon. Cruz was 1-2-3-5 from 13 rides for an 8% win rate, 46% top 3 and 85% superfecta clip. It’s dangeroous to let Cruz have an off week and really no one made up much ground on him as he holds that 2 win advantage in the standings heading into June. Doubt Cruz has many more weeks like this.

#6 Isaias Enriquez (Last week was #5)

Here’s my favorite stat of the week 1 ride, 1 win. This former Emerald Downs Champ, has the 2nd most career wins only behind Juan Gutierrez in this jocks room with more than 1,700 and has the most earnings of any rider closing in on 35-million and yet has only 14 rides this season so far and just 1 this past weekend. Enriquez did what he does, win and did it with a 6-1 shot on top of it. Overall he has a 4-3-2-2 season record a 29% win rate, 64% top 3 and 79% top finish. Come on folks put this guy on some of your horses.

#7 Silvio Amador (Last week #7)

Silvio Amador is having a quietly really good season and is off to a solid start. He was 1-2-0-2 from 7 rides this week and is tied for 3rd in the standings with a 5-11-4-7 record with a win percent of 15% and top 4 nearly 80% and is 3rd in earnings with 91k. Silvio proved last year in the 2nd half of the season as the weather warms up so does he so keep an eye on Amador.

#8 Luis Reyes (Last week #8)

You can tell Luis Reyes is still getting his feet under him here in the PNW but he’s starting to get the feel and figure out the quirks of the Auburn oval. The young talented rider is still not getting a ton of chances but he had 5 this past weekend and got a win and show and a 4th from 5 rides for the 20% win clip. I think Reyes is gonna explode one of these days soon. 

#9 Leslie Mawing (Last week #10)

Who doesn’t love Leslie Mawing! Mawing a long time favorite and found tons of fans here in Washington after he won the Longacres Mile on fan fave Stryker Phd twice in a row in 2014 and 2015. Mawing hd just 3 rides and got win and a 4th. He’s now 2-2-1-2 from 18 starts and is starting to pick it up after a bit of a slow start.

#10 Juan Gutierrez (Last week unranked)

Then there’s Juan Gutierrez. He wrestled with retirement last year and didn’t ride. Came back to work some horses this Spring and has gotten on 8 starters. He’s working as his own agent on top of it. Guti has 2,182 career wins the only one in the jock’s room with more than 2,000. He’s racked up just short of 20 million dollars in career earnings and still ready to bring in a winner. He got his 1st one this weekend in the Saturday feature aboard the longest shot on the board 16-1 Oreo’s Dream. More than enough to get him on the Power Rankings.

*Special Honorable Mention 1 Kevin Krigger

As I mentioned we had a rider swoop into town ride 3 horses walk out with 2 wins and a 3rd so he is 2-0-1-0 from 3 rides for a 67% win rate and 100% top 3 and 4 finish. But the reason I didn’t rank Kevin Krigger in the top 10 is because he is not here it was just a short stop in. Had Krigger been riding this weekend he very well would have been #1, certianly in the top 3.

However, it appears he is coming back next weekend with rides set for June 7 and 8. His next ride is in Indianapolis on June 5. When he gets back we’ll have to find out his summer plans. But it’s clear when he’s here he’s a huge threat.

**Special Honorable Mentions 2 and 3 Allyssa Morales and Francisco Diaz-Lopez

I had to give a quick shout out to 2 other riders that got wins this week. Allyssa Morales not only got her 1st win but her 1st ever at Emerald Downs when she brought Sport Coat home in the 2nd on Saturday at nearly 9-1.

Also, Francisco Diaz-Lopez brought home his favorite horse Goat Rocks. He’s ridden Rocks 10 of her 12 lifetime starts and has never been worsew than 4th with a 3-3-3-1 record. That’s 33% win rate, 97% top 3 and 100% superfecta with Diaz-Lopez and Goat Rocks. On most other weeks both of these riders would have broken into the top 10 with the weeks they had. 

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