When he looks at the rankings for Laurel ParkSummer meeting ends 37 days this weekend, Rudy Sanchez-Salomon finds himself in excellent companionship.
Sanchez-Salomon’s 18 wins earned him his first tie-up with Claudio Gonzalez, who owns 19 career-meeting titles in Maryland since 2014—17 of which have come at Laurel—and is leader state annual for victory since 2017.
Right behind them with 16 wins is Dale Capuano, a career winner of 3,629 races, 13 times meeting the championship at Laurel and another 18 times in history. Racecourse Pimlico between 1988 and 2010.
“Thank God we were blessed. We had a really, really lucky encounter this summer,” Sanchez-Salomon said. “We had the right horses for the right races, and they did a great job. And, I had help. Without my help, we were nothing. Help support is to get the horses ready and right.”
Sanchez-Salomon is currently third overall in Maryland with 41 wins at the weekend, behind Gonzalez (55) and Jamie Ness (44) with Jerry Robb (40). He has three days of multiple wins in the summer meeting including three on July 23 and four career winners on June 24.
Not bad for a 50-year-old native of Mexico to be introduced to the horses that grew up on his family’s ranch.
“We raise sheep, cows, horses and all that. They’re not racehorses, but we have horses,” he said. “There are all kinds of animals.”
Finally, Sanchez-Salomon made it to the United States and headed to the racetrack. He began work at the old Garden State Park in New Jersey, which closed in 2001 and was later demolished to become an upscale development of shops, restaurants and residences, and later at Monmouth Park worked for coaches Scott Lake and Dane Kobiskie before making his own in 2017.
Equibase stats show that Sanchez-Salomon’s first winner will take place on May 28, 2017 in Pimlico with Nairet, a 4-year-old boy, to whom he had requested a first slot for the price. 5,000 dollars. Led by 36-1 and ridden by Angel Cruz, Nairet paid $74.40 and earned the winner’s share of $12,450 in the wallet.
“I never imagined I could be at this level right now. I just thought I would train a few horses for a living and have fun with it,” Sanchez-Salomon said. “That’s the most important thing, that you love the horses and that you have fun. If you’re not having fun, there’s no point in doing business.”
Equibase shows Sanchez-Salomon with 152 wins and over $4.4 million in wallet earnings from 883 lifetime starters. This year, he’s 44 years old with 251 people with $1,424,727 in earnings – all of which are career highs.
“It makes me feel proud of what people are doing in the warehouse,” says Sanchez-Salomon. “It makes me feel good and makes me feel that we’re doing a really good job, everyone. Not just me, but everyone.”
Sanchez-Salomon’s horses are regularly selected as Best Horses, a prize given to each race on each live race day sponsored by the Maryland Jockey Club and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association in recognition of the care and Preparations of the groom put on their horses.
“It’s a good compliment,” Sanchez-Salomon said, “and it keeps us motivated to get the job done better every day.”
Sanchez-Salomon trained 11 six-figure earners including multiple Clubman, Shake Em Loose and Can the Queen stake winners and click to claim multiple stakes. It was Shake Em Loose that brought the trainer into the spotlight earlier this year, a horse he claimed for $16,000 last fall won a Title of Title and private, third in Federico Tesio and briefly under consideration for the 147th Preakness Stock (G1) after Sanchez-Salomon – who also owns the horse – made him a nominee late for the Triple Crown.
Instead, the 3-year-old raced on grass in the James W. Murphy on the Preakness undercard, finishing sixth and having been out since. Can the Queen win $100,000 of The Very One in a bout under Black-Eyed Susan (G2) on the eve of Preakness, adding to her win in last summer’s Sensible Lady Turf Dash at Pimlico.
Sanchez-Salomon joined Click to Confirm on Friday’s 10 races live in Laurel with 3-year-old No More Mask, who is tied with the most wins by a horse in Maryland this year with year, and the Lucky Hashtag for the single main track in the finale. Gonzalez and Capuano each had horses in five races.
In Saturday’s 10-race card, Sanchez-Salomon had two horses – Camp Pendleton and Dr. Ferber – in the opener as did Bardolino in Race 6, while Gonzalez entered three horses and Capuano one.
Laurel’s summer meetup ends Sunday before the race shifts to the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium for the rest of Labor Day. Pimlico will hold its first meeting in the fall from September 9-25, 2004.
“It means a lot [to win the title]. We haven’t been together for too long,” Sanchez-Salomon said. We started with one horse and we went up to 33, 34 horses and I had a few more to bring, so it was great.
“It’s great to be able to have horses to run almost every week. That’s how you win the meeting. If you compete and have well-prepared horses, you’ll be fine,” he added. “Our horses are very competitive right now and that’s key to being in the top trainers – when you have good competitive horses.”
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