The 2022 calendar year begins exactly where its predecessor left off, with a pair of familiar faces leading the equestrian and trainer rankings after the March 27th end of the year. Laurel ParkWinter meet.
Jockey Jevian Toledo and coach Claudio Gonzalez reunited to meet the leaders after their titles at Laurel’s fall 2021 grandstand as well as the overall Maryland championship of the year.
Toledo, 27, is without a Sunday riding but has secured a 10-win, 38-28 advantage over apprentice Jean Alvelo by 5 pounds in the nine race program. Alvelo had six rides on Sunday, winning the Royal Thunder ($3.60) in Race 6 to finish with 29 wins.
It was the eighth career encounter title, all at Laurel, for the Puerto Rican native, who was represented by agent Marty Leonard. Second behind Victor Carrasco with more than $1.3 million in earnings, Toledo was also Maryland’s overall lead driver in 2015 and 2017.
“I won the summer meeting and the fall meeting, but I never won the winter meeting,” Toledo said. “It’s my first time, so I feel great. It’s another achievement in my career. My agent did a great job and I get a lot of support. They give me so many opportunities to ride beautiful horses, and thank God we got the job done.”
Toledo started the winter encounter with a triple on the opening day, January 1, and two more on January 2. He had 10 days of many other wins, including a hat trick on the day. February 26th and March 6th, and win two stakes—January 29 Fire Plug St pile with Wonderwherecraigis and March 19 Not For Love Stakes with his Brittany Russell-trained steady friend Whereshetoldmetogo .
“Honestly, this is probably my best start so far in my entire career,” said Toledo, who had 14 wins at last winter’s meeting. “Always in the winter I slow down a little bit because we don’t have grass tracks and shorter pitches, but thank God I’ve had so much support from all the owners and coaches And here we are.”
Gonzalez entered Sunday with a 24-23 advantage over John ‘Jerry’ Robb after delivering a winning pair of cards on Saturday. Robb was horseless participating on Sunday, while Gonzalez had runners in four races, winning with Danny Chen’s Little Scarlet in race 4 and Magic Stable’s I’m not slow in race 9 to bring his total encounters to 26.
A 45-year-old Chilean native and cancer survivor, Gonzalez has won nine consecutive meetup titles in Maryland since Laurel’s summer of 2019. It was the 17th meeting championship of his career at Laurel along with two championships at Pimlico racetrack for Gonzalez, who finished five years in a row as Maryland’s top coach, starting in 2017.
“I feel really good. Like I said, to win a race is a difficult thing and to win the title back is a good feeling,” Gonzalez said. “I have to thank all my people, my workers, all the assistants I have, the groom, the walker, the gymnast, the blacksmith. Everyone did a good job. Your job, not just mine.If you don’t have good help, you don’t make it.
“My owners, they understand the game. They are very good and they know that if we put them in the right position, the horses will have a great chance of winning the races,” Gonzalez said. “It’s really special, and for my family too.”
Sharing the top owner title are Danny Chen, Lugamo Racing Stables and Jagger. Jagger is the steady name for coach Jamie Ness, who has also won five races as partnership owner with Morris Kernan Jr and is third in the coach rankings with 21 wins. consists of One or two children in race 2 Sunday.
Laurel Park will kick off the spring meet with a nine-race program on April 1 starting at 12:40 p.m. ET.
