Jockey Rocco Returns to Oaklawn for Upcoming Meet
Jan 3, 2015 17:22:13 GMT -5
Post by cait on Jan 3, 2015 17:22:13 GMT -5
good jock - may be better than his dad who was very good!
Jockey Rocco Returns to Oaklawn for Upcoming Meet
Paulick
Jockey Joe Rocco Jr. could again be enjoying the warmth of sunny south Florida this winter, but instead the jockey was walking the Oaklawn Park stable area on a raw, overcast Friday morning in Arkansas.
Rocco, 32, will be returning to ride regularly at Oaklawn after a three-year hiatus when the 2015 meeting begins Friday. In his first full Oaklawn season, Rocco rode 25 winners in 2011 to finish eighth in the standings. He shifted his winter base to Gulfstream Park near Miami in 2012-2014.
“When I got to Miami, I was honestly depressed that I didn’t come back here,” Rocco said.
Family played in large part in his decision to return to Oaklawn. Riding at Oaklawn, rather than Gulfstream, Rocco said, allows his son to remain in the same school throughout the year. The permanent family home is in Louisville, Ky, where Rocco resides with his wife and two children.
“It’s close enough that I can drive back home on the dark days and my wife and kids can come on the weekends,” Rocco said.
Rocco, who is coming off a solid 2014, in which he ranked 52nd nationally in purse earnings ($4.3 million), was the regular rider for Oakawn favorite Tiz Miz Sue and more recently has been riding top mare Don’t Tell Sophia. He won the $400,000 Ogden Phipps Handicap (G1) aboard Tiz Miz Sue in 2013 at Belmont Park. Tiz Miz Sue, who was trained by Steve Hobby, represented the first Grade I victory for Rocco, and his first graded stakes victory when she won the 2012 Azeri (G3) at Oaklawn.
The jockey guided Don’t Tell Sophia to victory in last year’s $500,000 Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland and was aboard when she came flying late to be second in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Trained by Phil Sims, Don’t Tell Sophia is scheduled to make her 2015 debut in the $100,000 Pippin Stakes Jan. 17 at Oaklawn.
“She’s really nice,” Rocco said.
Sims, Hobby and trainer Tony Dutrow, another major client, all have horses at Oaklawn.
“It just made sense to come back,” said Rocco, Delaware Park’s leading rider in 2011. “I really like it here.”
Jockey Rocco Returns to Oaklawn for Upcoming Meet
Paulick
Jockey Joe Rocco Jr. could again be enjoying the warmth of sunny south Florida this winter, but instead the jockey was walking the Oaklawn Park stable area on a raw, overcast Friday morning in Arkansas.
Rocco, 32, will be returning to ride regularly at Oaklawn after a three-year hiatus when the 2015 meeting begins Friday. In his first full Oaklawn season, Rocco rode 25 winners in 2011 to finish eighth in the standings. He shifted his winter base to Gulfstream Park near Miami in 2012-2014.
“When I got to Miami, I was honestly depressed that I didn’t come back here,” Rocco said.
Family played in large part in his decision to return to Oaklawn. Riding at Oaklawn, rather than Gulfstream, Rocco said, allows his son to remain in the same school throughout the year. The permanent family home is in Louisville, Ky, where Rocco resides with his wife and two children.
“It’s close enough that I can drive back home on the dark days and my wife and kids can come on the weekends,” Rocco said.
Rocco, who is coming off a solid 2014, in which he ranked 52nd nationally in purse earnings ($4.3 million), was the regular rider for Oakawn favorite Tiz Miz Sue and more recently has been riding top mare Don’t Tell Sophia. He won the $400,000 Ogden Phipps Handicap (G1) aboard Tiz Miz Sue in 2013 at Belmont Park. Tiz Miz Sue, who was trained by Steve Hobby, represented the first Grade I victory for Rocco, and his first graded stakes victory when she won the 2012 Azeri (G3) at Oaklawn.
The jockey guided Don’t Tell Sophia to victory in last year’s $500,000 Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland and was aboard when she came flying late to be second in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Trained by Phil Sims, Don’t Tell Sophia is scheduled to make her 2015 debut in the $100,000 Pippin Stakes Jan. 17 at Oaklawn.
“She’s really nice,” Rocco said.
Sims, Hobby and trainer Tony Dutrow, another major client, all have horses at Oaklawn.
“It just made sense to come back,” said Rocco, Delaware Park’s leading rider in 2011. “I really like it here.”
