Velazquez Makes Quick Work of Riding Mark

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John Velazquez didn't waste any time Sunday breaking Manny Ycaza's 44-year-old Saratoga record of 41 winners in a span of 24 days. All it took was one race.

Ycaza set the mark in 1959 when the Saratoga meeting was 24 days over four weeks. Velazquez, 31, rode five winners Saturday and tied Ycaza Saturday aboard Island Fashion in the $750,000 Alabama (gr.I).

Velazquaz picked up his 42nd victory in the second race of the 23rd day of the Saratoga season. Replacing jockey Jerry Bailey, who took off his mounts for the day, Velazquez rode Read the Footnotes to a 9 1/4-length win in the second race for 2-year-old New York-bred maidens. Read the Footnotes, the even-money favorite, is owned by Klaravich Stable and trained by Richard Violette.

Velazquez won two more races on the program and has 44 victories from 140 mounts, a 31 percent winning percentage

In the winner's circle after breaking the record, Velazquez was hugged by his agent, Angel Cordero Jr., the top rider at Saratoga for 14 seasons, 11 of them in a row. Velazquez said he doesn't spend much time thinking about records, but nodded toward Cordero.

"He enjoys them more than I do," Velazquez said. "I just like winning races."

Cordero shook his head and grinned.

"He didn't even know (Saturday) that he was going for the record," Cordero said. "This is great. Are you kidding? You know what a record means. Twenty years from now, the money is gone, but the record is there."

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