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Jockey Graham cracking again at
Fair Grounds; FG’s Inaugural ‘Legends Purse’ Permeates Past of Crescent City
Racing
NEW ORLEANS (Sunday, November 27, 2011) –Irish-born jockey James Graham, a
wintertime resident of New Orleans, has been on a roll of late and he’s off to a
fast start once again this season during the140th meeting at Fair Grounds.
The ebullient 32-year-old native of Finglas, Dublin, won the opening race of
Fair Grounds’ 2011-2012 84-day meeting on Thanksgiving Day aboard Robert and
Lawana Low’s Southern Rocket for trainer Steve Margolis. Later that day he
captured the holiday’s $60,000 Mr. Sulu Stakes on Klaravich Stables and William
Lawrence’s Populist Politics for New Orleans-born conditioner Tom Amoss.
On the first Saturday of the session, Graham won the grassy $75,000Pago Hop
Stakes astride James Miller’s Daisy Devine, the versatile daughter of Kafwain
who won last spring’s Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks on the main track for
Irish-born trainer Andrew McKeever. Earlier in the afternoon Graham used his
considerable strength to get Andrews T & S Racing’s tiring Mr. Vegas home in
front for trainer Richie Scherer.
However, it was last summer in Chicago that Graham won his first riding title in
the United States at Arlington Park after finishing second twice previously at
Arlington and three times at Fair Grounds.
“A riding title is nice to have,” said Graham Sunday morning during Fair Grounds
training hours. “It’s like you’ve accomplished something after finishing second
or third so many times, but I couldn’t have done it without my agent (Britt
McGehee) or my wife (the former Lisa Caverley, also born on the Emerald Isle)
and all the trainers that have helped me out. I suppose it’s kind of nice to
have a title on your resume, but I don’t think very much about riding crowns.
“This job we (jockeys) have is hard enough, but I enjoy it,” said Graham. “This
is a great game. Everyone is busy doing what they have to do to make a living
and I’ve been fortunate enough to carve out one for myself. (Multiple Kentucky
Derby winning jockey) Calvin Borel told me a long time ago to just keep doing
what I do and to work as hard as I can, but to me it doesn’t really seem like
work.”
Typically, Graham, who also finished a very good second at Keeneland’s
prestigious October meeting, refuses to speculate on his chances for his first
Fair Grounds riding crown after finishing second three times.
“It’s only the fourth day of the season and a lot of things can happen.” Graham
said. “This has already been a good day for me. I got up this morning and put my
feet on the floor, so from there, there’s only one way you can go – and that’s
forward.”
FG’S INAUGURAL ‘LEGENDS PURSE’ PERMEATES PAST OF CRESCENT CITY RACING – Hall of
Fame Thoroughbreds like Black Gold, Pan Zareta, and Whirlaway –all of whom raced
in New Orleans – were represented, but it was the locally-owned Risen Star whose
silks flew home first in Fair Grounds’ inaugural Legends Purse, run as the sixth
race Saturday at the nation’s third-oldest Thoroughbred race course.
In that race, Louisiana-bred Deelightful Angel –playing the part of the
1988Louisiana Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Risen Star owned by
Louie Roussel III and Ronnie Lamarque – won by 6 1/4-lengths in a
one-mile-and-70-yard $10,000 claiming contest for Louisiana-breds. Every entrant
in the 12-horse field was dressed in the silks of a different legendary horse
from Fair Grounds’ 140-year history.
Louisiana Derby, Preakness and New Orleans Handicap winner Master Derby, played
by Kasos Pride, finished second and the favored Whirlaway, the 1941 Triple Crown
winner, represented by Gold Soul, came in third.
That meant, at least in symbolic terms, that the Legends Purse resulted in an
all-Louisiana Derby-Preakness-winner exacta as well as an all-Preakness-winner
trifecta.
Track announcer John G. Dooley and Fair Grounds racing analyst Katie Mikolay
were quick to embrace the spirit of the Legends Purse, with Dooley threading his
live-race call with historic anecdotes from the various legends’ history and
Mikolay specifically noting the original racing colors of Louie Roussel and the
famous devil’s-red-and-blue of Calumet Farm during her pre-race comments from
the paddock.
However, perhaps the defining moment of the Legends Purse came during the post
parade, when Cajun Louisiana-born jockey Kerwin Clark, 52, – aboard “Whirlaway”
on Saturday – pumped his fist in the air as Dooley described the stellar career
of the Calumet color-bearer over the public address system.
“It was hard not to be impressed when the announcer recited all of Whirlaway’s
history” Clark said Sunday morning. “I guess I just got into the spirit of the
whole thing.”
Clark, it should be noted, rode Just for Fun Stable’s Decisive Moment in last
spring’s Kentucky Derby, enjoying the first Kentucky Derby mount of his 36-year
career in the saddle.
About Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots
Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, the nation’s third-oldest racetrack, has been
in operation since 1872. Located inNew Orleans, Fair Grounds is owned by
Churchill Downs Incorporated (NASDAQ Global Select Market: CHDN); it also
operates a slot-machine gaming facility and 10 off-track betting parlors
throughout southeast Louisiana. The 140th Thoroughbred Racing Season will run
Nov. 24, 2011 to April 1, 2012, highlighted by the $1 million Louisiana Derby on
April 1. More information can be found online at
www.FairGroundsRaceCourse.com.
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