BIG DAYS FOR FERRIN PETERSON, ANGEL SUAREZ

Ferrin Peterson
Jockey Ferrin Peterson has had three days with at least three wins each in August. Photo By Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO
  • userFrank Vespe
  • dateAugust 23, 2020

Apprentice rider Ferrin Peterson continues to open eyes on the Jersey Shore. The 28-year-old won three times Saturday at Monmouth Park to continue a torrid streak that’s seen her climb into second place by wins at the track.

And while meet leader Paco Lopez is well ahead – he has 41 wins to Peterson’s 24 – she’s established a four-win lead over her nearest pursuers, Joe Bravo and Antonio Gallardo, who have 20 wins each. She ranks 32nd in the region in our Top Midlantic Jockey standings through August 16.

Peterson’s big Saturday marked the third time in August that she won three or more races in a day and the second time in the last three days of live racing. Peterson also won three on August 16 and won “only” once on the 21st.

Two of her Saturday wins came for trainer Jose Delgado, with the third for Jonathan Thomas. Two of those winners – If Not Now for Thomas and Midnight Banker for Delgado – were 2-5, while the third, Long Blade, went off at 4-1.

Peterson has won with 17 of her last 60 mounts…

Angel Suarez had a productive afternoon at Delaware Park, winning three times on the eight-race program. Suarez has 30 wins at the track, good for second overall though well off the pace of perennial meet leader Carol Cedeno, who has 45 wins.

Suarez won the day’s feature, a second-level allowance, aboard 1-5 Blue Buff for trainer John Servis. Blue Buff has now won six consecutive races and turned in a professional effort to rally to victory on Saturday.

Suarez also won aboard even-money Singapore Flash for trainer Michael Stidham and 9-2 Sandy Lane Kitten for Richard Hendriks.

Suarez has won at least one race on four consecutive Delaware Park cards. He is 21st in our Top Midlantic Jockey standings…

Veteran rider Luis Garcia won a pair of races Saturday at Laurel Park to complete the weekend with three wins from 10 mounts. That makes him 4-for-23 at the meet.

Garcia helped give erstwhile jockey-turned-trainer Elvis Trujillo his first training victory when he guided Voodoo Valley to a two-length win at 6-1 odds in a $5,000 claiming race. Two races later, he scored again, this time on Blue Sky Venezuela for trainer Bruno Tessore.

Garcia, a winner of nearly 1,600 races in his career, had just a single mount on the season – that on March 15 – before Laurel Park was closed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. When the track reopened, he rode fairly sparingly until 10 mounts the last two days.

Horacio Karamanos (32 wins) and Jevian Toledo (30) are one-two in the win column at Laurel Park.

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