Sports fans sympathize with an athlete who has to wait a minute or two additional for his moment of truth: Goal’s booter on the “iced” ground in dead time. The safe launcher feeling its members tightening and the nerves stood in the canoe during a long summit of the ninth round. The golfer stuck on a crucial tee fired at the end of a major tournament while the coming group Dawdles in the Fairway.
So, let’s save an additional reflection on an athlete who must wait for weeks for a decisive career moment: the jockey with the favorite of Kentucky Derby.
After Umberto Rispoli set up the foal named journalism to a hard victory won in the Santa Anita derby on April 5, he faced four weeks of anticipation and potential anxiety before the biggest breed of his life on May 3.
“(I am) calm, relaxed and calm, and try (ING) not to put the pressure too high,” said Rispoli when we talked this week.
Can he stay like this? Stay calm until the Post Parade at Churchill Downs? Stay in bulk in the starting gate, where the split reactions are vital? Stay in the head clear for the current decisions that make or break the chances of a horse?
Listening to Rispoli, 36, the Jockey of Italian origin which is second of the gains and third in victories at the winter meeting of Santa Anita, you realize that he has – and, just as important, thinks that he did – certain advantages that he tries to settle his emotions for Kentucky Derby Day.
Rispoli said it helps journalism, winning three consecutive issues for coach Michael McCarthy and a property group led by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, will do part of the thought itself.
“It’s a very intelligent horse,” said Rispoli. “I am almost sure that he is able to put himself in good position (at the start of the derby), obviously with the permission of a good draw (post-position).
“If (the leaders) go slowly, he will be happy to sit a little more. If they go halfway, it can sit in the middle of the pack. If they go very, very quickly, it can sit on the back. I see that many horses come from death last and win the Kentucky Derby. ”
Rispoli knows, in any case, that the difficult reflection on the strategy is useless until the 20 horsepower field (more up to four also eligible) is set up and that the positions positions are drawn on April 26. And even then, many will be dictated by the way journalism and key opponents leave the door.
“Once we have left the door, we will decide where to sit (at the beginning) the race,” he said.
Rispoli does not leave the media about the superiority of journalism to him.
“I don’t want to disrespect other horses,” he said. “Journalism, (Florida Derby Winner) Tappan Street and (Florida Derby Runnerup), I would put at the same level.
“The figures say that my horse is the favorite to win Kentucky Derby. But I leave figures to the people of Harvard. Horses do not know how to count. “
Rispoli is not a recruit from Kentucky Derby. He and Brooklyn Strong finished 15th at 43-1 behind Mandaloun victorious by disqualification in 2021, and he and McCarthy were endless a ninth credible at 48-1 behind the mystik Dan winner last year.
“When they gave your head, it’s an exciting moment,” said Rispoli, who rolled during the biggest meetings in England, France and Hong Kong before coming to the United States in 2019. “When you walk on the track, you have more than 150,000 people singing my old Kentucky house. ”.
“I have acquired a certain experience. It’s a long day. You wake up at 7 am, and you have (wait) until 6:30 am, almost 7 am (in the evening). I cannot forget any moment of my first Kentucky derby – even if I have not hit the board.”
Rispoli has other horses and races to keep him busy in Santa Anita this weekend and the next one, although he will go to Louisville to set up the final training before you of journalism at the end of next week.
“I take it day by day, step by step,” he said. “I will try to focus on my next trips before going to Kentucky.”
It is reserved for 11 frames Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Santa Anita. Constantly coupling Sunday in the American issues of $ 100,000, Grade III. Rispoli can also impatiently await the winner in double Grade I, a formidable man, probably in May, and the leader of the Gazon of the West Coast Johannes returning this summer.
“Without these middle class horses, you could not drive in class I,” he said, “so I’m devoted to all these horses.”
And Rispoli has a lifetime on the track to keep it anchored. He lives in Monrovia with his wife, Kimberley, and their two sons. During the fires in January, he said: “We had no electricity for four days and, comparing this to what the others lost, we were very lucky.”
Having grown up playing football in the streets in an uneven part of Naples, he keeps an eye on the pursuit by Napoli of a title of fourth series A.
However, Rispoli cannot help but think of Kentucky Derby. His career was increasing after his horses won $ 10.4 million in handbags in 2024, his best in the United States and the 20th best among North American jockeys last year. But he is still looking for his first victory in a Triple Crown or Breeders’ Cup race.
“I think you have to take advantage of the moment, do what you do every day,” he said about the weeks preceding on the first Saturday in May. “Do not change anything. Not to think too much. No fears.”
But he knows what is at stake: “It could be the best time in my life if I earn Kentucky Derby.”
Follow the Kevin Modeti Horse racing correspondent on x.com/kevinvodesti.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
