For Stewart Elliott Fans

[stark]

ELLIOTT MAKES HIS MARK IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Stewart Elliott won his first race of the meet yesterday when he guided Ward 'n Jerry to a neck victory for trainer Mike Puype at nearly 8-1 in the sixth race. It ended a string of 21 straight losses for the 51-year-old journeyman.

For good measure, Elliott came back two races later and won the $100,000 LA Woman Stakes by a half-length on Gloryzapper ($11.20) for Phil D'Amato.

Stewart Elliott has seen tougher times.

The Toronto native has been the proverbial "overnight sensation" since arriving full time in Southern California early this year, although he's been a major presence nationally since 2004, when he nearly won the Triple Crown aboard Smarty Jones.

Elliott became the first rider in 25 years to capture the Kentucky Derby in his first appearance in 2004, then won the Preakness, but was second in the Belmont Stakes. Elliott rode the champion colt in all eight of his career races.

The son of a jockey and show horse rider, Elliott won three consecutive riding titles at Philadelphia Park. Career victory 3,000 came in May of 2003, and 4,000 in 2009. Represented by agent Mark North, Elliott won the recent Los Alamitos riding title with 12 victories.

"I got fed up riding at Philadelphia in the winter," Elliott said. "The bad weather and the resulting track conditions made it very tough to endure. This was in the spring of 2014.

"I went to Keeneland from there, rode a lot of Mark Casse's horses and had a really good meet, finishing second to Julien Leparoux. Mark later went to Del Mar and so did I, and it was there that I started working horses for Bob Baffert. The first horse I rode there was for Barry Abrams and it won, paying around $50. Then I won a stake for Casse. I was there three weeks when I was kicked by a horse and suffered rib injuries.

"I was in the hospital getting X-rays when my wife (Lilibeth) called and said we sold the farm in New Jersey. So I said, 'I'm out of here,' and we moved to Kentucky. I did all the moving myself, U-Hauls, everything, like I needed to be lifting boxes with my ribs

"I started riding the fall meet at Keeneland, and my ribs were killing me. I wasn't comfortable, but I rode the whole meet. It was a short meet, but I said, 'The heck with this.' My ribs couldn't heal because I was riding and banging them. I took almost a year off before coming to California the beginning of this year.

"Baffert remembered me from before, so I checked in with him. The first horse he put me on was at the Los Al spring meet and it won."

Fast forward to September 2016 when Elliott showed he still has the qualities to be a success on a major circuit, winning the favor of Baffert, for whom he has been riding with significant success.

"He's a really good horseman and gets along with horses really well," said Baffert, himself a former jockey. "He's very good at getting my young horses ready and he's really good out of the gate, probably one of the best gate jockeys.

"Horses just fly out of there for him and that's very important with young horses. He's consistent day in, day out. It doesn't matter if he's on a 1-2 favorite or a 10-1 shot, he's just the same. He's pretty calm and cool.

"He's a nice person, a gentleman, and really easy to work with. He never seems to get upset. He's quiet and keeps to himself, but when he gets on a horse, he knows what I expect and gets a lot of run out of them."

High praise indeed from America's most recognizable horseman.

http://www.santaanita.com/stable-notes/stable-notes-by-ed-golden-monday-oct-10-2016/#.V_z-yPkrLIV

[Man o Taz]

He is a nice person and someone deserving of success. Humble and kind and a quality rider.