Veteran Jockey Makes Noise With 2,000th Career Victory

Gentle John Creager isn’t one to make a lot of noise around the shed, barns and stables at Los Alamitos Race Course, but he certainly has made a lot of racket down the straightaway lately.

Creager, 46, a veteran of 30 years in the saddle, became only the third jockey in the 47-year history of the track to post 2,000 victories when he guided Takin On Hunter to victory in the fourth race Nov. 6.

He followed that 11 days later with his 80th stakes victory, guiding Willie Call Me to a half-length victory in the $18,000 Mariposa Handicap for fillies. He became only the fifth rider in track history to reach that milestone.

Despite a decorated career that includes being named champion jockey in 1994, Creager, from Ogden, Utah, prefers to go about earning a living quietly.

“He’s not one you’ll see out partying,” trainer Charlie Bloomquist said. “He’s a pretty dedicated father. He has [four] kids. He takes care of business at the track, but you don’t see him hanging around here after he’s done.

“He works hard. I don’t think you can find anybody who doesn’t like John. He’s just there every day.”

Creager also drew rave reviews from the track’s leading trainer, Blane Schvaneveldt.

“He’s not only a good rider, he’s a good person,” Schvaneveldt said. “He’s a very nice person and a hard-working son-of-a-gun.”

But you won’t hear Creager speak much about his success.

“It’s nice to get there,” he said of his 2,000-victory milestone. “I guess it’s quite an accomplishment. There are quite a lot of good riders here.”

Creager rode his first horse as a teenager in Utah and took his first official victory in 1967 aboard Square Buttons in Idaho. He went on to attend Weber State and was on the baseball team for a year, but he left school because his fancy for the saddle caught up with him.

He rode in Idaho and Utah for several years, then came to Los Alamitos in 1974, where his first victory was aboard Eagle Landing in an 870-yard race.

He was aboard world champion Sgt. Pepper Feature in the 1992 Champion of Champions and most recently rode Ah Sigh to champion 2- and 3-year-old titles.

In recent years Creager has had most success in short races, those in the 350- to 400-yard range.

“He’s not the kind of guy that rouses the horse,” Los Alamitos spokesman John Petti said. “He kind of gives them a gentle ride and he’s extremely sharp with fillies and mares.”

Bloomquist says Creager doesn’t often go to whip and his steady hand is much appreciated. Younger riders are more aggressive, Bloomquist said, but that often leads to trouble down the road.

“John doesn’t hurt your horses,” Bloomquist said. “A lot of the boys override a horse, and especially with fillies. He’s not aggressive, so that doesn’t endear him to everyone a far as the riders go, but if you have a horse ready to run, he can ride it as fast as it will go.”

Creager has no plans for retirement. But when pressed about his future, he said he’d prefer to be living on a ranch somewhere.

“As long as there are good horses to ride and I stay pretty healthy and I still enjoy it, then I think I’ll be riding for a few more years,” he said.

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Majority owner Edward C. Allred has agreed to purchase the remaining 25% stake in Los Alamitos from longtime business partner Chris Bardis.

Earlier this month he turned down an offer to sell Los Alamitos to a group of investors. The sales offer was not announced, but Allred said previously that it was for substantially more than twice the estimated $35 million he paid for the track.

Allred maintains, however, that if the right offer comes along, he might reconsider selling. He has spent nearly $15 million in refurbishing the course and believes he needs to sink another $10 million into the facility to bring it up to his standards.

Allred also recently purchased a 50% stake in Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico.

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The Challenge Championship on Nov. 1 drew a total handle of $1,899,662, highest of the season and ninth largest in track history. The races consisted of 11 stakes events highlighted by the $250,000 America Challenge Championship won by SLM Big Daddy.

The all-time Los Alamitos handle, and national record, was set on June 30, 1995, when $2,127,758 was wagered.

Notes

Connie Hall went into the weekend needing seven victories to become the first woman trainer to saddle 500 winners at the track. . . Edward C. Allred has donated $100,000 to the Ruidoso Downs Race Horse Hall of Fame. . . . Trainer John Cooper passed Caser Dominguez and moved into second place on the all-time track trainer standings with 908 victories. Blane Schvaneveldt is the all-time leader with 3,302 victories.