Dominguez Is Back for More

In his first visit to Hollywood Park, jockey Ramon Dominguez won two stakes, a division of the Miesque with Louvain and the $150,000 Turf Express with Cajun Beat.

Dominguez, 28, hopes for more of the same this weekend. He will ride Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Better Talk Now in today’s $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup, and My Cousin Matt, who finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, in the $100,000 Vernon O. Underwood on Sunday.

Before his trip to Inglewood for the recently concluded Turf Festival, Dominguez had ridden only once in California, failing to hit the board in a stakes at Santa Anita.

Even so, the native of Venezuela has become one of the country’s leading jockeys, riding primarily in Delaware and Maryland. In 2001, he led the nation with 431 victories and was tops again last year, winning 453. Entering this week, Dominguez had 371 victories, second nationally to Rafael Bejarano’s 424.

Dominguez also did well at Saratoga last summer, which caught Bobby Frankel’s attention.

Frankel contacted agent Steve Rushing and the rider came west for the Turf Festival. The results were the victories by Louvain and Cajun Beat, a third with Three Valleys in the Citation, and a fourth with Chattahoochee War in the Generous.

“He impressed me when I saw him ride when I was in New York this summer and he impressed me watching him on television,” Frankel said. “He’s cool and doesn’t panic on a horse. He’s a great rider and a future superstar.”

Dominguez, who began riding at 16 in his native land, hopes the relationship with Frankel continues, but in the Turf Cup, a Grade I at 1 1/2 miles, will be trying to knock off Frankel, who will send out Brazilian import License To Run and the long-winded mare Megahertz.

This will be Dominguez’s sixth collaboration with Better Talk Now, a 5-year-old gelded son of Talkin Man. They have combined for three victories, notably the 27-1 upset in the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Oct. 30 at Lone Star Park.

The longest shot in the field of eight, Better Talk Now prevailed by 1 3/4 lengths over favored Kitten’s Joy, then withstood an inquiry, winning for the eighth time in 20 starts on the grass.

“I didn’t think he could win,” Dominguez said. “Like any other race, I would have been very happy if he did win and I was going to ride my best race and hope he could win, but, basically, it was just hope. I knew there were a couple of horses in there [Kitten’s Joy and third-place finisher Powerscourt] that were going to be very tough to beat.

“I wasn’t concerned at all when I passed the wire. Even when I saw there was an inquiry, I felt strongly that I hadn’t done anything wrong and it seemed like it took forever for the race to be official. Without question, it was my biggest thrill in racing.”

Owned by Bushwood Racing Partners, Better Talk Now will be trainer Graham Motion’s first starter in California, the decision having been made in hopes of attracting some Eclipse votes for champion turf male.

A victory Saturday would give Better Talk Now three Grade I victories this year. He also won the Sword Dancer on Aug. 14 at Saratoga. He is the first Breeders’ Cup Turf winner to compete in the Hollywood Turf Cup since Fraise in 1992.

“The general sense of opinion seemed to be that Kitten’s Joy deserved the Eclipse, even though we won the Breeders’ Cup against him,” Motion said. “We thought winning one more Grade I might sway the voters and that entered into our decision to come here.”

Dominguez, whose wife Sharon is due to give birth to the couple’s first child next month, has given some thought to relocation. The most likely possibilities are New York, where he has already had success, and California, where the jockey colony has been thinned in recent years by the retirement of superstars Eddie Delahoussaye, Laffit Pincay and Chris McCarron.

“Any drastic change like that in somebody’s career has to be given a lot of thought,” he said. “The response I received in New York and for the couple of days I was in California has been good.”