8/5/06

FOR RELEASE: IMMEDIATE
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CHESTER, WV — ROSE LOOKS TO SCORE ABOARD REGENT SPIRIT by Bill Mooney

Few jockeys ascend the ladder of success as quickly as Jeremy Rose. For his riding exploits in 2001, he received the Eclipse Award as North America's leading apprentice. In 2004, he piloted Afleet Alex to victories in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

Although he is only 27 years old, Rose has already accumulated over 1,200 career victories. And on Sunday afternoon, he'll be riding a gray colt named Regent Spirit in the 37th running of the Grade 3, $750,000 West Virginia Derby at the Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort.

To date, Regent Spirit has been modestly successful. He has made seven starts, from which he has attained two victories, three placings and earnings of $86,698. His only prior try in stakes company resulted in a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park on July 4.

But the names surrounding Regent Spirit are well known to the sporting public. He was bred and campaigns for the Kinsman Stable of George M. Steinbrenner III, the managing partner of the New York Yankees. And Regent Spirit is trained by Hall of Famer Nick Zito, who won the 2004 West Virginia Derby with Sir Shackleton.

Rose has never ridden in the West Virginia Derby before, but he's not an unknown figure at Mountaineer. In 2002, he booted Docent to victory in the West Virginia' Governor's Handicap, and also won the West Virginia Secretary of State Handicap with a horse named Urban Dancer. Both of those stakes were on the West Virginia Derby undercard.

In early September of that year, Rose returned to Mountaineer to win the Labor Day Handicap with La Reine's Terms. Two months later, he again returned to boot Docent to victory in the Mountaineer Mile Handicap.

Though July 30 of this season, Rose's career resume included 64 stakes triumphs. They have been achieved at 13 different race tracks, mostly in the eastern sector of the country. The exception to this is Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where Rose won the Grade 2 Arkansas Derby and Mountain Valley Stakes with Afleet Alex.

Born on April 1, 1979, in Bellefonte, Maryland, Rose does not come from a racing family. But as a boy he was involved in Quarter Horse shows, riding horses while dressed in full western regalia.

His great passion during high school years, however, was wrestling. He was a finalist in the Pennsylvania state championships, competing in the 126-pound weight class. Rose also achieved several belt classifications in karate. His overall athleticism would serve him well when the time came to ride racehorses.

After graduating from high school in 1998, Rose was taken on a visit one day to the backside of Penn National Race Course by a family friend who was also a thoroughbred breeder and owner. Rose became immediately interested, and another family friend, a hunter-jumper trainer named Ben Guanciolle, got him a job that September working with young horses at a breeding farm in Puerto Rico.

Nine months later, Rose returned to the East Coast and became a hotwalker, groom and exercise rider for trainer Mike Petro at Delaware Park. Petro is the brother of jockey Nick Petro, and the two of them began to teach Rose the specifics of race riding.

On September 23, 2000, Rose earned his initial career victory, aboard a horse named Daly's Princess at Delaware. The following year, he rode 312 winners, whose purse earnings totaled nearly totaled $4.46 million. At season's end, Rose was an obvious choice as an Eclipse Award recipient.

The Mid-Atlantic region tracks have largely been Rose's domain. His first stakes triumph came on September 1 of '01 aboard a horse named Citiroyal in the Francis "Jock" LaBelle Memorial at Delaware. Tim Ritchey was Citiroyal's trainer, and it would be Ritchey who would later put Rose aboard Afleet Alex.

At age two, Afleet Alex's victories included the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes and Grade 2 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga. At age three, he finished third in the Kentucky Derby, then went on to win the two other Triple Crown events.

Afleet Alex's Preakness victory was achieved despite a dramatic incident at the top of the Pimlico Race Course stretch, when he clipped the heels of a horse named Scrappy T, stumbled badly and almost fell down.

How his jockey managed to stay aboard him remains something of a miracle. Maybe it was all that litheness and agility Rose had perfected during his wrestling and karate stays. But he quickly regained his balance, and so did Afleet Alex, and the two of them drew off to win the Preakness by 4 ¾ lengths.

Three weeks later, in a much less eventful trip, Afleet Alex and Rose won the Belmont Stakes by seven lengths. It was Afleet Alex's final career race, and he now does stud duty at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.

Most good horses have short racing careers - but that's not the case for good jockeys. They often compete well into their 40's, and even into their 50's. Rose has the look of a jockey who's going to be around for many future years, and perhaps decades.

But, particularly when one considers the success he had aboard Afleet Alex, it's surprising that more good mounts aren't entrusted to Rose's hands. Of his 64 career stakes wins, only eight of them have occurred in graded events - and the only one he has achieved so far this season came in the Grade 2 Forward Gal Stakes at Gulfstream Park aboard a filly named Miraculous Miss.

Regent Spirit will not be one of the Favorites in the West Virginia Derby on Sunday. He has never before run at the 1 1/8-mile distance, and recent West Virginia Derbies suggest that a horse must have at least a graded stakes placing in his past performances to merit a solid chance.

Still, there are more upsets in horse racing than in any other major sport, and the credentials of Regent Spirit's jockey (and his trainer as well) defy reproach. Regent Spirit will be giving it his best effort in the Mountaineer stretch. Jeremy Rose will see to that.

West Virginia Derby Notes: Flashy Bull, 6-1 in the West Virginia Derby morning line, has also been entered in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational Handicap at Monmouth Park on Sunday. As of Friday afternoon, he was still considered a starter at Mountaineer . . . a reminder - post time for Sunday's West Virginia Derby card will be 2 p.m. EDT