Who's Man Enough? Ride Hard or Die Trying

by Ralph the Cat

Some jockeys live by it. They lay everything on the line just to win a race. At this up and coming winter meet at Mountaineer expect to see a jockey colony that's motivated more than ever, something we haven't seen for some time. The 2nd winningest rider in the Nation, Deshawn Parker, is set for the Oaklawn meet and Rex Stokes is busy at Turfway Park. An amazing opportunity has arose for jockeys that have been taking the backseats to Parker and Rex the past few years. I don't know what Whitney has in store, but he hasn't been putting the time in at Mountaineer like in years past. The 34 year old Trinidad native with a wicked right handed stick is among the favorites to sit atop the Mountain standings, you may know him as Oswald Pereira, who recently hit the 1,000 win mark. The 36 year old Vietnamese native, Tho Nguyen hopes to take control of the meet with some of the top ship-in trainers at his side.

Ironically, I found these 2 riders to be the most dependable in the slop. It will be a battle in the slop for sure this winter, with riders like Perez, Barria, Rivera and plenty more capable riders to challenge. With Oswald Pereira's grit in these type of conditions its going to have to take some pretty stupid trainers not to replace the Parker mounts with Ozzie mounts. The agents of Tho and Ozzie are going to decide the outcome of this 3 month race. My money's on Ozzie, Ozzie, Ozzie, Oy,Oy,Oy.