Running a successful claiming stable often takes more time than owner-trainer Juan Arriagada cares to admit. But the challenge of getting the best his horses have to offer is one he meets with enthusiasm.
“I study a lot. I spend a lot of time on the computer, I buy the past performances and I watch the replays, looking at every little detail,” said Arriagada, whose rise to third in the Tampa Bay Downs trainer standings with 19 winners earned him the Boot Barn Trainer of the Month Award.
“Sometimes after I claim a horse, I’ll say to myself ‘Juan, what are you seeing in that four-legged donkey?’ and I’ll have no idea. But I always look at a horse in the paddock before I claim them, because first of all it’s my money and second, when I buy a horse it has to be something I like.”
Arriagada currently owns each of his 22 horses at Tampa Bay Downs wholly or, in a few cases, with partners, and that game plan has put him in line to win a second consecutive Leading Owner title. His 15 victories in that category are eight clear of the partnership of Morris E. Kernan, Jr., and Jagger Inc., as well as Mike Dini.
It’s a strategy with benefits, and drawbacks. “I can enter them wherever I want,” Arriagada said. “But when a horse doesn’t make money, I have nobody to send the bills to.”
The 46-year-old product of Lima, Peru, who won about 300 races as a jockey in Peru and Chile before coming to the United States 20 years ago, makes it clear that working with Thoroughbreds is the life he has chosen and one he enjoys thoroughly.
He teams with his wife Alison, a former trainer, who got on eight horses this morning to help them prepare for upcoming races. His 24-year-old son Nicolas, a former jockey and an exercise rider for trainer John Rigattieri, helps wherever needed. Alison’s mom chips in too, caring for her 5-year-old granddaughter Tezza on racing days.
The opportunity to share their horses’ accomplishments keeps things flowing smoothly. “I put pressure on myself every day, but I never feel it from other people,” Arriagada said. “I always want to do better, but I lead my life like a normal person. When I go to the track in the morning to watch workouts, I like joking with (fellow trainers) Mr. (Gerald) Bennett, Darien Rodriguez and Victor Carrasco.
“I don’t get mad when someone claims a horse from me, because it means they like my horses and they want to win races and make money. I’m not going to get mad and turn around and claim two or three horses from another trainer who claims one from me.”
Arriagada currently doesn’t have any real standouts in his barn. His best horse might be Conspiracy Fact, whom he claimed for $10,000 last September at Delaware Park. The 5-year-old gelding has hit the board in each of six starts since, with victories here on Dec. 1 and Feb. 18.
He says he doesn’t spend time thinking about getting another horse such as Estilo Talentoso, whom he purchased for $15,000 in 2019 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s June Two-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale. She won the Grade III Bed o’Roses as a 4-year-old at Belmont Park, placed in two Grade I stakes and earned $532,538.
“When you think about those things, it never happens,” he said. “It’s like the good jockeys – they never look back. You need to keep moving forward. When you do that, something good or bad will happen, and you have to be prepared for both. I would take another horse like that, but right now I’m more than happy.”
His late grandfather and late father, Raul Arriagada, Sr., and Raul, Jr., were both trainers in Peru, and Nicolas said he is considering extending the legacy to a fourth generation.
“I don’t know if I would call it pressure” to follow in their footsteps, Nicolas said. “I want to be like him. But I think you have to enjoy what you do with horses, and when you enjoy it, you actually don’t feel pressure.”
Around the oval. Apprentice jockey Gabriel Maldonado won two races today. He captured the fourth race on La Chica Lateral, a 6-year-old mare owned by Castillo Consulting Inc. and trained by Victor Barboza, Jr. La Chica Lateral was claimed from the race for $5,000 by trainer Antonio Cordero for new owner Undertaker Racing, LLC.
Maldonado added the sixth race with Tiz Herself, a 6-year-old mare owned by Barry and Manfred Roos and trained by John Rigattieri. The victory was the 16th for the Florida-bred Tiz Herself from 47 career starts and her ninth from her 13 most recent starts.
In today’s seventh race, a $54,500 allowance/optional claiming contest for horses 4-years-old-and-upward at a mile on the turf, Irish-bred 4-year-old colt Kubrick staged an impressive stretch rally to post a 3 ¼-length victory from Winfromwithin in Kubrick’s first U.S. start.
Kubrick, a Group III winner as a 2-year-old at Longchamp in France, posted a time of 1:33.73, .82 seconds off the Oldsmar course record. Vincent Cheminaud was in the saddle for owner Peter M. Brant and trainer Chad Brown.
Thoroughbred racing continues Saturday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:38 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs races on a Wednesday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule and is open every day except Easter Sunday, March 31 for simulcast wagering, no-limits action and tournament play in The Silks Poker Room and golf fun and instruction at the Downs Golf Practice Facility.
