For months, Jeremy Rose has been a marked man within the riding profession. Almost every top jockey, and every top jockey's agent, wanted to take his job as the rider of Afleet Alex, one of the nation's leading 3-year-olds. Rose did indeed lose the assignment on Afleet Alex earlier this winter, and almost lost it again as the Triple Crown campaign was about to begin.
But the 26-year-old not only kept the mount and won the Preakness Saturday, he did it with a flawless performance that included what was surely one of the most electrifying moments in the race's 130-year history.
As Afleet Alex launched his winning move on the final turn at Pimlico, accelerating past Scrappy T, the tired long shot swerved into his path. Afleet Alex clipped his rival's heels and stumbled badly -- his nose almost going into the dirt. But Rose managed to hold on, kept his balance and got the colt back into gear in a stride or two. When he did, the Preakness was over. He drew away to score a 4 3/4 -length victory over Scrappy T, a strong performance refuting the notion (widely held after Giacomo's Kentucky Derby victory) that the current generation of 3-year-olds is largely devoid of talent.
Rose's tactical excellence and his coolness under fire are the qualities one might expect from riders like Jerry Bailey, Gary Stevens or Edgar Prado -- the pros who regularly excel at the upper echelon of the sport. But Jeremy Rose is a minor leaguer -- or he had been until this spring. Raised in Pennsylvania, he started riding in 1999 in the mid-Atlantic region, mostly at the tracks in Maryland and Delaware, where he started riding Afleet Alex for trainer Tim Ritchey.
When Afleet Alex began to look like a high-class prospect, the knives came out. Rose was criticized (with some justification) after he finished second in the Champagne Stakes and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and agents besieged Ritchey, offering their jockeys' services. With millions of dollars at stake in the upcoming 3-year-old classics, trainers and owners can't afford to be loyal to a rider who is less than the best. The Afleet Alex team replaced Rose with Eclipse Award-winning John Velazquez for a race at Oaklawn Park -- the one race in which Afleet Alex delivered a clunker of a performance.
Rose regained the mount for the Arkansas Derby when Velazquez chose to ride another horse, and piloted Afleet Alex to an eight-length victory that established him as a top Kentucky Derby consider. The rumors swirled again that the trainer and owners would look for a big-name rider. But many of the big names (such as Bailey and Stevens) were not available, and Ritchey committed to Rose.
The history of the Triple Crown races is filled with instances in which inexperienced riders cost horses a shot for glory. That's how Spectacular Bid missed sweeping the Triple Crown. But Rose, rising to the occasion, turned in back-to-back performances in the Derby and Preakness that put him in a new class: He is now a major leaguer.
In the 20-horse field at Churchill Downs, he navigated flawlessly through heavy traffic, never getting into trouble, never losing momentum for a stride. Perhaps he launched his move in that fast-paced race a little soon, for Afleet Alex faltered in the final furlong to finish third behind the long shot Giacomo. "There wasn't a jock living today that could have ridden a better race," Ritchey said.
Saturday at Pimlico, Rose outdid his Derby performance. This is a racetrack where he has ridden hundreds of races, and he understands the importance of saving ground on the turns. So even though he was breaking from the disadvantageous post position No. 12, he made an effort to navigate toward the inside part of the racing strip.
He was 10th in the 14-horse field in the early running, with Giacomo outside him. As he started to rally, he saw Sun King in front of him, and, when that rival moved off the rail, Rose shot inside of him. Then he saw Greeley's Galaxy in front of him, making a strong, though abortive move to the lead. Rose followed him -- and then slipped inside of him, too. Afleet Alex was moving powerfully, with only Scrappy T in front of him. Rose made the logical tactical move and swung outside -- just as Ramon Dominguez cracked the leader with his left hand and caused him to swerve.
After he had kept his balance and won the race, after he had begun to accept congratulations, Rose was able to reflect on what he had done by instinct. "Bumping another horse is not a big deal; clipping heels is a big deal," he explained to the media. "That's one of the worst things that can happen. I could easily have gone down."
Characteristically, he deflected praise from himself and onto Afleet Alex. Staying upright, he said "was 90 percent the horse [and 10 percent the jockey]. If he goes down, I don't have a chance." But even if his modest assessment is correct, his 10 percent contribution earned him a lasting place in Preakness history.
