Jamie Ness. (MJC Photo)
To Defend Summer Training Title
David Joseph/Maryland Jockey Club
LAUREL, Md. – Jamie Ness sent out three winners from six starters Friday to clinch leading trainer honors for a second straight year at Laurel Park’s summer meet.
The 35-day summer stand has two racing days remaining, culminating in a 13-race program Sunday featuring a pair of scheduled 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for Maryland-bred/sired horses – the $75,000 All Brandy for fillies and mares and $75,000 Find.
Ness ended Friday with a 25-16 advantage over runner-up Brittany Russell, who won with her lone starter on the card, Wish Me Home ($5), in Race 4. Ness countered by winning Race 5 with Peachyness ($4.20), Race 6 with ex-Russell trainee Swill ($9) and Race 8 with Two by Two ($7).
The 49-year-old Ness had five multi-win days during the summer meet, including prior hat tricks on June 9 and July 13, and sent out Gordian Knot to a third-place finish in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash July 28. He has horses entered in three races Saturday and six races Sunday including first-time turf starter Bestsugardaddyever in the Find. Russell has horses entered in four races Saturday and two Sunday.
“It’s good. I don’t have to sweat it out the last couple days. It seems like every meet me and Brittany go down to the last day. It’s really kind of fun,” Ness said. “The last couple summers we’ve had good meets. It’s a cliché but you’ve got to have good horses, spot them right and hope for the best. We’ve been able to keep a steady clip for like the last 15 years. You try to do the right thing, do everything right and good things happen.”
Ness also won Laurel’s calendar year-opening winter meet this year. He owns nine career training titles in Maryland, six at Laurel and three at historic Pimlico Race Course, dating back to 2011. In addition to Laurel, Ness is currently the leading trainer at both Delaware Park and Parx.
“It’s hard to win at one front but to be winning on three fronts, it’s like a war. You’ve got to equal out your bullets everywhere,” he said. “Every year we build the infrastructure up a little bit better. We have a farm where we turn out and rehab and rotate horses. We’re constantly moving horses every day. It’s an advantage we’ve got. We’ve got horses ready at three different places and it works out pretty good for us.”
Ness’ horses earned a career-best $11.2 million in purses in 2023 to go along with 349 wins, the fifth time he has topped the 300-mark including a personal best 395 in 2012. He ranked second in North America in wins last year and third in both 2022 (326) and 2021 (311) and this year is second with 215 to only Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen (254).
A South Dakota native, Ness began his racing career in the media relations department at Canterbury Park in Minnesota, where he won his first race in August 1999. At Laurel he won both his 2,000th race with Caylee’s Song Nov. 28, 2013, and his 4,000th with Sing Scat July 16, 2023. Overall, he owns 4,393 wins and more than $91.5 million in purse earnings.
Both Swill and Two by Two were ridden by Jaime Rodriguez, who holds a commanding lead in the race for leading jockey, 41-31, over J.G. Torrealba, winner of Race 9 on No Easy Days ($4.60). Twenty-two of Rodriguez’s wins have come on Ness horses.
Rodriguez is named in eight races Saturday and one race Sunday while Torrealba, who registered five wins Aug. 11 at Laurel, is named in five races Saturday and seven races Sunday.
“Ever since the first day he came and worked a horse for me I said, ‘That’s my guy.’ We get along good and, obviously, he’s a good rider,” Ness said. “He’s a good rider, but a better person and that’s what I like most about him. We’re on the same page and when everybody’s on the same page, it usually works out pretty good.”
Notes
Jockeys Sheldon Russell and Angel Cruz each doubled Friday. Russell was first with Class Wizard ($13.60) in Race 1 and Wish Me Home ($5) in Race 4, while Cruz visited the winner’s circle on Zihuatanejo ($7.60) in Race 3 and Big Wanda ($22.60) in Race 10 …
There will be carryovers of $1,630.41 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 6-11) and $1,026.94 in the $1 Jackpot Super High Five (Race 6) for Friday’s 11-race program that begins at 12:25 p.m.
