Borel to ride at Gulfstream
 

@DerbyMedia Agent Jerry Hissam tells us that jockey Calvin Borel will take his talents to South Beach this winter. He'll ride at GP.

That doesn't seem to make much sense to me, at least from a financial standpoint. At Oaklawn last year he finished seventh at a meet won by Cliff Berry. Don't see him getting that many rides at GP. Be surprised if he lasts the whole meet.

Over/under on his win percentage set at 4%. Over/under on total wins set at 3.

This is not news. If Ramon Dominguez decides to move to GP in the winter time then thats news

Does he have a hook-up with a trainer down there that could be motivating his decision?

He might have decided even if his win % sucks that if he can get a few high quality mounts and a promising 3 year old that it's worth his while... Or just more appealing than riding at Turfway... But yeah he's had a pretty nice run at Oaklawn, so this is odd.

When does Oaklawn start? Gulfstream starts early December, if he's not getting good mounts I'm sure he will just go back to Oaklawn when they get going.

:$:

Hello Peter, I have to think Ian Wilkes would be his "hook-up" -- he probably wants to stay close to his good 2yo and Wilkes has had some sharp GP meets in years past.

Like DeShawn Parker's failed TBD experiment last year. :zz::wf

Don't know what the motivation might be or how he's being advised, but if he's convinced that he needs to move his tack, he needs to look at FG, not GP...

Borel generally takes most of Dec and some of Jan off prior to Oaklawn. I'm guessing with GP starting earlier he is going to go down there, ride a little, see how it goes and if he isnt happy he can go mid-Jan to Oaklawn.

Are you sure Parker didn't go to TBD while Mountainer is closed for that month or so in January? For no other reason than that I mean?

The Wilkes 2-year-old is Motor City and it would be logical if he wanted to remain close to this son of Street Sense.

If Borel is going to ride first call for Ian Wilkes he better be hustling in the mornings to pick up more mounts. Wilkes has a very low win percentage at Gulfstream over the last five years (21-237, 9%, $1.18 ROI). He was 3-59 in 2011.

106 riders have won more races than Calvin Borel in 2011. Anyone who followed Oaklawn last year can guarantee that him not riding there in 2012 is a terrible development for bettors. His mounts were wildly overbet and that led to his meet-low $1.27 ROI (for any rider with >120 mounts).

Borel is a VERY average rider who has put three great rides forth on the biggest stage. Those rides seem to have people thinking that they are the norm for him when they were anything but. Gulfstream for him in 2011-2012 will look a lot like his 2 recent failed Saratoga experiments.

Good points. Nick, do you have a breakdown of his percentages at Churchill vs. everywhere else? IMO he is brutal away from the Churchill and wondered if the stats bear this out.

Here it is with mounts-wins-2nds-3rds-Win%-ROI

Over the last five years at CD:

Borel, Calvin 2289 408 298 266 17.82% $2.27

OP:

Borel, Calvin 1412 209 181 177 14.80% $1.38

Kee:

Borel, Calvin 567 36 49 49 6.34% $1.08

Sar:

Borel, Calvin 216 16 14 17 7.40% $0.89

ElP:

Borel, Calvin 151 43 22 13 28.47% $1.94

He better not hang at The Yard House or Cadilliac Ranch after the races. There's a lot of "fuzz" on US 1 and Hallandale Beach Blvd.

Calvin Borel is moving south for the winter and will begin riding at Gulfstream Park at the conclusion of Churchill’s Fall Meet, according to agent Jerry Hissam.

“The main reason we’re going is to ride horses for Ian (Wilkes),” Hissam said. “He’s got Motor City and several other babies that haven’t started yet. When you get a chance to ride a group of nice horses, you take it.”

Gulfstream Park’s meet will begin on Dec. 3, but Borel, who has traditionally ridden at Oaklawn Park over the winter, is not scheduled to begin riding at the track until Dec. 15.

http://assets.churchilldowns.com/sit...rn%20Notes.pdf

Pete - Yeah, that was sort of my point - he never got into a rhythm, and never really got any decent mounts as a result of his commitment to the meeting and that there were better jocks that were more familiar with the surface and were committed to sticking around... It wasn't like trainers were looking to displace first call riders to give him a leg up on a live mount when he'd be gone 6 weeks later and would have pissed off a top flight jock in the process..

I see the same thing happening with Borel @ GP... No one is going to risk damaging a relationship with a top flight rider to give him anything live...

I love the strong opinions. He's won 3 Kentucky Derbies. Quite frankly he could fall off every f.ucking horse from here on out and he would still be one of the most talked about jockeys in the history of American racing.

Yeah he's below average in many aspects of life. It's part of his charm. Deal with it.

Charmed I'm sure