Umberto Rispoli Joins The TDN Writer’s Room Podcast Presented by Keeneland

[Wandering Eyes]

Umberto Rispoli has been riding in the U.S. for less than five years and the Italian-born talent has had to, among other things, convince trainers he could win on not only the turf but the dirt and that he belonged in one of the stronger riding colonies in the sport. It didn't take Rispoli long to establish himself as one of the best riders in California and now top trainers are after his services. Michael McCarthy belongs on the list has he has given the assignment to the 31-year-old jockey on GI Kentucky Derby favorite and GI Santa Anita Derby winner Journalism (Curlin).

It will be Rispoli's third Derby mount.

Rispoli joined this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland to talk about the Derby and how he has established himself as one of the best jockeys in the country in such a short period of time, Rispoli was this week's Gainesway Guest of the Week.

Rispoli admitted he didn't have a good trip when wining the Santa Anita Derby, the race that solidified Journalism's status at the Derby favorite.

“Well, not really,” he answered when asked if that was the trip he was expecting. “Obviously, as I already said in my other interview, I wish I could have drawn wide. But it seems that when we saw the draw, we knew that it was supposed to be a dogfight. So I'm happy then. The good thing is when you ride a brave horse like him, an intelligent horse like him, things can change and they could put you in a better spot. I've been saying that for the last six months; he's improving race by race. Definitely going to the half-mile pole, I knew that this wasn't the trip I wanted and I had to figure it out how to get out from the rail. It wasn't easy, but as I said, we got it done.”

That Rispoli could win the Kentucky Derby is something that hasn't sunken in yet. He's more worried about his next mount.

“I'm extremely, extremely happy, excited,” he said. “Honestly, Joe Talamo interviewed me the other day and he asked me,' how do you feel right now?' I said, 'listen, so far I have just been focused about the rides I have right now because, you know, it would be disrespectful just to focus your mind like three weeks from now to Churchill Down and not be focused about what happened race by race right now.”

He know he'll start feeling differently as the Derby draws nearer.

“I just feel happy because I have found a great horse in my life,” Rispoli said. “He is the best dirt horse I've ever ridden. No doubt about it. I know I've only been riding on the dirt in the U.S. for a short time.  But I've had some experience in Japan, in Hong Kong, in Italy, where we have dirt racing, but it's obviously not as good as American races. I'm happy, I'm calm, I'm relaxed, I'm quiet. The adrenaline is gonna come in. You can't hide this.”

He respects McCarthy because he knows he's all business.

“Michael goes to the work, he doesn't care about anybody,” Rispoli said. “He wakes up in the morning and he knows that he has to do that job from that time, from five o'clock in the morning until 11, 10:30, until the time he's leaving the barn. It's all about work. But out of that, he's one of the funniest person I've ever met in my life. He has his own sense of humor. We understand each other a lot. Don't take me wrong, we clash sometimes, but I think this is why we work so well together. Our relationship is good, because I work a lot of horses for him, and I like to tell him the truth. Sometimes when I think a horse doesn't work well, I feel then I have to tell him the truth. It's not that I'm always right. But you know, we like to share the opinion and we have one thing in common. We want to really win races. We're really hungry for it. So it's good to have a relationship with the trainer who supports you like that and gives you full confidence.

In our “Fastest Horse of the Week,” segment, which is sponsored by WinStar, we went over the many reasons there are breed to WinStar stallion Timberlake. The fastest horse of the week was Skelly (Practical Joke), who won an allowance race at Oaklawn, earning a figure of 107.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders' Association, West Point Thoroughbreds, the KTOB, 1/ST Racing and 1/ST TV, the team of Randy Moss and Zoe Cadman took a look at last week's big performances by Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire]) and Choisya (GB) (Night of Thunder ({Ire}). They also talked about the improving business numbers at Santa Anita and the two foreign horses aiming for the Derby, Luxor Café (American Pharoah) and Admire Daytona (JPN) (Drefong).

To listen to the audio version of the podcast, click here. For the video, click here.

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