Dylan Davis Regains Momentum After Serious Spill; Chip Honcho and Potente to Skip Belmont Stakes
Davis Earns Belmont Mount After Comeback
On April 4, five weeks after returning from serious injuries that sidelined him for 106 days, jockey Dylan Davis won his first graded stakes when he guided Always a Runner to victory in the Grade 3 Gazelle at Aqueduct.
Four weeks later, when Always a Runner won the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, it was Jose Ortiz in the saddle. Davis picked up the mount on Lovely Grey, who finished 12th in the 13-horse field.
Trainer Chad Brown had praised Davis’s Gazelle ride but opted for a jockey with more experience and success at Churchill Downs for the Oaks.
Davis took it in stride.
“I talked to Chad after the race and congratulated him, I was happy to get her to the Oaks for him and I was just moving forward,” Davis said. “I enjoy being on the team. He was happy with that and in return he gave me a Belmont Stakes ride.”
The Ottinho Assignment
Davis will ride Ottinho, one of three horses Brown intends to run in the $2 million Belmont on June 6 at Saratoga. Davis had been named to ride Ottinho in the April 4 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, but Brown called an audible earlier that week and sent the horse to the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, where Ottinho finished second under Flavien Prat, 11 lengths behind Further Ado.
Ottinho was being considered for either the Preakness or the Peter Pan Stakes, but a foot issue forced him to miss both races. The half-brother to Gun Runner has been training in a bar shoe, though Brown believes he’ll be able to remove it by race day.
Davis, who rode in the Belmont once previously—finishing last on Golden Glider in 2022—is hoping to continue the success he’s had for Brown over the last two months.
Building Momentum with Brown
Since April 1, Davis has ridden eight winners from 19 mounts for Brown. In addition to Always a Runner, Davis has won maiden races on promising 3-year-old fillies Directive and Hand Over Heart, as well as the 3-year-old colt Resolute Will.
Recovering from a Devastating Injury
Davis needs all the good mounts he can find as he works to rebuild the business he lost after being seriously injured in a spill on November 14 at Aqueduct. The 31-year-old suffered a fractured collarbone, a broken arm, and multiple broken ribs when his horse, Tarpaulin, ran into a fallen horse. Davis also had to have a kidney removed. He had a plate put in his right shoulder and 10 screws and a plate put in his right arm.
Remarkably, Davis was back riding on February 28 at Gulfstream Park. After riding the final month of that track’s winter meet, he returned to Aqueduct, where he rode 11 winners at the 15-day spring meet and has 12 winners through the first 16 days of the Belmont at the Big A session. Davis won with his last two mounts on Monday’s Memorial Day card—one for Linda Rice and one for Brown, the two leading trainers at the meet.
Davis has mounts in all three scheduled turf stakes at Monmouth Park on Saturday and on Monday is expected to fly to Finger Lakes to ride Bostonian in a New York-bred allowance race for Wesley Ward.
“I’m doing good, riding a bunch of races and winning. I feel like I’m right back on track,” Davis said. “I came off a tough injury. I took the time I needed to get my mind right. Physically, I’m fit and I really feel great.”
Chip Honcho and Potente to Skip Belmont
Chip Honcho, third in the Preakness Stakes, and Potente, 12th in the Kentucky Derby, will not run in the Belmont Stakes, trainers Steve Asmussen and Bob Baffert said Wednesday.
Asmussen, trainer of Chip Honcho, said the Belmont is “too soon off a hard race.”
In the Preakness, Chip Honcho raced in an up-close fifth position but couldn’t match strides with Napoleon Solo, who won the Preakness by 1¼ lengths over Iron Honor. Chip Honcho was beaten 4½ lengths.
Chip Honcho, a son of Connect, was held out of the Kentucky Derby after racing in four Derby points-scoring races at Fair Grounds during the winter. He won the Gun Runner Stakes in December, finished fourth in the Grade 3 Lecomte, second in the Grade 2 Risen Star, and fifth in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby.
Potente Heads to Matt Winn
Baffert said Potente will run in the Matt Winn Stakes on June 7 at Churchill Downs.
“He’s lightly raced, rushed him into the Derby a little bit,” Baffert said. “Sometimes you got to hit the reset button once the Derby is over.”
Additional Belmont Stakes News
- John Velazquez is confirmed to ride Commandment
- Luis Saez will ride Powershift
Baffert also announced Wednesday that the undefeated Crude Velocity is pointing to the Grade 1 Woody Stephens on the June 6 Belmont undercard. Baffert is also planning to run Brant in that seven-furlong race.
