David Cohen, Oaklawn’s leading jockey in 2019, said he will ride regularly this summer at Saratoga, the prestigious upstate New York meet that will run July 16-Sept. 7.
Cohen was based in Kentucky after the Oaklawn meeting ended last May, but he did have six mounts at Saratoga. Cohen had three victories – all for trainer Robertino Diodoro and owner M and M Racing (Mike and Mickala Sisk) – including the $100,000 Shine Again Stakes aboard Special Relativity. Diodoro and M and M are the jockey’s major clients.
“Last year we made the decision, because we are serious about Kentucky, we made a decision to go to Ellis,” said Cohen, who has 54 career victories at Saratoga. “Just kind of all the work that we did leading up to that, we didn’t want to just give it away and I was able to ship into Saratoga whenever I wanted. I think every time I went up there, I won. This year, we’re going to be a little more serious about it. We’ve always done well there, so there’s no reason not to go.”
Cohen rode regularly at Saratoga in 2010-2013, highlighted by his dead-heat victory aboard Golden Ticket in the $1 million Travers Stakes (G1) for 3-year-olds in 2013. After returning from a 3 ½-year absence because of a severe leg injury and the death of his father and sister, Cohen was Oaklawn’s third-leading rider in 2018 and won 17 races that year at Saratoga.
Cohen rode 75 winners last year at Oaklawn to end Ricardo Santana Jr.’s six-year hold on the title and had a meet-high 12 victories through Sunday.
Special Relativity was retired following a victory in the $125,000 American Beauty Stakes for older female sprinters Feb. 1 at Oaklawn to be bred to Into Mischief, North America’s leading sire in 2019.
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