RODRIGO ACEVES BACK AT LOS ALAMITOS ON SATURDAY NIGHT
Rodrigo Aceves, who ranks seventh all-time in both Quarter Horse wins and stakes wins at Los Alamitos, will make his first riding appearance here in over a year when he pilots promising juvenile sprinter Zoe Diamond in the fifth race on Saturday.
Aceves’ last start at Los Alamitos came on March 8, 2020 and he’s only ridden here 15 times since January of 2019. His last win here was aboard Be Quiet back on December 15, 2019. So far in 2021, Aceves has only ridden once, that start one coming at Sam Houston Race Park on April 30. In 2020, he rode mostly aboard 2-year-olds in futurity trials at Lone Star Park and Ruidoso Downs.
A top Quarter Horse pilot at Los Alamitos for a large part of his career, Aceves dealt with foot and knee injuries from 2014 to 2019. Prior to that, Aceves was the leading Quarter Horse rider at Los Alamitos five times, including four in row from 2006 to 2009. For his career, he’s won 1,827 races and 102 stakes races aboard the breed at Los Alamitos. His best years in earnings came in 2010 and 2012 when his mounts earned over $2.6 million in each of those years.
Among his stakes wins, 48 have come in graded stakes and 12 have been in Grade 1 stakes events. His richest victory came in the 2010 Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity aboard Vessels Stallion Farms’ One Quick First Down. Earlier that year, he piloted First Down Illusion to victory in the Grade 1 Ed Burke Million Futurity. Aceves has ridden the likes of A Stoli Mate, Startlet Hawk, Hulapai, Chivalry SR, Once Over, Imaqtpie to Grade 1 wins. Other top runnrs he’s guided to stakes wins include Fighter On Fire, Little Bit Of Baja, Harley Man, Up For It, My Lady First, Sassmaster, and New Look.
For his career, Aceves has ridden in 10,725 Quarter Horse races, won 1,879 of them, and piloted the winners of over $26 million.
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