The Guatemalan horse rider, last year’s TVG Breakthrough Jockey of the Year, rode Thousand Words to an upset win over favorite Honor A. P. (1-5) by three-quarters of a length in the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar over the weekend, giving trainer Bob Baffert another candidate for next month’s Kentucky Derby.
Thousand Words ran 1 1/16 miles in 1 minute, 43.85 seconds and paid $20.40 and $3.40 at 9-1 odds.
The colt earned 50 qualifying points for the Derby, which was postponed until Labor Day weekend because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Baffert said Thousand Words has perked up since coming from Los Angeles to the seaside track north of San Diego.
“The real Thousand Words showed up today,” the Hall of Fame trainer said. “His whole mind changed. His color has changed. He had soured out on me, but we got him going the right way. He earned his way to the Derby.”
Thousand Words has four wins in seven career starts.
Cedillo has 1,284 career wins in 8,435 starts with earning of $27,898,415.
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