Dylan Davis continued his career-best year by winning two stakes races during the opening weekend of the Aqueduct Fall Meet. The stakes wins came on the heels of Davis winning the leading rider title at the recently concluded Belmont at the Big A meet. The panel of racing experts voted Davis Jockey of the Week for November 4 through November 10.
The weekly honor acknowledges jockeys for significant riding accomplishments and who are members of the Jockeys’ Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.
On Friday, Davis was aboard the four-year-old filly Love Appeals, one of three entrants from the Christophe Clement barn in the Autumn Days Stakes. Off at odds of 7-1, Love Appeals raced wide behind pacesetter Risk Threshold past the half-mile pole before gaining the lead inside the final sixteenth for a 1-1/4 length win in 1:09.17 for six furlongs on the outer turf.
The win was one of three on the day for Davis who also won race six for the Clement-trained Bettrluckythangood and race two aboard Index Fund for four-time Eclipse Award trainer Chad Brown.
“To have three winners today was incredible—thank you to Christophe, I got two for him today,” said Davis to NYRA publicity.
On Saturday, Davis was in the irons on the Joe Lee-trained Works for Me in the Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship for 3-year-olds and up. The three-year-old colt had drawn into the race off the also-eligible list. Works for Me tracked the leader Jean Valjean with Hall of Famer Joel Rosario while racing in third but was closing fast in deep stretch with Alogan in close pursuit piloted by five-time Eclipse Award winner Irad Ortiz, Jr. Works for Me prevailed together with Alogan in a heart-stopping dead heat finish in 1:08.42 for six furlongs on the outer turf. Jean Valjean held on for third.
“Joe Lee said to try to get him into the game out of the gate,” said Davis to NYRA publicity. “He broke well for me and tracked nicely into the turn. I thought Irad was going to go right by me late, but my horse found a little extra. I thought I got the bob there, but it is better than finishing second (laughs).”
Davis recently picked up his third individual meet title on the NYRA circuit at the 2024 Belmont at the Big A fall meet. He had also captured the Aqueduct winter meet title earlier this year as well as the 2022 Aqueduct winter meet title en route to being the NYRA circuit’s leading rider in 2022.
“I’ve been continuing to get on better horses and I’m happy that everyone is able to see that,” Davis said. It’s a big step up from previous years.”
Other contenders for Jockey of the Week included Frankie Dettori who won the Gr. III Long Island, Paco Lopez who posted the most wins for the week with 10, Luan Machado with a win in the Gr. III River City and Hall of Famer John Velazquez who posted an upset win in the Gr. III Pebbles.
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