Hastings leading jockey for past seven seasons is riding in Edmonton on Saturday, giving his closest rivals a chance to eat into his lead.<\/p>\n
Published Jul 10, 2025 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 3 minute read<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n You can save this article by registering for free here<\/a>. Or sign-in<\/a> if you have an account.<\/p>\n With more than a third of the Hastings\u2019 racing season in the books, the leading-rider table has a familiar look to it with seven-time champion Amadeo Perez currently nine wins ahead of his closest rival, Kimal Santo.<\/p>\n Advertisement 2<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.<\/p>\n REGISTER \/ SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.<\/p>\n Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.<\/p>\n Sign In or Create an Account<\/p>\n or<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Unlike the past few seasons there are several riders queued up behind Perez and all are in closer proximity than is often the case by this time of year. And, this weekend, with Perez off to ride a trio of Hastings-based horses in Edmonton, there is a chance to close the gap. Santo is well on the way to eclipsing last year\u2019s 31-winner haul and is one of a growing colony of Caribbean riders trying to dislodge Perez from his throne.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n \u201cI was here in January and February, on the farms, breaking young horses, as well as galloping horses,\u201d Santo revealed this week. \u201cI usually don\u2019t come back until March or April and that definitely helped. People could see the hard work I was putting in.\u201d<\/p>\n Santo has a mount in every race on Friday evening and is determined to stay in touch with Perez.<\/p>\n Canucks Report<\/p>\n Thanks for signing up!<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n Advertisement 3<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be nice to beat him, obviously,\u201d Santo agreed, \u201cbut It\u2019s not easy even keeping up with him!\u201d<\/p>\n Fellow Trinidadian rider Kerron Khelawan, currently in third place with 16 wins, agrees with Santo that eating into their rival\u2019s lead is easier said than done.<\/p>\n Khelawan said: \u201cIt\u2019s not like we just pick up Amadeo\u2019s rides when he is elsewhere. He has an agent who also looks after other riders and when he is away, then the other riders represented by his agent will often pick up those spares.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Santo, however, Khelawan also returned to B.C. a little earlier than normal and is determined to hang on Perez\u2019s coattails as long as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cI came back a bit earlier because I was in Arizona riding over the winter,\u201d Khelawan explained. \u201cIt helped because I\u2019ve been getting some rides with barns I\u2019ve never been getting before.<\/p>\n Advertisement 4<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m grateful for the owners and trainers who have given me a chance this season and I would definitely like to see if I can win a championship, one day. If people continue to give me opportunities and some \u2018live\u2019 mounts, as they\u2019re doing, then who knows what might happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Jamaican Rider Chris Mamdeen, who has ridden 13 winners so far this term, is less bashful when it comes to his own ambitions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been better this year, more competitive and I\u2019m getting some live horses now and, so far, I\u2019m getting the job done,\u201d he said this week. \u201cI always set a target for myself and try and improve each season. I would like to be in the top two and that\u2019s what I want to try and achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamdeen is currently 14 wins behind Perez and all three chasing riders are winning at a rate of 23 per cent, an excellent return, but still shy of Perez\u2019s punishing 30-per-cent winners to rides ratio.<\/p>\n Advertisement 5<\/p>\n This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<\/p>\n Article content<\/p>\n The reigning champ won\u2019t miss many days and his rivals will need to start closing the gap urgently if they\u2019re to stop him making it a record-equalling eight riding titles.<\/p>\n Current standings by numbers of winners:<\/strong> Perez, 27; Santo, 18; Khelawan, 16; Richard Balgobin (apprentice), 14; and Mamdeen, 13.<\/p>\n Friday night selections: First race, 7 p.m.<\/strong><\/p>\n Race 2 (7:30 p.m.):<\/strong> Nu Soup for Baby was just a nose away from a second-consecutive win last time and can move rider Mamdeen closer to his rivals.<\/p>\n Race 4 (8:30 p.m.):<\/strong> Vector had everyone else in his rear-view when going down by a length to the smart Thomspon last time and Santo can notch another win as he looks to close in on Perez.<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Randy Goulding: Hastings Racecourse features two strong cards this weekend<\/p>\n <\/a><\/li>\n 19 horses to tangle in wide-open 149th Kentucky Derby<\/p>\n <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n Article content<\/p>\n Share this article in your social network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Breadcrumb Trail Links Sports Sports Betting Hastings leading jockey for past seven seasons is riding in Edmonton on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-254799","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114831702833903067","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Jockey\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0711-perez.jpg\")
Queen of Attitude, ridden by Hastings’ reigning champion jockey Amadeo Perez.Article content<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/dcs-static.gprod.postmedia.digital\/19.0.4\/websites\/images\/identity\/logo-identity-vp.svg\"){kind=logo}
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