Anderson Displays Deft Moves
Agent Adroitly Works the Field to Land Mounts for His Jockeys

By John Scheinman
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, June 6, 2007

NEW YORK, June 5 -- Not long after Hard Spun crossed the finish line third behind Curlin and Street Sense in the Preakness Stakes, trainer Larry Jones's cellphone began to ring.

Jockey Mario Pino, who had ridden Hard Spun for Jones in each of the colt's eight starts, had allowed his mount to rush up on two dueling long shots on the backstretch, seized the lead and then asked for more speed when challenged on the turn by another outsider, C. P. West. By the time Hard Spun reached the stretch in the 1 3/16 -mile race, he didn't have enough energy to hold off his two chief rivals, Curlin and Street Sense, and lost by four lengths.

With that, agents for other jockeys began to fall over themselves to be first in line to get on Hard Spun in the Belmont Stakes, convinced that Pino, the top rider in Maryland but one with little Triple Crown experience, was about to be replaced.

Only Ron Anderson, however, had the right style and savvy -- not to mention the top jockey in the country in Garrett Gomez -- to annex the prized mount, and that is why he is the most successful jockey agent in the country.

Anderson, 52, has been doing this sort of thing for years. He worked with the brilliant but troubled late jockey Chris Antley, as well as recently retired Hall of Fame riders Gary Stevens and Jerry Bailey, among the best of their generation.

While Anderson's knowledge of the sport and its horses is vast, his approach to dealing with the trainers is what sets him apart.

"He's very professional about the way he handles things," said Gomez, the leading jockey in the country with more than $9 million in earnings this year. "He's very respected. When he comes to somebody and wants to maneuver off one horse on to another horse, he does it in a respectful way."

Recent events have put Anderson's skills to a stern test.

Jones and Pino in the past two years forged a close bond, with the jockey riding most of the trainer's horses at Delaware Park and the two rising to national prominence together with Grade I-winning sprinter Wildcat Bettie B and Hard Spun.

When the calls began ringing in after the Preakness, Jones took personal offense to some, even though Hard Spun's owner, Rick Porter, wanted to make a rider change.

"We had a lot of calls; some of them I appreciated, some of them weren't so nice and some of them I couldn't understand why they thought they ought to be able to replace Mario because I thought they were a lot further down on the list than they apparently thought they were," Jones said.

Anderson took a more subtle approach.

"I don't like to divulge all my secrets, but I kind of had wind he was not happy and was visually upset after the race," the agent said of Jones. "Somebody I know got his attention and whispered in his ear, 'Would you consider a change?' "

In the meantime, Anderson was awaiting word on whether trainer Todd Pletcher would run his superb filly Rags to Riches against colts in the Belmont. Pletcher is the top trainer in the country and, under Anderson, Gomez had begun to ride second call for him behind jockey John Velazquez. Pletcher has so many outstanding horses there are plenty to go around for both, and Gomez had picked up the mount on Rags to Riches and ridden her to the top of the 3-year-old filly division.

Anderson virtually had no track record with Jones, but the one time they had worked together, in 2005, had been memorable: Bailey picked up the mount on a Jones-trained filly named Island Sand after her jockey got hurt and won the $1 million Delaware Handicap.

"Terry Thompson went down at Prairie Meadows [in an accident], and agents started calling about Island Sand before he even got loaded on the ambulance," Jones recalled.

So Anderson didn't make a strong sell to get Gomez on Hard Spun, he just let Jones know, through a whispering friend, he was there if he needed him.

"I didn't have to knock Mario Pino's ride," Anderson said. "I'm just available. If there is a consideration for a change, keep Garrett in mind. That's all I need to say."

The Wednesday after the Preakness, Jones called.

"He said, 'What's your Belmont position?' " Anderson recalled. "I said, 'I need to check with Todd on the filly.' He said, 'I want you to ride this horse, and if not, we might keep Mario on.' "

Anderson asked Pletcher about the status of Rags to Riches. "Todd said, 'I can't keep you from riding a horse like that because I don't know what I'm doing.' "

So Anderson took the mount on Hard Spun for Gomez in the Belmont.

On Tuesday, however, Pletcher said Rags to Riches would run, and the agent found himself in a tight spot.

"I have long relationships with the filly, the trainer and the owners," Anderson said of Rags to Riches' connections. "And the cowboy" -- Jones -- "I've only been with him once, with Island Sand. I doubled back."

Anderson went down to the Belmont Park barn on Tuesday morning and asked Jones if Gomez could opt out of riding Hard Spun and go to Rags to Riches. Jones talked with the owner, Porter, and said no.

Anderson only asked once. After all, his jockey will ride one of the race favorites and no bridges had been burned. Still, it hadn't been easy.

"I asked [trainer] Kiaran McLaughlin before I went down there if Larry Jones was a righty or a lefty," Anderson said, laughing. "Because I wanted to know which hand to put up when he takes a swing at me."