INGLEWOOD, Calif. (July 6, 2008) - Jockey Jose Valdivia Jr., fresh from riding his 1,000th winner in the previous race, earned his 1,001st victory in the $77,975 Robert K. Kerlan Memorial Handicap with a come-from-behind triumph aboard 2-1 favorite Get Funky on Sunday at Hollywood Park.
Valdivia, a 33-year-old native of Lima, Peru who began riding in 1994, gave the winner a perfect trip. Get Funky was fourth at the quarter pole and followed 7-year-old Jungle Prince as he took command early in the stretch. The two dueled through the final furlong with Valdivia and Get Funky prevailing by a head while covering six furlongs on the Lakeside Turf Course in 1:08.85.
"I've got what, about 9,000 and change to catch Laffit (Pincay)?" Valdivia quipped about the win on Hiatus a race earlier for victory 1,000. "It's a milestone. I'm very proud to have done it at a major race track. Since I started riding, I've had the pleasure and honor to share the starting gate with some great riders. To do it in Southern California and not only that, to end up doing it for Ron Ellis and the Siegels means a lot. They've stuck with me ever since I had the bug here in Southern California. They've been by my side all along. It just means the world to me. I have my family here, my little girl's feeling good...I couldn't be happier."
Get Funky, a 5-year-old Florida-bred, paid $6.60 while winning for the sixth time in 15 starts. He was making his second start of 2008 following a fourth-place finish here in the Grade III Inglewood Handicap on May 3. He gave trainer John Sadler his fifth stakes win in eight days and provided a second Kerlan victory for Valdivia, who also rode 2003 winner Full Moon Madness.
"He's a very nice horse," Valdivia said. "He could have a bit of distance limitations, but he's top class, a great sprinter. But as you can see, he did win the Del Mar Derby going a mile and one-eighth. He's just a horse that John knows very well and knows where to run him."
Jungle Prince, winner of the Hollywood Turf Express here in November of 2006, was only making his second start since then. He finished fourth in his return to the races in the King Glorious Stakes on June 13 and ran very gamely to be second. The Juan Garcia trained gelding finished 1¼ lengths ahead of third-place finisher One Union in the contentious field of ten older horses.
The winner's share of $46,785 raised Get Funky's earnings to $553,793.
"It's a thrill to win it because of the way the race is named," Sadler said. "Dr. Kerlan was beloved and he was at the races here all the time, so it's a fun race to win."
