Mexico’s Espinoza Misses Out on Triple Crown

The thirty-six year Triple Crown drought will continue after Mexican jockey Victor Espinoza came up short on California Chrome at the Belmont Stakes.

Despite a game effort, Espinoza guided California Chrome to a shared fourth place finish and, thus, failed to become the first Latin American jockey to ride a horse to the Triple Crown.

“I was waiting for (California Chrome) to have a little kick in the homestretch but he didn’t have it,” admitted Espinoza referring to his “tired” horse after today’s race.

“This is very important for me,” said Joel Rosario from the Dominican Republic who rode Tonalist to the victory by a nose. "I’m a little upset about California Chrome. If I was going to get beat, I wanted to just get beat by him," he added.

For the 29-year-old Rosario, today's Belmont win is the pinnacle of a career that included victories last year in the Dubai World Cup and the Kentucky Derby.

Both Rosario and Espinoza represent an influx of Latin American jockeys who in recent years have come to dominate horse racing in North America.  The last four winners of the Kentucky Derby have come from the region (Espinoza, Rosario, Mario Gutierrez from Mexico and John Velasquez from Puerto Rico) while Venezuelan Javier Castellano set the single season earnings record ($25.64 million) in 2013.

For Espinoza, the past month of racing represents a partial redemption following his inability to capture the Triple Crown with War Emblem in 2002.

"This is my second and last chance [at the Triple Crown]," he said shortly after he rode the three-year-old colt to victory in the Preakness Stakes two weeks ago.

“In a million years, I didn't think I was going to have a second chance. I was very close once. Life goes on, and over a decade, here we go — I'm here again.”

Daily Headlines: May 19, 2014

* Colombia: In news that could boost the chances of President Juan Manuel Santos winning next Sunday's presidential election, opposition candidate Oscar Ivan Zuluaga was videotaped meeting with suspected hacker Andrés Sepulveda while the Colombian government reached a partial agreement with the FARC rebels.

* Argentina: Paleontologists in the Patagonia region of Argentina believed they have found the remains of what may have been the biggest dinosaur in history.

* U.S.: Victor Espinoza of Mexico is two-thirds of the way through to becoming the first Latin American jockey to guide a horse to the Triple Crown.

* Brazil: Inmates at a maximum security prison in northeastern Brazil freed 127 people held hostage following a riot over the weekend.

Online Sources - New York Daily News; Reuters; ABC News; GlobalPost; The Epoch Times

Video Source - euronews via YouTube

Daily Headlines: May 9, 2011

* Ecuador: Preliminary results showed that referendum voters approved ten measures backed by President Rafael Correa including a path to reforming the judiciary, limits on media ownership, and a ban on bullfighting.

* Mexico: Tens of thousands of people gathered at Mexico City's Zocalo Square yesterday in the culmination of a four-day march against drug-related violence.

* Cuba: Dissidents blamed police for the death of Juan Wilfredo Soto, a political activist who died several days after being arrested and allegedly beaten.

* Venezuela: A U.S. immigration judge suspended the deportation order against a Venezuelan national in a legally-recognized same-sex marriage weeks after another justice came to a similar decision in favor of an Argentine woman.

* Guatemala: A voter registration drive will be run ahead of September’s federal elections and will include radio ads and electoral materials in four Mayan languages.

* U.S.: Animal Kingdom, sired by Brazilian horse Leroidesanimaux and ridden by Puerto Rican Jockey John Velazquez, won the prestigious Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

Image – Raul Arboleda/Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images via The New York Times (“An Ecuadorean woman, with her child, cast her vote Saturday at a school in Otavalo, Ecuador, on the referendum proposed by President Rafael Correa. It included sweeping measures aimed at strengthening his power.”)
Online Sources- The Irish Times, MSNBC, The Latin Americanist, insidecostarica.com, Reuters, CNN, Boston Globe

Weekend World Watch: Troubles in Thailand

* Thailand: Thailand could soon enter a civil war as violence between the army and anti-government protesters has sharply escalated since Thursday’s murder of “renegade army general Seh Daeng.”

* U.S.: For the 31st-consecutive year there will be no horse racing Triple Crown champion after Lookin At Lucky won the Preakness Stakes.

* Netherlands: The lone survivor of a deadly airline crash in Libya- young Ruben van Assouw- returned to his native Holland earlier today.

* Europe: Worries over Europe’s worsening financial situation led to the euro falling to an eighteen-month low on Friday.

Image – MSNBC (“A "Red Shirt" protester carries the Thai flag as tires burn and the violence in central Bangkok escalates on Saturday.”)
Online Sources- Reuters, AP, Bloomberg, The Guardian

Daily Headlines: June 10, 2008

* Peru: Just about everyone and their grandmother knows that Big Brown failed to win the Triple Crown, but did you know that the jockey of surprise Belmont Stakes winner Da’ Tara was a Peruvian named Alan Garcia? (No, not that Alan Garcia).

* Latin America: Could rising inflation throughout the region lead to a serious economic downturn?

* Nicaragua: U.S. diplomats aren’t too happy that a former Nicaragua foreign minister was elected to be the next U.N. General Assembly president.

* Bolivia: Thousands of marchers protested in front of the U.S. Embassy in La Paz over the alleged asylum given to a former right-wing minister and president.

Sources- Guardian UK, Press-Telegram, Living in Peru, Reuters, Monsters & Critics, MSNBC

Image- SignOnSanDiego.com (“Winning jockey Alan Garcia salutes after crossing the Belmont finish line aboard Da'Tara.”)